Shadows in the Cotswolds

Thea Osborne #11

by Rebecca Tope

When Thea Osborne agrees at the last minute to house-sit for Oliver Meadows, she expects a few days of peace with her spaniel, Hepzie. Uncomfortable with the news of her mother's sudden involvement with an old flame, and unsure how to deal with her feelings for Drew Slocombe, Thea hopes that some time alone in the historic town of Winchcombe will help clear her head. But with the disturbing discovery of a dead body in the gardens of the house, she quickly finds herself at the heart of a sinister mystery.

Genres: Mystery, Crime, British Literature, Fiction, Audiobook

350 pages, Hardcover

First published March 25, 2013

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

[Kimberly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is book 11 in the Cotswold series. It did not disappoint.
I am glad to see that the relationship between Thea and Drew is steadily though slowly moving forward. I really like that partnership. They work well together. House sitter and Undertaker!

In this story, Thea is sitting for an elderly man who is an avid bird watcher. He will be gone for a fortnight but isnt saying where is off to. All required of Thea is to make sure the cameras are up and filming his bird visitors. Pretty simple, till a girl shows up one day claiming to be the elderly mans niece and ends up dead the next. Thea's luck with murdered folk continues.
This was a longer story than usual and more detailed. I enjoyed the mystery.

[Carole · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF but have read enough of this book to give it a rating. This is one of a series of books, where a house sitter seems to discover a dead body at every house she stays at, and somehow becomes involved in the investigation, even though the police consider her a suspect! What a load of tripe! I cannot believe that this author has written so many of these books, and that people actually want to read them.

[Pam Baddeley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book 11 in the cosy crime series about Thea Osborne, house sitter extraordinaire. This time, against her better judgement, Thea agrees at short notice to sit a house where the owner has had to leave at short notice, and where her only duties are to feed the wild birds in the adjoining woodland and set up an automatic camera each day to photograph them. Thea's mother, Maureen, has asked her to do the job, as Maureen has recently made contact on Facebook and now in person with Fraser, brother of the house owner.

On her first day there, Thea meets a couple of characters who will be important in the story. One is a woman in her early 30s who turns up claiming to be the daughter of Fraser, and saying she has property stored on the premises including a memory stick. Doubtful at first, Thea lets her in to claim the items. Another woman she meets is walking an extremely cute puppy, the dog making more of an impression on Thea than the owner. She is preoccupied with issues of her own: Drew Slocombe, with whom she had formed a bond in earlier books, has not been in contact with her since the death of his wife, and she is depressed about the obstacles in the way of any relationship between them, including the antipathy of his business partner, Maggs. She also starts to doubt if Fraser is all he appears to be, especially when it becomes clear later that her mum's memories of him (from before she met Thea's father) are extremely sketchy, and he is possibly a con artist.

Soon, mum and would be boyfriend descend on Thea for a visit, but just before they do so, she finds a body, as usual, and becomes embroiled in a police investigation. Complex strands that occur this time include an ongoing court case and the relationships of the various members of Fraser's family, plus the occasional interlude with Drew who is missing Thea but has until now felt constrained from contacting her due to Maggs's disapproval. Interestingly, we finally get to see Thea's mother who hasn't always been portrayed in a good light and she turns out to be intelligent, dynamic and no-nonsense to boot - in fact, I thought she made a good foil for Thea, and I think some readers at least would have preferred having her as the heroine of this series!

To avoid spoilers, I won't say more about the plot other than the fact that dog lovers may find a scene towards the end upsetting.

[Joanna Warrens · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am totally addicted to this series. This was a good outing for Thea Osborne. She can be super annoying and was only moderately so in this book. I admit that I enjoy her personal limitations because it is realistic.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although a relatively minor part of the book, I need to remember that Tope is willing to kill animals in her books as plot devices. In addition, Thea is starting to get annoying. While I found her an engaging character in book 1, she no longer is entertaining.

[Sharon Gallup · Rating 5 out of 5]

i so enjoy reading the Cotswolds mystery series written by Rebecca Tope. each book has a new murder mystery and it is a constant moving story. it is hard to put it down because something new constantly happens. Thea Osborne is a house sitter and cares for someone elses home while the family goes away. But someone getting murdered always happens where ever she goes. in this book the murder unravels a mystery that happened many many years ago. you never know who the murder is until the end because the author makes you think that any one can be the murder.

[Violet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thea is in Winchcombe in this episode. There is a lot of good description of the small villages that are the settings in the Cotswolds for Thea's adventures and in this one her only duties are to feed the birds, so she has a lot of time for wandering and seeing the sights. There are a couple of murders to spice it up, and after all is said and done she winds up being on much better terms with her mother, her friend, Drew, and his friend, Maggs.

[S · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really tried to like this and though there were some parts I enjoyed, overall I was thoroughly disappointed. The ending for me was completely predictable and anticlimactic and there seemed to be a lot of useless filler information and scene settings rather than action.
I know this was the 11th book in a series and I haven’t read any of the previous instalments but that, surprisingly, didn’t cause too many problems.

[Cathy Quigg · Rating 3 out of 5]

The more I read of this series, the more it resembles the Nancy Drew books I read as a child. I do like the main character and the author's description of the settings. During this period of self-isolation this series is providing an escape with each book being a quick read and availability through my online library membership. At this point I just want to feel the accomplishment of completing the series. I'm sorry I haven't read the books in order, I started with #12 when I pulled it off a library shelf as a curiosity. It has ruined the overall mystery a bit regarding the long running development through the books of Thea's love life. This book involved Thea's mother and it was enjoyable to see her character developed a bit more after the book where Thea's father had died.

[June · Rating 3 out of 5]

A less than average addition to the series but rounded to 3 stars. I didn't enjoy any aspects of this story, actually. I seem to like Thea less and less. I liked her better--for the most part--when she was with Phil Hollis, though she treated him terribly at the end of their relationship.

[Vanessa Boyle · Rating 5 out of 5]

These books never disappoint me the characters, the scenery and the storyline are just like old friends you want to find out what they are up to next. Made extra special by being my mums anniversary and her love of these books brings me close to her

[Caroline Ingvaldsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

The eleventh in the series is another almost cozy set in another exquisite village redeemed by the engagingly irritating domestic complexities surrounding the house-sitting amateur detective.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thea is talked into a new house sitting job by her mother. When she finds the body of a young woman, who had claimed to be the niece of the man she is house sitting for. A clever mystery.

[JenniferB · Rating 3 out of 5]

Complex plot, but another interesting addition to the series.

[Karen Harrison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easy reading

[Lois · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sigh, back to killing off pets for no reason relating to the story.

[Shelley · Rating 5 out of 5]

They are very repetitive but also addictive. I loved the imput by Thea's mum & think Rebecca should include her again.

[Marian · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lovely easy read for a wet or overcast day. Although this is art of a series by Rebeccas Tope it is still a standalone story.

[Michelle Foley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice easy reading love Thea

[Anne Shepherd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mum gave me this to read because I was going to the cotswolds. Finally read it! Really good who-done-it.

[Hayley R · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thea is still becoming more tolerable as these books move forward. A good story with some interesting new characters who are likely to be seen again in upcoming stories.

[Hilary Mccarthy · Rating 3 out of 5]

An other easy and cosy murder mystery .
Although these books always follow a fairly predictable line , they are good to read and satisfying.
Quite a few more red herrings in this one too.

[Sara Eames · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

This was an excellent story with well-written characters and a plot that moves at a steady pace. However, the subject matter deems it too dark to be a true cosy mystery - although it does contain the main cosy elements (lack of swearing and sex) - so, for this, I have deducted half a star. The story is somewhat formulaic - house-sitter regularly finds dead bodies wherever she is house-sitting and the police encourage her to join the investigation despite the fact that she could be a suspect - and, I suspect, follows a pattern previously set in earlier books. Still, it is a good read and worth a look if you are a fan of the cosy genre (bearing in mind my previous point).

[Donna Alexander · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoy Thea, her dog and her cosy adventures. Sometimes you get the feeling you are in an Agatha Christie novel as the action all happens within a small central location in the Cotswolds. Yet not so clichéd as to have the suspect roundup. The book does move quite quickly, as the action takes place over just a couple of days. I like the pictures of the Cotswolds Rebecca Tope paints in the novels.

[Rog Harrison · Rating 2 out of 5]

This a cosy mystery set in a small town. The amateur detective is a house sitter, which I suppose is as good as any excuse for her to get involved in crimes in various locations. In this case there is a murder and a few other minor mysteries. At the end I was not entirely sure that everything made sense but it was readable enough and it will not put me off starting another couple of books in this series.

[Tara Edwards · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel was absolutely wonderful and i loved the mystery of it all! I could not put the book down and was completely sucked in. This was a beautifully written book! This was the first book I read from the series and I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed a mystery novel (I'm usually a romance girl). I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a great novel!

[Joanna Forbes · Rating 2 out of 5]

Couldn't work out if the author had got up for a cup of tea between the sentence wondering if Thea's mother had Alzheimers and the one where she couldn't remember things, or if the irony was intentional. The relationship between mother and daughter was quite nice.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

First time read by this author. Nothing fancy, a bid midsommer murderish... quite descriptive of a sleepy Cotswold village, good read to pass the time... unsure of main character suspect it people will consider her a marmite (will love or hate!)

[Tessa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another good read about murders in the Cotswold while house sitting.

[Jack · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice little English rural murder mystery