I read this book in March, 2026.

Although not entirely appropriate here, I will stick to my usual format - Characters , Personal Lives and Main Plots .

Characters .

Angus Munroe is a vet married to Bridey. They live in the Yorkshire Dales in the fictitious Thirndale, but the practice is in nearby Switherham.
Bridey Munroe, a school teacher, is married to Angus, and they have an 18 month old daughter Joanna.
Murdo McMurdo (54) whose Dales practice Angus joined, was an old fashioned, overbearing, unreasonable character and a poor businessman. He is married to Ellie also a former teacher. She suffers from diabetes and a thyroid condition. Murdo, a fellow Scot, is only 5ft 4 imches, but weighs 17 stone !
Vet John Bannerman, Angus's friend, worked for Murdo, but left and suggested that Angus should apply for his job.
Harry Brinscombe, former assistant vet to Murdo, now runs a rival more successful practice in the same town.
Mildred Mallaby is Murdo's part time secretary.
Bill Barclay is the vet Angus worked for before moving to the Yorkshire Dales.
Fred Farish is a local knacker.
Bob Buckle runs the local garage and supplies cars, rental properties, etc. Murdo owes Buckle a fortune - so both must keep each other solvent.
Euan Cameron is Angus's 6ft 4 inches tall friend from college days. He is married to Bridget. At the end of the book he is Murdo's vet practice partner.
Alex Watts is a former colleague of Murdo's from his previous job. Thick skinned, he turns up for a week's visit and has a talent for saying the wrong thing at the wrong time.
W. Osgothorpe (Wisdom) is a know-it-all client of Murdo's.
Eric Carlton is an old college days vet friend of Murdo's who turns up to help when Murdo dies.
Digby Barclay is the Midland bank manager in Switherham.
Clarence Clinger is a pushy insurance salesman who comes good with practical financial advice when Murdo and Euan want to take over Murdo's practice.

Private Lives :

Angus is a Scot, married to Bridey, and they have an 11 month old daughter Joanna. Bridey is pregnant again. Angus qualified as a vet in 1968 and worked in a mixed practice in the South of Scotland for about 3 years. To better himself he applied for a new and better paid job in Lancashire. The journey there had complications with constant stops for Bridey's car / pregnant sickness and then they had a puncture in the pouring rain. Angus arrived for his interview with Wilson and Sleeth late, and covered in mud - not the best impression for a practice that was run with upper class military precision and a jacket and tie dress code. Angus didn't like the set up and is surprised when, after the disaster of an interview, he is offered a position at an excellent £2.5k per year. After Lancashire, Angus and Bridey motored on to visit Angus's friend John, working as a vet for Murdo McMurdo in Switherham in the Yorkshire Dales. John too is leaving and, on hearing about the Lancashire set up, suggests that Angus might be happier applying for his job. Murdo is hopelessly in debt and losing clients to a rival practice (Harry Brinscome). John doubts that Murdo could afford to pay £2.5k, but nothing ventured... Angus gets the job at his asking salary.

Angus starts his new job at Murdo's practice in Switherham on January 3rd, 1972 - in the middle of a Yorkshire winter with snow on the ground and rain and sleet every day. They have taken over John's old quarters, Northgate House in nearby Thirndale - a substantial but draughty edifice. John has taken all the coal supplies with him. Worse, there is a national energy crisis and electricity supplies are switched off twice daily. Bridey tries to order more coal, but the merchant is only supplying reduced rations to existing customers. Bridey is miserable and cold for chapter after chapter. Angus does arrange a delivery of logs but they are sodden - it's like "trying to light water". Angus cannot get a fire going. To escape the cold, when Angus gets a weekend off they visit Angus's centrally heated friend Euan Cameron, a vet on Teeside. Euan is married to Bridget, but he is not happy working on Teeside. It's all small animal work, £5 cash payment in advance on housing estates, and car vandalised in the process. Euan asks John to get him a job as second assistant to Murdo, and jumping ahead, after an job interview, Euan is to start work for Murdo on March 1st.

Sadly all does not go to plan. Suffering from stress and overweight, Murdo dies of a heart attack in the middle of a calfing. Angus has to rush there to deliver the dead calf with Murdo's dead body lying there on the ground, covered in sacking. Ellie, Murdo's wife, offers Murdo's practice to Angus with only one condition - it must not fall into the hands of their arch rival Harry Brinscombe. Remarkably Ellie is still manning the phone and a list of vet visits demands attention. Angus is about to rush off, but Bridey says hold on, there are greater priorities - are we staying, we will need to tell Euan, etc, etc. She sets up a meeting for 8 pm that evening - solicitor, accountant, Euan and with Clarence Clinger to act as Angus's financial advisor. Bob Buckle turns up too. It seems Murdo did not prepare accounts, but roughly he owes £60k, of which about £30k is to Bob Buckle. Angus and Euan cannot possibly take over a £60k debt, but Clarence suggests buying time. Angus and Euan initially take over only Murdo's fixed assets and a line is drawn under Murdo's business until a proper debtors, and creditors balance is discovered. Euan is not sure he wants anything to do with any of this, but is persuaded to join up. Over 600 attend Murdo's funeral. John and Murdo's friend Eric Carlton had turned up to provide much needed emergency cover and help for Ellie on Murdo's death. And so Cameron and Munroe are partners in a new vet practice with only a £1k overdraft facility at Midland bank - they had asked for a £12k loan.

After returning from his meeting with the bank manager ( £1k overdraft, no £12k loan), Angus is met by an anxious Mildred. His wife had phoned some time ago - she has gone into labour and needs to get to the maternity unit. Angus rushes off realising that neither he nor Bridey has any idea where the maternity unit is. And so the book ends. I think it has set up book 2 brilliantly - of course we want to know what happens next.

The Main Plot :

The main part of the book comprises the day to day life of a busy Yorkshire Dales vet where money is tight and farmers have to be canny with their cash. Angus has joined Murdo McMurdo's practice which is steadily losing clients to rival Harry Brinscombe. Worse, Harry phones Murdo and Ellie every night at exactly 8 pm to tell them of the latest client who has switched allegiance. They dread 8 pm, whether the phone rings or not. Angus starts work on the 3rd January, 1972. His company car, his friend John's old Escort does not inspire, and makes the strangest of noises. Unusually for him, Murdo recognises Angus needs a reliable car to get to clients, and gets him a new car, an Avenger, from Buckle's Garage. Bob Buckle says the worrying noise from it's rear axle is just "bedding in". It's a busy first day for Angus. No one is pleased to see a new person - they want Murdo, or John. Angus does a difficult breach calfing with an epidural. This is new, the farmer is furious, and he'll complain to Murdo. This is one of several themes to the book - it's a constant battle of science v tradition. Another theme is the spectre of Harry Brinscombe. If treatment is unsuccessful or a calf dies, the threat is business will switch to Harry, and yet another client will be lost.

Murdo has decided he will have to put a dog down. Angus offers to do an hysterectomy, and the dog will have years left. Yes, says Murdo, but the problem is cost - can the client afford it? Next, Murdo had been treating a cow with one of his old fashioned mixtures. Angus diagnoses a twisted stomach, and says he will operate next day. Murdo cautions - if the cow dies, I will lose a client and a friend ! The operation is a success. I never realised the life of a vet was so hard. After an exhausting day, Angus is constantly called out in the middle of the night. He shivers as he gets dressed, the car slithers on the icy snow covered roads. After such a call out to farmer Ted, Angus is found another job whilst he is there. There is probably poor light from a 40w bulb. At one place there was not even a bulb - the farmer thought it was not worth replacing blown bulbs as he was nearing eventual retirement. This is another book theme - the canniness of a Yorkshire farmer.

Angus, however, does learn an important lesson. He admits at that at his last practice he had the nick name of "the professor" for using "college speak" not the plain words of the average farmer. Angus had been called out to a poorly cow. Everyone agreed the cow was doomed. The farmer said it was "worm in the tail." Angus diagnosed "bovine malignant catarrh." The farmer gets Murdo to turn up. Murdo pronounces it's an "awfy sair heid, call in the knacker". Later Murdo tells Angus he has to learn to communicate with that sort of people. Don't use fancy notions out of vet school. Later Ted Furnish, the knacker, says the cow had "congestion of the lungs", and Angus does not argue. Similarly when he phones the farmer he agrees that it was "worm in the tail" right enough. The important thing is to give the animal the correct treatment, and not worry what words the farmer had used. It's the old theme - if it's science v tradition, let tradition win. Jack McIntyre owns Thornton Grange, and 3 farms. His Irish Wolf Hound, with a distended abdomen, will have to be put down. Perhaps the specialist vet Hardcastle in Harrogate might be able to save him, but the dog would not survive the journey. Angus says he will give it a go, and with Jack helping, he operates, and removes plastic waste from the dog's tummy. The operation is happily a success.

I liked the story where Angus has to fake a ping on a metal detector. Wisdom has a poorly cow, and wants one of Murdo's mixtures. Angus tells him there is wire in his tummy, a mixture won't work, and he will operate tomorrow. Wisdom won't hear of an operation, but there is a sick cow to treat. Angus has a brainwave. He tells Wisdom that Murdo has a metal detector, and if this indicates metal present he will be allowed to operate. The said detector has not worked for years, but Angus will rig things so that it pings. Alex Watts, a sort of friend from Angus's previous practice is visiting Angus. He has an unfortunate talent for saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. Next day Angus takes Alex with him for the operation. Wisdom is concerned that the metal detector has to be plugged in, and will use his electricity. He will need a discount. Alex goes off to plug the device in, and Angus gets a bleep out of the detector. Wisdom says that was no ping, but agrees to the operation. Now Alex returns - "shall I plug the machine in ?" Wisdom is rightly suspicious, but Angus says he tested the machine before leaving Switherham, and the capacitor must have had residual charge. Wisdom is placated. Now Alex tells them he has seen this operation done many times, and it's never been a success. Angus operates immediately, and pulls a length of wire from the cows stomach. Wisdom recognises said wire and is amazed, but grateful. Another success for Angus Munroe. No such success with the next client who has called into the small animal facility - a room in Northgate house. He has a goose that was bitten by a dog. The goose seems fine to Angus, but he gives it an injection of antibiotic. The client asks Angus what sex his goose is. Angus's vet training did not cover sexing geese. He is happy when Alex takes over. Alex knows he has a 50% chance of being correct, takes the goose, and upends it. The goose swoons and it takes ages for Angus and Alex to revive it. The client calls the pair a couple of quacks, and flees with no payment.

The next farmer wants to involve Angus in an insurance fraud - he had loaded a dead animal onto a trailer as he had death in transit insurance cover. Angus refuses, and says he knows that Harry Brimscombe would refuse too. Piers Pocock's pigs need treatment. Angus gives them penicillin, but when he returns they are flat out. It's some sort of allergy, happily remedied by switching to an alternative antibiotic, but Angus gets blamed. He's new and is still suffering disparaging remarks about his ability. The next call out is an easy one. It's a case of milk fever which has to be treated quickly, but farmers are constantly surprised at how a cow can be saved from death's door so quickly - almost instant recovery. And so day to day emergencies are dealt with - it's strange how many happen in the middle of the night and have the vet stripped to the waist in a poorly lit, windy barn in a bitterly cold snow storm.

I think now I have given a flavour of the book, hopefully without spoiling it for anyone. The stories are told with great humour, and with some modesty. I am sure the author and his wife are not really as disorganised as Angus and Bridey appear. Overall I enjoyed reading "The Yorkshire Way." There will need to be at least a second book to answer so many questions. Did Angus and Bridey make it to the maternity hospital in time ? Was it a brother or sister for Joanna ? How will Angus and Euan fare in their new venture ? How will the rivalry with Harry Branscombe end? We want to read on.

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