The year is 1896 and following a brief, if lively, spell in the diplomatic corps, Madagan Rùn is being executed for Treason. The prima facie case against him is compelling. Madagan coerced the normally temperate Dr Jameson into raiding the Boer Republic, then tipped off the Boers and pocketed a cheque for 30,000 Krugerand. Now here's the pity of it. All his unfathomable schemes have been driven by a selfless devotion to Queen, Country and Empire. Trouble is, to save himself he must perforce lay bare the grievously stained undercarriage of Victorian high-society: starting with fantastical revelations vis-à-vis the making, lending and subsequent mislaying of the world's first ever celebrity sex celluloid. No less an august triumvirate than Cecil Rhodes, Joseph Chamberlain and Prince Victor Albert have reason aplenty to pray Madagan takes his secrets with him to the gallows. Sadly for them the florid and faintly familiar Mr Melmoth has just posted a typewriter to the Tower and instructed his chum Maddy to tell the old Queen everything. Pardon Me. Pardon Me will appeal to lovers of comic farce and anyone who likes their bedtime reading to transport them to a world where gravity is not so damnably unforgiving and a gentleman can get his glans penis scarified and still go on to enjoy a (brief) career in the Diplomatic Corp. For more information on Pardon Me and its author visit: www.jamesroberts.scot
