When Constable Nick leads the long-established procession of villagers around Aidensfield's ancient parish extremities, he realises his duty as a rural bobby comprises lots of boundaries over which he should not cross. Nonetheless he must occasionally ignore such restrictions to fulfill his role as village constable satisfactorily. Far beyond the call of duty are his efforts to get a bride to the church on time and the occasion he finds himself defending a youth charged with a public order offence.
Constable Nick continues to deal with the diverse incidents that arise in Aidensfield. There's the family who are locked out of their home and the burglar who enters isolated farms to leave only a note saying he could have stolen everything. Claude Jeremiah Greengrass reports the theft of two tons of door knockers, and the family of a drowned man refuses to take responsibility for burying him.
Occasionally, Constable Nick leaves his blissful beat at Aidensfield to assist his hard-pressed colleagues in busier places. For this reason, he finds himself on patrol in the seaside resort of Strensford. When a message in a bottle washes up on the beach suggesting that a girl is being held hostage, Nick must urgently find where the bottle entered the sea. He searches for teenage runaways among the boarding houses of Strensford and discovers a very clever thief.
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