A Discovery in the Cotswolds

Thea Osborne #21

by Rebecca Tope

Thea Osborne reconnects with her friend Emmy while on a visit to the church in Baunton, near Cirencester with her stepdaughter Stephanie. Emmy, now married to local farmer Nick Weaver, asks Thea to, help them find their missing niece, Ginny.

But before Thea can get started, she stumbles upon the recently killed body of Alice, a woman they had briefly seen in Cirencester the day before. Stephanie concentrates on searching for Ginny via social media while Thea is diverted into helping the police with the murder investigation. It soon becomes clear that Ginny and Alice are linked in a sinister way.

Genres: Fiction

320 pages, Hardcover

Published August 24, 2023

About the author

Rebecca Tope is best known as the author of over twenty crime novels. She has also recently produced the e-book entitled 'The Indifference of Tumbleweed'. She has every intention of continuing with the murder stories, as well as a variety of other kinds of fiction.

She has experienced many different kinds of work in her time - running antenatal classes, counselling troubled couples and being an office girl for an undertaker, for example. There were also several years monitoring the output of dairy cows, as well as every sort of task associated with book publishing. In 1992, she founded Praxis Books, a small British press.

She lives surrounded by trees she has planted herself, tending her own sheep.

Reviews

[Sam Philpott · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was the first book in this series that I have read. I found the characters to be very rude in how they spoke to one another. The story was very disjointed and fragmented. Too many times it was explained that by a look a sentence had been said between Thea and Stephanie.
I know it’s fiction but taking a child with you and the police actively seeking Thea’s help, and there is a series of these stories!!
I suppose I was expecting a warmer murder mystery like Midsommer or Father Brown. Well this was not it.
Too many references to Alice being crazy, mad etc. seemed to lack awareness of mental health.

[Jan Richardson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love these little cosy mysteries. Yes Thea is quite a selfish woman, but hey we’re not all perfect.
Drew is rather too forgiving and poor Tim appears to be ignored by pretty much everyone whilst Stephanie is becoming a bit precocious. Pity that Jessica doesn’t appear in these stories anymore either

[Mrs L · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm sorry to say this was a very irritating read. Not a patch on other detective stories I read. Thea seems a vacuous woman: at times selfish and also quite empty headed. The plot doesn't make a lot of sense and I became so bored by it I jumped pages just to get through it. I'm afraid I'll be giving Rebecca Tope a miss in future.

[Claire · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was okay but not as good as previous one in this series.

[Lizzie Hayes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thea Osborne, ex-house sitter, is now married to undertaker Drew Slocombe inheriting two stepchildren, Timmy and Stephanie. Over Sunday lunch Thea remarks that it seems unusually quiet. Stepanie says there is only one funeral this week’. Thea cast her mind back to how long it had been since she had taken an interest in her husband’s business. Drew explains that his ‘green’ approach to undertaking has now been overtaken by new ideas and while he was ground-breaking in the undertaking business 10 years ago the world has now changed. Thea muses that she has probably put up a very poor showing as an undertaker’s wife distancing herself from the details of the undertaking business. Thea decides she needs another house-sitting job. Drew is not that keen as he says ‘it takes you away from the bosom of your family. Stephanie doesn’t like it and the dog’s a complication’.

Reading online about some church paintings in a church in Baunton, Thea decides to visit the next day and takes Stephanie with her. There she meets up with Emmy, someone she had met on a previous house-sitting job, Emmy is now married to a local farmer Nick Weaver. They ask Thea to find their missing niece Ginny, who disappeared over a week ago.

Thea naturally agrees to help and armed with a photo of Ginny she sets off to survey the surrounding land. Although she doesn’t find Ginny, she does find the body of Alice, a woman she and Stephanie had encountered the day before when visiting the church in Baunton.

The murder investigation brings the police, and Detective Superintendent Sonia Gladwin, whom Thea has come to regard as a friend over the years that Thea has come across dead bodies in the Cotswolds villages where she had undertaken house-sitting.

But still there is no sign of the missing Ginny. During further talks with Emmy and Nick things are mentioned which neither of them seem to want to elaborate on. Nick does mention that something is missing and then clams up. Are they more interested in their missing item than the safety of Ginny. What did she take demanded Thea? Then Nick blurts out that his mother is in a coma following a car accident. Thea splutters, how many more secrets are there around here?

Is the murder of Alice and the missing girl Ginny linked?

And will Drew’s business survive? Will Thea come up with a super scheme to revitalise the undertaking business? Or will it die a sad death?

A good village mystery, that kept me guessing to the end, and one which I heartily recommend,
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Reviewer: Lizzie Sirett

[Jill · Rating 2 out of 5]

The prosaically-named 'A Discovery in the Cotswolds' by Rebecca Tope has, however, a suitably atmospheric cover that drew me in - as well as reading that Tope is a much-loved and excellent author. This book is #21 in the series but the first for me. I wonder if I should have read the others first? I found the plot plodding and not very clear, the characters clichéd, and the main character very annoying. I was most astonished to see a bipolar character described throughout as 'mad','crazy', 'peculiar' and 'manic'. Even if people in the Cotswolds still refer to people thus, I feel that using these descriptors in what is supposed to be 'a cosy murder story' does nothing to help the community understand this condition. Shame on the editor for not pointing this out to the author.

[Lydia Mae Clarke · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️

Tope is the queen of cosy murder mysteries, so what better way to step into autumn! This was a page-turner and everything I needed it to be. I’ve grown to really like Tope’s writing, even if her characters are quite strange and not very likeable - I think that’s her aim.

… I wonder what happened to Joshua though?

[Lionel Denny · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this novel as a standalone, probably would have benefited from reading other titles in this series where characters were developed. But still a pleasant read, set in a beautiful part of the world.

[Lai Lai Chan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent storyline

I like Thea and her stepdaughter Stephanie in the story solving the murder puzzle together. Don't like the idea of both of them staying at murderer's house. Nevertheless still a good murder story.

[JenniferB · Rating 3 out of 5]

ok, but didn't really like the interaction of the daughter in the mystery. This series seems a bit tired now, and not sure how it can continue.

[Rowena Onions · Rating 4 out of 5]

The latest (last?) In the series.... I thought this one was back to the form some of the last few books have lacked.

[Theresa Dudley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oh I normally really like Rebecca Tope books but I failed to see the point in this one.

[Sal · Rating 3 out of 5]

An easy read with nice scenery descriptions but story was a bit slow and dragged out.

[Holly Jotham · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute and cosy mystery set in the Cotswolds
I enjoyed the characters, might read some more from this series if I want a chilled cosy read :)

[Sue · Rating 3 out of 5]

Light read. Okay but not sure I will keep

[Hayley R · Rating 3 out of 5]

Is this the end of Thea’s role of amateur detective? How much more can the family take?

[Judy · Rating 3 out of 5]

cosy murder , okay.

[Bob Hiscocks · Rating 5 out of 5]

This series never fails to please. Book21 and I've enjoyed every one.