By Annie Appleton

Jacob Hicks is a brilliant physicist, forced to take a job as a physics teacher at the local secondary school. His neighbours mockingly call him the ‘professor’. Jacob is seemingly oblivious to what is happening around him, but his best friend Dave knows that Jacob has keen observational skills and great perception. When murder comes to Milbury, Jacob is labelled a suspect and he has no choice but to use his skills to save his own reputation. Much to his dismay the only way to do this is by working together with Emily, Dave’s scary niece, who herself is on probation for kicking a policemen in the shins and taking a bite out of another one. As the humans give each other a hard time, there is a group of rats in Milbury, who are both baffled and fascinated by the behaviour of their two-legged neighbours. One rat in particular, Paddy, is just as keen an observer as Jacob. While dealing with their own problems, Paddy and his friends might sometimes unwittingly help the humans solve the crimes.