Trama

DI Crabbe is suspended from the police after a botched sting operation and denied his imminent retirement, and opens his own restaurant. However, his ex-boss, Assistant Chief Constable Freddy Fisher, constantly calls Crabbe back on duty.

Detective Inspector Henry Crabbe, an intelligent, sensible, and mild-mannered man, would like nothing better than to retire from the police force and devote his time and energy to the restaurant that he wants to open. However, Assistant Chief Constable Fisher won't allow this to happen because this would expose his own stupidity and ineptitude to the unwelcome attention of his superiors. So, after a botched operation to try to catch a notorious criminal, Fisher devises a scheme that incriminates Henry, and, until he can solve this invidious dilemma, he must continue to serve at his boss's calling, whenever the need arises.—Mark Smith <msmith@osi.co.uk>

Henry Crabbe is a detective inspector who gets shot in the line of duty, following which he wants to retire to open a restaurant--the titular Pie in the Sky--as cooking, especially of good English-styled cuisine with a modern French twist, is his passion in life. However, standing in his way of this dream is his boss, Assistant Chief Constable Freddy Fisher, who refuses to issue a full retirement pension because of a botched operation in which Henry was shot has raised some questions about Henry's police conduct. In reality, Freddy knows that Henry is innocent of any impropriety, but he uses this only as a reason to keep Henry, Freddy's "brains," on the force: Henry does all the brain work; Freddy gets all the glory. However, Freddy does allow Henry to work on a part-time or on-call-as-needed basis (i.e., whenever Freddy is in a jam, which is always) while the shooting incident is investigated. This leaves the possibility of a full pension in the future if Henry is cleared, but in the meantime, it also allows Henry to open his dream restaurant with all of this extra time he has on his hands. Because of Henry's position on the police force, the restaurant is on paper owned by Henry's accountant wife Margaret, on whom good food is wasted. Although she supports Henry's dream, she would prefer that the restaurant be solely operated in a cost-efficient-effective manner, regardless of the result of food quality. Henry balances his police force and restaurant life, the latter of which is populated partially by ex-cons working in his kitchen.—Huggo