Grace and Janice meet in Holloway prison. On their release, they develop a scheme to rob old ladies. The pair pretend to be from social services and inveigle themselves into single pensioners’ homes by suggesting they can increase their benefits. They then drug them with sleeping pills and rob them of their valuables and any cash they can find.
Following her 1943 debut, The Least of These, British author Celia Dale wrote 13 novels and a collection of short stories. Though she’s often described as a crime writer, what is striking about her final book, Sheep’s Clothing (1988 and now reprinted), is the vivid characterisation, attention to detail and clean, unadorned prose.
