The Doi-Toi master criminal ‘Fanny Foreigner is named for her chosen modus operandi, which is to assume the identities of foreign persons for the purposes of deception and theft.

Fanny first appeared in Grecondale two years ago when Cedric was desperate to hire a maid because Isla was very unhappy about the amount of work she had to do around the house.  Unable to find a Grecon maid, Cedric resorted to contacting the Dog-Toi Agency and Fanny duly appeared on their doorstep claiming to be an Austrian called Hannelore (or Hanne for short).

Initially, Hanne worked hard and kept her nose clean and Isla was delighted with her. Until one day Isla’s best pearl necklace went missing and a chance visit from native Austrian Ludwig revealed that Hanne couldn’t actually speak a word of German. The pearl necklace was soon discovered in Hanne’s basket waiting to be smuggled from the house.

Fanny was arrested by PC Bob Bobby and held in prison awaiting trial.  Luckily for her, she received good representation (paid for by an unknown benefactor) and her custodial sentence was commuted to community service, scrubbing floors at HM’s pleasure for six months.

Community service completed, Fanny tried once again to secure a job in Grecondale, this time as housekeeper in Agar Hall.  However, most perceptively, Joyce had a bad feeling about her and chose instead to give the job to Olwyn Owens.

Realising she had burned her bridges in Grecondale, the wily jewel thief was next seen in Greconville.  There, posing this time as ‘Francine’, she secured herself a position in the de Woodford [junior] household. Unfortunately for her, the exiled de Woodford matriarch, Leticia, happened to be in residence.  In no time at all, she was caught red-handed attempting to steal Leticia’s fabled de Woodford gold necklaces by the ever-suspicious owner of them.  Fanny might well have been facing a long stretch in clink had it not been for the de Woodford’s pride. To their great embarrassment, no references had been taken up and they had no wish to alert their peers to their blunder and so they merely dismissed her on the spot and sent her on her way.

This was an unfortunate turn of events indeed since, at large in Greconville with no gainful employment, Fanny took to planning her next ‘job’.  This led her to Hill House Antiques and it was while she was casing up this treasure-laden emporium that she bumped into The Geek, the notorious leader of Greconville’s criminal underworld, who happened to be employed in exactly the same activity.  Recognising a fellow criminal mind, Fanny wangled herself and invitation back to The Geek’s hideout where she was introduced to his associates, Frank and Honest Eddie.

Before too long, Fanny was out on jobs with The Geek and his gang and she soon realised that they weren’t the brightest or most successful of criminals.  The last we saw of Fanny, she was biding her time, getting as much information on the properties and residents of Greconville out of the Geek and his mates as possible and planning her next move.

© 2016 – 2017, Zoe. All rights reserved.