You won't find Grubtown on any maps. The last time any map-makers were sent anywhere near the place they were found a week later wearing nothing but pages from a telephone directory, and calling for their mothers.

It's certainly a town and certainly grubby -- except for the squeaky clean parts -- but everything else we know about the place comes from Beardy Ardagh, town resident and author of these tales. As Beardy Ardagh reports, when the local lighthouse is plunged into darkness and a ship runs aground -- flattening The Rusty Dolphin -- it's hard to imagine things can get much worse in Grubtown.

But then there's a jail-break and the Police Department (all three of them) need all the help they can get from the (often bonkers) townsfolk.

No wonder more trouble is waiting just around the corner.