This paper discusses the implementation of a parallel text retrieval system using a microprocessor network. The system is designed to allow fast searching in document databases organised using the serial file structure, with a very rapid initial text signature search being followed by a more detailed, but more time-consuming, pattern matching search. The network is built from transputers, high performance microprocessors developed specifically for the construction of highly parallel computing systems, which are linked together in a processor farm. The paper discusses the design and implementation of processor farms, and then reports our initial studies of the efficiency of searching that can be achieved using this approach to text retrieval from serial files.