Tales of the Unexpected

Frank Jesmond and Peter Madison are former schoolmates with very different lives.

Mr. King left a bag in a luggage locker but he forgot the combination. He goes to Mr. Mearns, a memory expert, for help opening the locker, but Mr. Mearns forgets to find out what the bag contains.

Claire and Dave are struggling to run a hotel in the Caribbean. Claire's rich aunt Alicia has just changed her mind about leaving her money to Claire, so Claire and Dave engineer a fatal swimming accident for Alicia, before she can alter the will. But Alicia had already written to her lawyer.

Paul Standing, the son of a recently deceased doctor, is sorting out his father's paperwork when he receives a bill from a bookshop for thousands of pounds worth of pornography. Paul is highly suspicious.

George Devon, a wealthy rancher, is found murdered. His identical twin nephews stand to inherit his fortune, but one of them was seen at the scene of the crime. Both have alibis and no one can tell the two boys apart.

Frank Jesmond is on hard times and in danger of losing his family when a man named Laughlin gives him a job as a hitman, the mark being Peter Madison, a school contemporary of Frank who has done very well for himself in the States and is back on a visit. Frank arrives at Peter's hotel and introduces himself, and, for old times sake, the two men go to Peter's room for a drink.

Gerry Armstrong was an American soldier in World War II. 40 years later, he returns to Norfolk, where he was based. While there, he attends a dance and meets a beautiful woman, but she is not all she seems.

Von Baden recalls a murder from fifty years ago at Heidelberg, Germany. But he has kept a secret ever since about what really happened.

A man walks into a bar and pays for the drinks for Molly, an attractive woman. He invites her to his hotel room, though a hotel detective tells him she is a "wrong 'un." Is he making a mistake?

Susan Mandeville, wife of a film producer, meets an author at a restaurant to discuss making a film of one of his books. The author can barely afford the meal, but he hopes to impress the husband.

Three high-society ladies who have seen better days meet for lunch in honor of Dench, who had served all of their households as nanny. It becomes clear that they had all treated Dench terribly. It may be the nanny's turn to have the last laugh.

In the middle of a dinner party, Dr. Roger Ashburn learns that his wife has left him when he finds her discarded wedding ring. Heartbroken, Ashburn moves to a new hospital in a different town. One day, an incoming patient looks strangely familiar.

Caroline Coates is promoted in her role as television news reporter, but is worried that she won't last if her looks start to go. She is admired by a man who has come up with a formula for an anti-ageing process.

A lawyer is planning the perfect murder of an enemy of his. He plans meticulously, but there is one thing he's overlooked.