Callan's Return

Ex-killer David Callan, now a dead-end book-keeper, is hired for one last hit on businessman Schneider. Read by Ben Miles.
Originally published in 1969 under the title 'A Magnum for Schneider', James Mitchell's novel tells the story of his infamous TV character, David Callan (originally played by Edward Woodward) and features the other regulars, Hunter, Meres and Lonely.

Callan is washed up. The most efficient killer in Europe is now working in a dead-end job as a book-keeper for an ungrateful and miserable boss. But circumstances force British intelligence chief 'Charlie' Hunter to re-employ him for one last operation. His target - German businessman Rudolf Schneider who works in an office opposite Callan. Is the fact that the two men work in such close proximity a mere coincidence? Or is it all an elaborate plan by Hunter? Callan has his suspicions...

Hunter has given Schneider a red file and Callan is all too aware of the significance of this. Cheerful, friendly, affluent Schneider with his innocent passion for model soldiers must die. Once again Callan's means to an end is petty criminal Lonely, the most frightened little man in the underworld. It is Lonely who gets him the gun, a Noguchi Magnum 38 calibre. A magnum for Schneider.
The operation is fraught with complications, but Callan's own inhibitions are the most dangerous.
Abridged by Adrian Bean
Producer: Joanna Green
Made for BBC Radio 4 Extra by Pier Productions.