Miss Pershore

In Susan Pulls the Strings, the first book in the series, Susan arrives in London to find that Aunt Lucy has become fast friends with Miss Pershore,  a jet-setting culture vulture. Bill tells his cousin that the two women are "thick as thieves". Ominous words. For the Plum, as the children call her, is really a smuggler of watches. When she catches Susan snooping around her secret stash, she ties her up and tells her that she doesn't really care what happens to her as long as she can get rid of her. In this book, poor Susan has already fallen into a frozen pond and only came across the watches when she stumbled into the house next door to look for Chang. But now she is to be left freezing in this prison cell. Of course, everything works out in the end, but this is one of Susan's more testing moments!