I'VE been really looking forward to the second book in Julia Chapman's Dales Detective series and Date with Malice did not disappoint - in fact, I may have enjoyed it more than the first. There's something very satisfying and cosy about picking up where you left off with characters, and I was keen to find out more about Samson, Delilah, and Tolpuddle the dog. Date With Malice returns to the fictional town of Bruncliffe in the Yorkshire Dales where we left off at the end of the first book in the series, Date with Death. Disgraced London police detective Samson O'Brien, who has returned to his home town, having left under a cloud, is still running his private detective agency while Delilah Metcalfe never without her faithful hound, Tolpuddle, is both Samson's landlord and owner of the town's dating agency. It's the run up to Christmas, and Samson is called upon to investigate suspicious goings-on at the Fellside Court retirement home. Then, there's the strange case of the disappearing tup - and all set in a typical Yorkshire winter. Samson and Delilah are once again thrown together to investigate just what has been happening at the retirement home and to get to the bottom of the tup mystery and its gruff owner. Its all a million miles away from Samson's old job with the serious crime agency, but slowly, he's relaxing back into his old home town, while Delilah's feelings for Bruncliffe's black sheep begin to change.

Chapman, who lives in Austwick, and who as Julia Stagg wrote the Fogas Chronicles, set in the French Pyrenees, has set her latest series of books firmly in the Yorkshire Dales. Bruncliffe is all but in name, Settle, while so much about the story is recognisable; anyone familiar with the country around Settle will have fun spotting the references, and the locals even read the Craven Herald. I suspect some of the characters too are based on some of the residents of North Craven - certainly some of the names are familiar.

Date With Malice by Julia Chapman is published by Pan Macmillan and is priced £7.99. The third in the series is due out in six months time.