John Hughes 
How to Steal a Piano and Other Stories 

How to Steal a Piano and other stories is a set of intriguing tales of our time – some dark and challenging, others light and comical. The title story tells of a young piano salesman in Harrods who comes across a Bechstein grand in storage that appears to have been forgotten about. Would anyone miss it? There’s only one way to find out. Grasshopper and Unlucky for Some narrate the trials and tribulations of single women and online dating. It should be so straightforward, but even something as simple as meeting up with the correct man can be problematic. Pirates invade a usually quiet Derbyshire town in Matlock Meg and the Riber Hoard, and in Runner a trio of yobs get the shock of their lives when they try to avoid paying the bill at Mr Ping’s Chinese restaurant. Zulu the police dog will entertain telling his own story in Woof Justiss, and octogenarian Dotty extends her vocabulary when she researches the history of the c-word in Sevenoaks library.Beneath the savoury and unsavoury characters and the twists and turns of their stories flow some thought provoking themes. Status based on ill-gotten gains, the self-destructiveness of road rage, lifelong barriers between fathers and sons, the therapeutic nature of a good limerick, and the convoluted sex life of the clergy.