Book 1: Meet the Neighbours sets the scene — mischievous ferrets Pip and Whisker (perpetual scapegoats), gossipy Robin Redbreast on the chimney pot, the ever-suspicious Constable Badger, soft-hearted Tabitha Cat at the tea room (who absolutely does not sneak the ferrets biscuits), and Marlo Pine, the sly pine marten actually behind most of the trouble that no one but Benji seems to catch.
Book 2: All Sorts in Willowburrow brings in six new working animals, each with their own short caper: the Buckley beaver brothers and a tilting bench, Otto the otter and a stopped fountain, Cornelius the tortoise and his vanished marigolds, Fenwick Fox and a stolen pine cone, a traveling weasel salesman's missing honey jars, and Bruno the Bear called in for a leaning chimney.