The Maid and the Minister II: Putting Ghosts to Rest

One would have thought that the incidents in a quiet country village narrated in book one, would have been sufficient for anybody in a lifetime, more so a vicar and his wife. However, a fete coupled with a visiting French Count instigate a set of events one would never have thought possible. Poor Dick Drummond gets accused of theft and flees his newly rebuilt home to live in a pigsty. Jane is incensed by the injustice, so teams up with Jack Sweeny to clear his name. That involves a band of Irish gypsies, a strange Colleen called Moreen, together with the Colonel. All through these hijinks they manage to get involved in smuggling, kidnapping and Lady Celia of the Manor, who oddly goes off the rails. Rescuing Dick, Jane and Jack secrete him in a cave at Smuggler’s Cove, and inadvertently embroiled with a gang of International crooks. After clearing Dick, he and Jack work on a farm, but as ever, events overtake them and Dick is knocked out, losing his memory. Moreen regresses him with almost dire results and an interesting picture of life in the 18th century navy. But finding the ringleader of the crooks is their main aim, as is freeing the captive they hold on a yacht. The final acts are played out in a graveyard with gunshots and corpses all around with Dick in the middle.