More to Christmas than tax returns

Smirkin had been dead for some time. If you have the misfortune to find yourself perusing the shops on Craggthorpe high street this Christmas you could be forgiven for believing otherwise. His name still hangs above the weathered aluminium doors of Clio & Smirkin Accountants and inside the carpet tiles still bear the stains of his frequent coffee spillages.

The business could have rebranded following his demise but why bother? An unnecessary cost thought Carol Clio Smirkin’s surviving business partner. Nobody would really care about that and her clients hadn’t expressed any particular concerns.

Smirkin might have been the face of the firm out and about glad-handing potential prospects for new business but that ultimately proved to be his downfall. A few glasses of red wine too many at a client lunch led to him stumbling over a low wall and into a...