Dirty tricks at the best-kept village competition

Constable Nick patrols his rural Yorkshire beat on foot or on his trusty Francis Barnett motorcycle. But as beautiful as the villages are, they conceal real human drama.

Nick is on hand to help out when Aidensfield decides to enter the Best Kept Village competition and finds itself the victim of a dirty tricks campaign by its rivals.

Then there is the mystery of the spontaneously combusting hen-house, and Nick has to cope with the consequences when the vicar tries a novel way of keeping the churchyard tidy.