The Eager Apprentice: (3 The Upward Mobility of Nshila Ileloka)

Nshila Ileloka, MBE, former pupil of the witchdoctor Kwaname, and a British citizen, is the proprietor of The Rain Consultancy, a meteorological and weather prediction company based in Eastcheap, London. She is also a consultant assassin, specialising in the discrete removal of 'above suspicion' and otherwise untouchable villains by mixing traditional witchcraft and modern technology. This book commences with the dilemma experienced by a junior government minister who overhears a conversation. The focal person is a high-ranking foreign prince who is accepted and admired by the British establishment and is thought to be strongly pro-western. The conversation reveals beyond doubt that he is in fact a terrorist mastermind. There is no chance of an accusation being believed, and any accuser would be disgraced. The only option is to hire an assassin. The search for a qualified operator leads to Nshila, who has recently taken on a keen but very erratic apprentice. Her attempts to subject him to disciplined training have limited success. His activities, and the enthusiastic friends he makes, cause Nshila to commit to the contract more quickly than she would otherwise do. She has no financial problems and is no longer motivated by money. However she is unable to refuse a challenge and she is tempted by the fact that her client is in a position to influence the award of high honours. This would represent the pinnacle of success in her adopted country. However, this requires that a recipient should have performed some noteworthy action that benefits the nation. A suitable project is found, involving a diplomatic assignment in Africa. It succeeds, but while Nshila is away her apprentice makes an unauthorised attempt to kill the prince, and fails. On her return, Nshila is persuaded by her apprentice and some colourful new friends he has aquired, to move faster than she would like to solve the two problems that remain. The prince has yet to be killed and a powerful competitor for the intended honour must be disgraced. Disgrace is achieved when a friend of the apprentice reveals discreditable facts about the competitors life style. He is secretly filmed in disgusting and degrading situations and selected shots are sent to the appropriate office. The death of the prince occurs in the hunting field, when simulation magic is supplemented by a drug administered in the stirrup cup. In due course Nshila receives a title.

About the Author :
Chris Elgood was born in 1932 and received a conventional middle-class education up to degree level. (MA. Cambridge). He completed National Service in The Royal Artillery. He worked as a stores supervisor in a rural province in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) before joining the government service as a Labour Officer - then a lecturer at the Staff Training College as national independence approached. Returning to England, he worked in industrial training and graduate recruitment, and also as a lecturer at The Police Staff College. He wrote The Handbook of Management Games and Simulations for Gower Press. In 1971 he set up his own consultancy to create, sell and present management games of diverse types. Amongst these was a national competition presented in partnership with The Management Centre, University of Bradford. A deep interest in this method of learning brought him a few years of guru status. After handing over his business to his daughter (now running it as Elgood Effective Learning) Chris wanted to adapt his creative skills to the different area of writing fiction. The resulting books all owe a debt to the witchcraft trials in Barotseland in 1958 -58. These illustrated the strange things that can happen when one culture impinges on another.