The Rose Of The Ribble Valley

THE ROSE OF THE RIBBLE VALLEY

By Graham Dixon

Folksinger, GEOFF, is the ‘Front man’ with ELDERFLOWER PUNCH – a four-piece musical group who, when they perform, pack the pubs and folk clubs of Northwest England. WAYNE plays bass; CHLOE, a student archaeologist is the singer and LUTE is the mandolin player.
The band are plagued with cancellations, due to the ‘ridiculous’ law which allows no more than two performers to play at any one time, in venues that do not hold a very expensive ‘Public Entertainment License.
BRIAN CLAYTON, an old folk-singing friend comes to the rescue when he opens a new ‘Live Music Venue’ in the area.
Brian’s wife TINA is from a ‘well to do’ family, her father FRANK CROXLEY and her devious brother STANISLAW run a large company and own much of the land and property in the Ribble Valley. The Croxleys have many secrets and past indiscretions locked away with other skeletons in the family cupboard.
The beautiful ROSEMARY appears to Geoff, first of all in a vivid dream experienced after sampling a strange drink made from the rose petals collected from Croxley’s Wood, and then (apparently) in the flesh on a car park after a gig. From the ensuing conversation it appears that Rosemary is a ghost and has been dead for almost three hundred years.
Rosemary is trying to find out what happened to her fiancé BRYAN of CLAYTON who was an eighteenth century street musician come minstrel and the author of the song THE ROSE OF THE RIBBLE VALLEY.
The story, sometimes humorous, sometimes tragic sees Geoff and Chloe getting mixed-up in a clever illegal drugs operation as they try to solve the mystery of Bryan of Clayton and his beloved Rose of The Ribble Valley.

More info http://www.roseoftheribblevalley.ukart.com