A WOLF that thinks it’s a cow, a dangerous doppelganger and a mousey astronaut are just some of the colourful characters in ‘Three Friends and Crumbs: Volume Two’.

The title is the latest instalment in a series of books by author and journalist, Hamish Hutchinson.

Volume Two is the fourth self-published book in the Three Friends and Crumbs series which features biscuit detective, Crumbs the Crimefighter.

The crumbly hero comes to the aid of friends Blobby Bunny, Chicky the Chick and Oodle the Owl to solve five new mysteries.

Hamish said: “The first volume introduced the characters but this second one allows me to explore their personalities and lives. For instance, you find out what Crumbs gets up to on his day off, the grooming habits of Oodle and where Chicky likes to go shopping.” Volume Two contains five stories with intriguing titles, namely The Odd Robber, The Leaning Tree, The Mixed-Up Monster, The Wolf That Cried Moo and The Space Mouse.

Hamish is a former Alva Academy pupil and now lives in Stirling. His stories have roots in his own childhood, having written Crumbs’ first adventure when he was just eight years old.

He explained: “It was a simple tale of a chick, bunny, owl and a crimefighting biscuit in search of missing tea leaves.

“I dictated the story to my older cousin who wrote it down. It was filed away in a drawer and it wasn’t until my wife was expecting our first child that I searched it out again. I thought it would be nice to read my daughter a story that I’d written myself.” As he was typing it up inspiration hit him and he got ideas for further stories.

Last year he published a partially illustrated spin-off tale with a twist on the Battle of Bannockburn called ‘The Battle of BannockBUN’.

In it the three friends visit a festival commemorating the anniversary of the battle and there they learn about another battle which took place in 1314 between Robert the Moose and Merlin the Mouse over a bun.

Then in the autumn he added an ebook story revealing the origins of Crumbs called ‘Mrs Hudson’s Biscuit Tin’.

Three Friends and Crumbs: Volume Two is available, priced £3.99, from Amazon and from Alloa Framing Company, Primrose Street, Alloa.