Pie in the Sky

A prowler is stalking the Middleton area, stealing women's underwear from washing lines and making obscene phone calls. All the evidence points to Hugh Downing, the attractive cheese merchant who supplies Pie in the Sky but Henry Crabbe can't believe that someone with such a good line in Stilton could be the culprit.

When a customer drops dead in the gents' toilet at Pie in the Sky, Henry Crabbe finds himself in the world of forgery, undercover police work and mistaken identity.

Assistant Chief Constable Fisher's teenage daughter has dyed her hair magenta, joined a group of "crusties" and camped in Henderson's field -- and Fisher wants Crabbe to bring her back home.

Bill Pritchard, who supplies Henry Crabbe with the best trout in the county, has a new partner and lover in Jean Barratt -- much to Margaret's disapproval. When Jean goes missing, Bill is the prime suspect.

Psychic medium Faith Revelle is receiving threatening letters and a skeptical Crabbe has to act as minder. Is the hate mail connected with the suspicious death of a local girl -- and has Revelle really had a vision?

Retired and cantankerous food writer Hilary Smallwood is worried that her nephew and his wife are after her allegedly spicy memoirs. Crabbe steps in to help her, alongside bohemian pig ­farmer and erstwhile poet, Seymour Flint, connoisseur of the perfect black pudding.

Assistant Chief Constable Freddy Fisher drags Crabbe down to the West Country, ostensibly to investigate a series of murders. But as the latest victim is a policewoman, the murder squad itself comes under scrutiny. Back at Pie in the Sky, a burst pipe causes chaos in the kitchen.

The man who shot PC Ian Lefebvre is due for release so Fisher wants to keep Lefebvre busy. What better than sending him off with Crabbe in search of two OAP con-women and the perfect bread and butter pudding?

There's a spate of burglaries, the local police station's closed down and the great and the good of Middleton, headed by 'Mr Chukky Chicken' Barry Wilkes, want Crabbe to catch the theif, popularly believed to be teenager Karl Elves or "Pikey." To their dismay, Crabbe is much more interested in pike than "Pikey."

Crabbe has to join ACC Fisher and DS Cambridge on a management development seminar, but Fisher is having a crisis of confidence in the job and, after a rave review, Pie in the Sky has customers queuing at the door. Could this be Crabbe's chance to leave the force and concentrate on cooking?