The second absorbing adventure in Victor Canning's Smiler trilogy. 'Smiler' is still on the run, aiming to evade the police until his father, a ship's cook, comes home to clear him of a crime he hasn't committed. Hitching a train to Scotland, he finds work as an animal caretaker within the grounds of a castle occupied by "the Laird", Sir Alec Elphinstone. When the Laird leaves on a trip to London, Smiler discovers that thieves are planning to invade his employer's castle. Dare he go to the police for help? AUTHOR: Victor Canning was a prolific writer throughout his career, which began young: he had sold several short stories by the age of nineteen and his first novel, Mr Finchley Discovers His England (1934) was published when he was twenty-three. It proved to be a runaway bestseller. Canning also wrote for children: his trilogy The Runaways was adapted for US children's television.