The first to call is Lance, an unemployed, barely literate young man forced to live with his cheap, born-again uncle Gib after his family and girlfriend have kicked him out in turn, He guesses wrong, so doesn't get the cash but does see enough of [Eugene Wren]'s home to want to burgle it.

[Joel] can't pick up the cash because he is in hospital, so Eugene's fiancee Ella, a GP, takes it to him and he finagles his way onto her list of private patients.

Even with all the mischief and mishaps, Portobello is a quieter affair than you would expect from [Ruth Rendell], known for her menacing, psychological tales, such as 2006's The Water's Lovely (when she's not writing her successful Inspector Wexford series).