In this dark 'police comedy', Sergeant Jack Astley spends another weekend with the Civil War Society. Together with his small Troop (Astley's Foote), Jack expects victory in a re-enactment of the Battle of Edgehill. And with the law on his side, the sergeant will let no man deflect his Godly purpose.
Astley invests all his spare time and money on these Battle re-enactments. He is deluded about his importance in the King's Army (the Royalist Section). His junior colleagues refer to him as 'Mad Jack' or 'The Bishop', the latter based upon his religious fervour.
Jack's family and two constables have their own reasons for joining him at the re-enactments. Constable Hubie Rimmer, the sergeant’s oldest friend, enjoys adulterous access to Mrs Dora Astley. The younger constable, Vinnie Virgin, relies upon the sergeant for regular overtime and decent shifts at work. None of this group actually enjoys the long weekends in the sergeant's company.
Over a summer weekend, the Troop prepares for then re-enacts the Battle of Edgehill. It soon becomes clear that the policemen are mixing with illegal elements, perhaps ex-miners, travellers or gypsies. As the Battle ends, the members of Astley’s Foote lick their wounds and prepare for a drunken, vengeful Saturday night.
The constables settle for drink, drugs and random violence, mostly against each other. The sergeant, unhinged by spiked alcohol and tobacco, turns into Sir Jacob Astley, his imagined heroic ancestor. For a few dangerous hours, Jack is back in the seventeenth century, interrogating a prisoner, and searching the moors for Oliver Cromwell.
Sunday morning dawns to change all their lives.
This novel is a dark, satirical story, not a farcical comedy. Much of the satire is directed against religious or political views.
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