Portrait of Robert B. Parker

Robert B. Parker

The Judas Goat

André Deutsch. 1982.

Meet me at the cafeteria end of the east tunnel near the north gate entrance to the London Zoo in Regent's Park

The detailed instructions in the note are for the American private eye on his first visit to England. He reconnoitres the meeting place beforehand, but realizing it's a trap keeps out of sight when the girl - the 'Judas goat' - arrives. An assassination attempt at his hotel, followed by a horrible steak and kidney pie ('like a bowling ball in my stomach') at the aforementioned cafeteria, can't have made him keen to revisit London.