Constable Around the Park

Having qualified for promotion, Constable Nick must await a vacancy as he continues his rural duties at Aidensfield deep within the North York Moors National Park. As the spectacular countryside becomes increasingly busy with tourists, so the constabulary's day-to-day problems multiply, but not without minor incidents like people getting lost or the menace of discarded litter. So why would a man dump financial magazines in a moorland stream or a businessman throw sackfuls of rubbish into private woodland? What were the fearsome creatures which trapped tourists in a moorland village? Why would anyone abandon a wedding cake? There is more serious work when Nick discovers the body of a man in a remote moorland house and a dog finds a human leg in a wood, the funeral of a London gangster brings a hint of menace to Ashfordly, a grandfather clock mysteriously disappears after an auction and there's a prowler at a local hospital. There is the human side of his work, too, such as discussing home security with a lady who never closes her back door and the landlord who manages to persuade a royal personage to perform the opening ceremony at his new pub. But was she really HRH The Princess Margaret? This is the latest in the collection of rustic tales which inspired the top TV drama, Heartbeat and its sister series, The Royal. (Nicholas Rhea's website is www.nicholasrhea.co.uk)