Hetty Wainthropp Investigates

Hetty is approached by Hansi, a German gentleman whose golden years have been hampered by a painstaking search for his sister, whom he lost contact with during World War II. However, Hetty passes the case off to Geoffrey and Janet, when it comes to light that this is not the only pain Hansi has been suffering. Someone at his retirement community has been making pointed references to Nazism at Hansi, something he had never been a part of. The person is going so far as to deface Hansi's garden in the shape of a Swastika. Hetty goes undercover as a potential tenant of the retirement community, where she comes into contact with characters that seem to come right out of the mystery novel she's reading: a regimental romantic, a frail woman who has remained alone since her fiance's death in the war, among others. All seem to have motives for harming Hansi. Geoffrey and Janet find Hansi's nephew, only to find that he is ashamed of his uncle's German heritage and prefers to continue hiding. Mea

Hetty represents a neighbour at a creditors' meeting and her agency is asked to find a missing company director and his money.

Hetty seeks compensation for the victim of a road rage incident in which a female driver hit another in the face.

A military wife hires Hetty when a mysterious photographer starts stalking the woman's daughter and her fiancé. Tipped that an Australian is involved, Hetty and Geoffrey go undercover as "Aussies." They track down the mastermind and learn more than their client wants to know.

The children of well-to-do widow Gillian Snape are worried that her photographer-fiancé Lester Rose is marrying her for her money, and hire Hetty to investigate Rose's past. With Geoffrey's help, Hetty learns that Rose is a gambler and a gigolo with several previous identities. Surprising facts revealed by two women from his past and Hetty's tense undercover visit to his studio expose a somewhat less thorny side of the man. Still, is he the marrying kind?

Hetty is called in by the Mayor of Titterslow to look for his daughter who has runaway. She has learning difficulties and the Mayor and his wife want the matter of her disappearance to be kept very quiet. Hetty discovers that she left with her boyfriend, Bernard, who also has learning difficulties and that they were making their way to a country hotel.

Helga Allowby, a self-described spinster, has been accused of sending noxious poison pen letters to the residents of her village and she wants Hetty to prove her innocence. Hoping to penetrate the mistrust that pervades the village, Hetty goes undercover as Tara Hall, a visiting painter. When Hetty turns up next on the mailing list, she suspects that Miss Allowby is guilty of bad penmanship.

An old friend of Hetty's - her partner in a music-hall routine years ago -- seeks her help in locating her troubled foster daughter, Chrissie. A teenage mother, Chrissie has disappeared just as a series of arson attacks on local homes have occurred --and Chrissie has a history of setting fires! As Hetty and Geoffrey look for Chrissie, a local newspaper photo competition reveals more than the photographer intended, prompting Geoff to dress in drag -- blonde wig, high heels and all -- to confront the arsonist. Hetty picks up a much-needed reward for her work in this case, and at the presentation of the check, proves that the new gumshoe hasn't lost her knack for the ol' soft-shoe!

Hetty and Robert travel to the small village of Readsby, where his revered elderly uncle, a former professional soccer player, has apparently committed suicide. But Hetty doesn't believe it -- for one thing, where's the suicide note? And when she begins to suspect that the villagers of Readsby, once a notorious haven for witches, are engaged in satanic practices, she's determined to prove that they were somehow involved -- with surprising results!

Hetty is called on by a pair of worried parents whose deaf-mute son, Malcolm, has disappeared while out bird-watching on the day he was to meet his mail-order bride from Thailand.