With Solomon's Magpie Robert Crompton returns to his favourite haunts in Cheshire to disentangle a story told by Solomon Whitaker, boatman, basket-maker, and brewer. Solomon heard the story from his mother and went to the trouble of learning to read and write so that he could set it down. Generations later, fifteen-year-old Judy must try to create a readable version of the tale. But there's a problem - a large part of the story is missing, and it's clearly the most important part. Supported by her unlikely friendships with Twirl and Tracey, Judy fills in the gaps herself. Nobody believes her, however, because she is a compulsive spinner of yarns and teller of tall tales. Nobody will be really sure of what happened unless the missing pages can be found - and with them Solomon's magpie.