The events in Phinn's books take place around 16 years ago, not during the 1940s. Yet the Dales life that Phinn writes about is not greatly different from Herriot's. Remove the odd reference to television and skiing holidays and you're left with a book that could have been written at any time in the last 50 years. Whilst this gives the books a timeless, escapist feel, it also means that they miss the opportunity to provide a real insight into the job of a schools inspector in the late 1980s.

But despite their faults, the books are a good read. They are well-written and the stories are amusing, if predictable. I would suggest that the publishers re-think the cover design for the next book in the series, though, as I nearly didn't buy this one. The title and cover of the book were so similar to the previous three, I thought that I already owned it!