The Mind of Mr. Mosley — John Greenwood

They're rustling sheep on Mosley's patch -- the hill country of the Yorkshire-Lancashire border. Young Sergeant Beamish is in love. And Ruben Tunnicliffe of Upper Crudshaw has committed suicide by hanging himself with his braces in the earth closet at the bottom of his yard. Then his 80 year old widow reports a theft of 500 pounds...

Curious beyond the call of duty, unorthodox in his method and unwilling to leave matters in the hands of his nemesis Chief Inspector Marsters, the imperturbable Mosley sets a trap before departing on vacation.

Before matters are sorted out, vicar Wilfred Weskitt is accused of running a brothel, Mosley publishes poetry under the name if local poetess laureate Millicent Millicheap and the CIA, the KGB, and the Special Branch are baffled, but once again Mosley triumphs in a manner that leaves his superiors and neighbors in states varying from bewilderment to near-apoplexy.