Andy Dalziel is an idiosyncratic, no-nonsense copper with a penetrating wit and questionable personal habits. Peter Pascoe is his cultured sidekick - an educated, thoughtful 'New Man' who also becomes a father in this series. The pair have a passionate commitment to justice and, despite their obvious differences, have forged an impressive crime-solving partnership - and a tentative friendship. In this series, Peter Pascoe and his wife, Ellie, now heavily pregnant, drive to a picturesque Cotsworld village to visit friends, only to find them murdered; a charming serial killer haunts the sleepy Yorkshire town of Wetherton; pest control takes on a new meaning when Dalziel and Pascoe investigate a suspicious rose grower; and Dalziel finds himself under suspicion when an old man is killed by a drunken driver.