Date with Evil: A delightfully witty and charming mystery set in the Yorkshire Dales: 8 (The Dales Detective Series, 8)

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I’d been planning the books for a year or so, my mind tweaking and pulling at ideas when I was out on the fells with the sound of the larks as my only company. Two other questions : Rick's property will be auctioned off under the proceeds of crime legislation.

With the threat of going into the red way too far looming over her head, Delilah is faced with a tough situation.This is book 4 in a very enjoyable series set in Bruncliffe, a little village in the Yorkshire Dales. She was born about 1969 to Irish immigrant parents who had scrapped their TV, and never owned another one. It's a terrific setting, and the book is full of all sorts of interesting characters most of whom we have got to know - the Metcalfe clan, lots of pensioners at Fellside Court where Samson's dad Joseph now stays, young DC Danny Bradley who helps Samson and Delilah, and the nasty (but only Samson can see it) property developer Rick Procter. She spent the majority of that time as a teacher of English as a Foreign Language but also dabbled in bookselling, pawnbroking, waitressing and was once 'checkout-chick of the month' at a supermarket in South Australia! The story starts with Delilah kissing Samson (at last), and going off to get a take away meal and bottle of wine.

Nina Hussain turns up asking for a holiday job - she wants to be a detective when she leaves school. Delilah and Samson are both likeable protagonists and I enjoyed the inclusion of Nina and Delilah’s nephew Nathan in the detective agency. That leaves space to concentrate on the main plot line and for tying up of loose ends, while still leaving enough of a cliff hanger to please even the most ardent of thriller fans. Carol Kirby is not only a good housekeeper and excellent cook but she helps Clive chase off the sheep rustlers when they target Clive's flock.

The local police are Sergeant Clayton and DC Danny Bradley, with Super Frank Thistlethwaite still on the scene.

They congregated in The Fleece, a pub where everyone knows everything about you – and sometimes even before you!

Taylor's estate letting agent Stuart Lister was on to the scam, and so went missing / disappeared instantly on a foreign holiday. DCI Frank Thistlethwaite is from a neighbouring police force, but he is convinced that Samson is corrupt, and determined to nail him.