One runaway goat. One hidden tunnel. One village with rather too much to hide.
Life at Green Pastures Farm ought to be peaceful. Martha and Tom Green raise goats on the hillside above Branscombe and produce what the locals confidently describe as the finest goat’s butter in Devon.
Perhaps the finest in the South West. Possibly the world.
Then Goethe escapes. Goethe is not particularly interested in butter. He is interested in freedom. And ale.
His latest escape takes him from Green Pastures, over the clifftop path and down towards Branscombe Beach. Then he vanishes.
Martha and Tom search everywhere. There is no sign of him.
Because Goethe has found something nobody knew was still accessible. An old smugglers’ tunnel. At the far end is a trapdoor beneath one of Branscombe’s ancient pubs.
And that is only the beginning. Soon a butter crate contains something considerably more valuable than butter. Strangers are asking questions about delivery routes. Suspicious cargo is coming ashore.
Reverend Abner Combs disappears.
And Frank and Ella Raleigh discover that Branscombe’s colourful smuggling history may not be entirely historical after all.
Branscombe Butter is Book Six of the East Devon Cosy Mysteries, a warm, funny coastal mystery involving goats, hidden tunnels, rival pubs, contraband, an endangered vicar and one particularly adventurous animal.
Meet Goethe
Goat. Escape artist. Accidental detective.
Goethe lives at Green Pastures.
At least, that is where Martha and Tom would prefer him to live.
Goethe has other ideas.
One afternoon he clears the farm fence, heads towards the cliffs and makes a remarkably adventurous descent towards Branscombe Beach.
Then he disappears into a bank of ferns.
Behind them lies the entrance to an old tunnel.
Any sensible goat might have turned around.
Goethe smells something interesting.
So naturally he goes further in.
He makes his way along a dark, rough-hewn passage where human footprints and even bicycle tracks show that this supposedly forgotten tunnel is very much in use.
A Goat Walks Into a Pub…
Following the tunnel, Goethe reaches a wooden trapdoor.
Above it lies the Smugglers’ Den beneath the Mason’s Rest.
The pub regulars hear mysterious thumping beneath the floor.
Ghost?
Smuggler?
Something worse?
They lift the hatch.
And a goat erupts into the room and knocks the landlord backwards.
Goethe then discovers the aroma that attracted him through the tunnel in the first place.
Ale.
Soon he is standing happily in the bar drinking cider from a dish and refusing to leave until Martha carries his drink towards the door.
The Butter Ghost
Once Goethe appears covered in pale dust and flour, frightened villagers decide that the legendary Butter Ghost has returned.
PC Alf Hydon arrives to restore order.
He takes one look at the creature and confidently declares:
“That’s a goat, not a ghost.”
He then tries directing Goethe as though he were troublesome traffic.
Remarkably, it works.
Who Will Enjoy Branscombe Butter?
Branscombe Butter may be for you if you enjoy:
- traditional British cosy mysteries
- village mysteries
- seaside and countryside settings
- goats
- farms
- food and local produce
- smuggling stories
- secret tunnels
- eccentric villagers
- rival pubs
- South West Coast Path walks
- hidden treasure and contraband
- gentle humour
- recurring characters
- mysteries without graphic violence
- stories where animals accidentally uncover clues
And especially:
mysteries in which the most useful investigator has four legs and horns.
