I devoured this book in a couple of sittings. With most other books that would have been it, put it on the shelf, read something else. But instead, a few weeks later I decided to re-read it - was it really as good as I had thought the first time round? No, it wasn't. It was better.

Gwion Dubh (pronounced Duv) is a scrumptious mix of hard-boiled private eye (think Philip Marlowe), and natural- world-wise solver of mysteries (think Brother Cadfael), plus a whole lot more. His long years of training in the druid college have tuned his senses to resonate with every creature, tree and other-worldly being in the great forest which is his natural milieu. He communicates with tree dryads, heather plants, gorse bushes, foxes, and just about everything else. His equipment is minimal - a smudge stick, hip flask, ogham sticks and an owl feather for directional guidance.

So, what does a druid gumshoe do? Well, certainly not your everyday investigations. "My missions," says Gwion, "came generally from higher up, you might say. And crossing dimensions might enter into it. Probably best not to ask about the Big Boss at this stage, but on forest command, he's at the top of the tree. When he pipes, you dance."

And the two separate but linked tales from Gwion's casebook fairly dance along too. On one level it's a real page-turner, a good read. But at the same time there's meaty esoteric stuff in here. Quite educational really. In "The Case of the Meddling Honey", a lovelorn young woman dabbles in the occult, summoning a faery king with a one-track mind and seriously disrupting the natural order of things in the forest. Dire doings are also afoot in the second story, "A Case of the Blast from the Past", where greedy merchants in league with evil magicians have forced their way into the far distant past in order to plunder the birch trees for their sap. The tree dryads are dispossessed and enslaved, the land is desecrated. Can Gwion summon and control the mighty elemental forces he needs to put all back to rights again?

I am bowled over by the sheer inventiveness of this book, and seriously impressed by the deep well of knowledge at its source. Arthur Billington's illustrations are also a joy, a perfect complement to the fast-moving, racy text. More, please!