An Unbelievable Hoot

Book excerpt: An Unbelievable Hoot is a funny, risqué novel about a lawyer who owns land formerly used as an industrial chemical factory but is now occupied by a number of industrial units including bakers Diggers, a plant hire company. Having done well they seek to extend their showroom but in digging out to put in foundations for the extension, they unwittingly release gases from chemicals previously buried. These have a strange effect on passers-by. A magistrate unknowingly breathes in these gases before entering Do-it-All a hardware superstore. He is compelled to assault a lady who is bent over examining some cans of paint. She turns out to be an off-duty policewoman who immediately arrests him. The gases are also breathed in at an institution for retired lady civil servants who then attack young men working in the establishment. They are arrested and everybody has to appear in Court. Norris (nickname 'Nosey") Parker a nasally well-endowed journalist headlines the story in the Daily Spread and sets out to investigate. A hilarious journey begins...