Constable Nick is preparing to leave Aidensfield. It’s a wrench, for him and his family. But despite all the upheaval, a policeman’s work is never done: especially not in a moors village as quirky and characterful as this.

So Nick finds himself on the trail of a coal thief, and challenged to solve a centuries-old Aidensfield murder mystery. And then there’s Claude Jeremiah Greengrass. The old rogue is up to something – but what? He’s been spending a lot of time lurking about in the woods – and without his beloved dog, Alfred.

There are also rumours that, once Nick leaves, the village police house will be sold. But can it possibly be true that Greengrass will be the man to buy it?

There’s an elegiac note to this latest Constable book: and there’s a reason for that. After 30-something novels, which along the way inspired the hit TV show Heartbeat, this is the last of the series. Now that Heartbeat has come to an end, it seemed natural to bring the books to a close, too, says Nicholas Rhea – aka former North Yorkshire police inspector Peter Walker, whose first Constable book was published back in 1979.

Never fear, though: Nick will be back – older, wiser and newly retired – in a new series, Peter promises.

A few familiar faces might just reappear alongside him, too: such as a certain Oscar Blaketon. And the setting for this new series? That would be telling; but it just might involve a North Yorkshire monastery, and a company of monks who want Nick to set up the monastery’s own police force...

Can’t wait.