Caltech Playreaders 73rd season: "The Bargain"

Michael Gilbert was one of the finest of the post-war generation of British detective writers. His output was prodigious, with thirty novels, short stories, plays, and serials for radio, television, and the stage. All this, while working at a prestigious Lincoln's Inn law firm as a solicitor, with clients ranging from novelist Raymond Chandler to the government of Bahrain. The Bargain centers around the senior partner of such a law firm, who is a collector of miniatures. He has his eye on a piece which he suspects is by Goya. To prevent being scalped by the auction house, he hires an intermediary to bid on his behalf. What could possibly go wrong? Watch as blackmail, mayhem, (and perhaps even murder?) ensue.

Directed and Introduced by Douglas Smith