The Bombay Rifleman's Chest — J.M. Lee

Set in late 1980s industrial Britain. Arthur Bilt, Brewer and Head Brewer, has toiled for his entire adult life within the ruinous labyrinths of the City Brewery in London. For the best part of half a century he has given it his best. The City Brewery used to be independent but is now owned by a sprawling hotel and leisure conglomerate of enormous reach and unparalleled incompetence. This entity in its turn has been swallowed by an even bigger, teetering, international mega-corporation. Deep in the bowels of the brewery a monstrous seeping presence has arrived which threatens to eviscerate the entire shambolic sprawl. Can Bilt, aided by his clever but industrially challenged assistant, rescue the situation from the brink of Apocalypse? What are the dark and sinister secrets encoded within Miss Millipond's archive? Can Crasker keep them all employed for long enough to emerge triumphant, or at least reach retirement age? Can senior managers re-apportion blame fast enough to retain their perquisites? Will Sir Richard's great career ever attain the explosive climax demanded by his soaring ambitions? Bilt decides upon a final assault of desperate proportion but it could all go horribly wrong.