'Pirates in the Cotswolds?' is a fictional story based on a mystery of the 1660s concerned with piracy, robbery and hangings. It describes the experiences of a ten-year-old boy, Tobias, who witnesses all three, and develops into the mystery of what happened to the local rent collector, Will Harrison, who, it is said, returned to Chipping Campden after being away for two years claiming he was captured and robbed by pirates whilst on his rounds in the North Cotswolds. Various stories about what happened to Harrison circulated at that time within his home town, Chipping Campden, leading to the execution of a local family, but what actually happened to him remained the sort of mystery which provides a fascinating plot for the book.