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    Blood in the Cotswolds: The engrossing cosy crime series
    Unavailable
    Blood in the Cotswolds: The engrossing cosy crime series
    Unavailable
    Blood in the Cotswolds: The engrossing cosy crime series
    Ebook305 pages5 hours

    Blood in the Cotswolds: The engrossing cosy crime series

    By Rebecca Tope

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    Thea Osborne and her faithful spaniel, Hepzie, have taken on a house-sitting assignment in the charming Cotswold village of Temple Guiting. But as always, an idyllic village can harbour a disquieting number of secrets and when a skeleton is discovered at the roots of an old beech tree, Thea is grateful for the presence of her partner DS Phil Hollis. There is no concrete evidence as to who the bones belonged to although it isn't long before theories and rumours abound. Thea soon finds herself drawn into a murder investigation - perhaps the countryside isn't that quiet after all.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAllison & Busby
    Release dateNov 15, 2010
    ISBN9780749009878
    Unavailable
    Blood in the Cotswolds: The engrossing cosy crime series
    Author

    Rebecca Tope

    Rebecca Tope is the author of three bestselling crime series, set in the Cotswolds, Lake District and West Country. She lives on a smallholding in rural Herefordshire, where she enjoys the silence and plants a lot of trees.

    Read more from Rebecca Tope

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    Reviews for Blood in the Cotswolds

    3.5/5

    28 ratings6 reviews

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    • 3/5
      Thea Osborne is a historian and house-sitter whose current job takes her to the village of Temple Guiting. Her boyfriend, senior policeman Phil Hollis, joins her for the weekend but while there slips a disc in his back and has to stay on longer to recuperate. He is therefore present when a large tree is uprooted and a skeleton is uncovered. The bones turn out to be relatively recent and a full-blown murder investigation ensues, though Hollis is on sick leave and has to sit painfully on the sidelines while the official investigation is carried out.

      My primary reason for selecting this book was fond memories of staying in the Cotswolds several times (although no blood was spilled during my trips there) and in that respect I was not disappointed. The story’s village setting is depicted exactly as I imagined where any crime is relatively gentle and the suspect pool consists of a handful of characters who share complicated family connections and long histories and everyone is very civilised. Even when one of the suspects holds one of the protagonists at gunpoint it’s all done in quite a gentlemanly way and it never feels like anyone is in much actual danger of getting hurt. To take one’s mind off the criminal element there’s a pet snake, snippets of Templar history and an English version of a hot summer (where I live several days of 28°C-30°C temperatures would qualify as a cool change during our summers).

      Thea Osborne is quite a strong female character, especially as her civil libertarian leanings are at odds with her boyfriend’s job and she doesn’t automatically fall into a nursemaid role when Hollis is injured but Hollis is a bit wet. Having experienced the same back injury myself I can appreciate that the author has captured his pain and frustration well but there is a limit to how interesting someone else’s ailments can be and, for me anyway, that limit was reached before the end of this book.

      Although it was a pleasant enough tale it didn’t really have anything terribly original to offer but if you’re a fan of Misdomer Murders I think you’d probably enjoy this book. If you like audio books I can recommend this narration as Caroline Lennon does a rather good job of drawing you into the story and differentiating the characters in an understated way that suits the tone of the story.
    • 4/5
      this is the first book I've read by this author and it won't be the last. It takes someone who is having aquiet time house sitting and thrusts them into a murder when a body is found underneath a dislodged tree. Add in her boyfreiend with a bad back and the scen is set.
    • 3/5
      BLOOD IN THE COTSWOLD is an entry in the (somewhat unimaginatively named, it has to be said) Cotswold Series from British author Rebecca Tope.Central character Thea Osborne and her dog Hepzie house-sit. They do this quite a bit, and in this book they are in the quiet little village of Temple Guiting. Thea's partner DS Phil Hollis is joining them for a quiet, and hopefully romantic, celebration of their first-year anniversary. Of course nothing goes to plan, and Hollis puts his back out, meaning he's on the spot when an upturned old tree reveals a skeleton.The discovery of the skeleton leads to a range of different possible identities and some local sleuthing, somewhat outside proper protocol by both Hollis and Thea, albeit with Hollis rather restricted in his movements because of his back.There's some nice asides throughout this book taking you through some of the history of this village, and there's that light touch - not quite cozy (in the recipe and cat's vein), that you can expect from this type of very British, small town, "Midsomer" style of books.And that's really the main point of this book - that small village; idyllic looking, murder and mayhem lurking beneath the surface countryside; slightly eccentric characters; with a combination of official and non-official investigators of which there are a lot of excellent examples in British crime fiction. BLOOD IN THE COTSWOLDS fits right in with that whole sub-genre (whatever it's called). Non-confrontational stories, in this example with an up-to-date mature age relationship, it's not a stretch to imagine that this book (and the series) is just the thing for readers looking for a little romance, a little humour and a touch of murder and mayhem without the overt gore and angst of other forms of crime fiction. Even if you're not a dedicated fan of this style (and goodness knows I normally prefer to dance on the dark side), BLOOD IN THE COTSWOLD was a good, solid and interesting plot, with a believable couple at the centre of the investigation, dedicated but not overly romantic and unrealistic. All in all good fun, light entertainment and a very nice way to spend a cold winter's Sunday.
    • 4/5
      One of the things I enjoy about this series is "visiting" all these lovely little villages in the Cotswolds in England. The villages actually exist; the author has just taken artistic license with the people, the houses and the businesses. Despite the necessary changes, the reader is able to learn about the area, and the setting adds a great deal of flavor to each book. (In Death in the Cotswolds, I learned more about sheep, about spinning and dyeing wool, and about the care and feeding of a pig, among other things.)Tope tries something a little different in this third book in the series. The story is told from the point of view of Ariadne, not Thea. This is tricky-- and it doesn't always work-- but Ariadne is so eccentric, so prickly, that I found her side of things fascinating. She tells us about herself, from childhood to the present, and she certainly isn't shy about voicing her opinions. In addition, the author's turning Ariadne into the storyteller means that we get to see Thea Osborne from a completely different perspective-- and one that isn't always flattering. As the two women find themselves spending more and more time together, it's interesting to see how Ariadne's opinion of Thea changes. Moreover, all the time these two women are searching for a killer, Ariadne also begins learning some home truths about herself. She's a complex and ultimately sympathetic character that I hope to see in future books.Speaking of complex, the plot itself certainly fills that bill. Tope plants clues all along the way, and I don't know if I was enjoying Ariadne and her interactions with Thea too much or what because I saw the clues and refused to admit where they were leading. That'll teach me! Hopefully I'll remember this lesson learned when I pick up the next book in the series!
    • 3/5
      Found it a rather odd book hard to get into. Lots of characters to remember, none memorable .
    • 4/5
      Third in the series of Thea's house-sitting mysteries set in the Cotswolds. This is slightly different to the previous two in that the story is told completely from a third party, Adriane, whom Thea only intermittently interacts with. Thea is on holiday with her new boyfriend the DI Phil Hollis. They are both 'camping' in Phil's Aunt's house. The Aunt Helen has recently died and Phil and Thea are taking this as their first holiday together to go through Helen's possessions. Adriane has known Phil for many years, used to look after Helen, and lives across the road. The first day or two proceed normally with Adriane being involved in various dealings with her friends and acquaintances, until she finds the body of one of her friends. Phil and hence Thea are the first people she turns to.As beguiling as the previous to. Adriane is a great character and well written. She knows the old homestead crafts well, and the author has obviously done much research. Thea's voice is still there in the background but sufficiently distinct from Adriane's to work well. The mystery itself isn't too confusing, the list of suspects fairly short - all involved in the Freemasons. A lot more could have been made of the DI's prior involvement with them, but perhaps it is a better story for not going down the obvious route. Enjoyable cosy crime mystery. Well worth reading set in a delightful part of england.