The Borrowdale Body: The enthralling English cosy crime series

Lake District #13

by Rebecca Tope

Two days before a special auction at a large house in Borrowdale, Christopher Henderson meets up with Jennifer Reade, the only known heir to the entire estate, and the expected recipient of the proceeds of the auction. She discovers a dead man in the cellar but threatens and cajoles Christopher into remaining silent about it until after the auction.


The auction begins, but after a few hours is halted by the police. Jennifer Reade has been murdered ... Christopher's wife, and amateur sleuth Simmy, applies herself to the mystery of who the dead man was, and why he and Jennifer were killed.

Genres: Crime, Fiction, Mystery

317 pages, Hardcover

Published February 22, 2024

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

[Jane · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love this series. Easy reading and set in an area I know and love. But spare us Christopher Henderson! The drippiest character ever. Sadly he is at the forefront of this story which ruined it for me.
The earlier books seemed more densely plotted and the other characters more rounded.
The Straws, Ben, Moxon and Bonnie are great. Simmy increasingly just moans and her only concern is the logistics of dog and child care.
Still an easy read.and I will look forward to the next one where hopefully, Christopher will be a lesser presence.

[Lizzie Hayes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rebecca Tope is a prolific writer with three series of mystery novels to her credit. The Borrowdale Body is the thirteenth novel in her Lake District Mysteries.

Christopher Henderson, recently married to florist and amateur detective Simmy, is an auctioneer and his business is about to receive a boost when he is asked to sell the entire contents of High Gates House in Borrowdale following the death of its owner Sir John Hickory.

Two days before the auction, Christopher decides to take a last look at High Gates House. There he meets a woman who turns out to be Jennifer Reade, the heir to the entire High Gates estate. They discover a dead man in the cellar of the house. Christopher goes to call the police, but Jennifer insists they wait until after the auction. The body has been badly eaten by rats and must have been there sometime, so two days will make no difference to the investigation. Reporting it now might stop the sale going ahead. Against his better judgement, Christopher agrees.

The auction goes ahead, but towards the end of the morning, the police arrive to close it down. Confusion ensues, but it appears that Jennifer has been murdered and her dying words were that the sale must be stopped.

Simmy’s detective skills are immediately put to the test as she attempts to find the killer ably assisted by Ben, (Christopher’s young assistant), Bonnie (who works in the flower shop) and her father Russell. The more they investigate, the muddier the picture becomes. Can they believe what they are told?

Rebecca Tope is a master at creating the complex plot. Just when the reader feels close to solving the problem, more unanswered questions arise, and everything is turned on its head. Only in the final chapters are the various separate threads woven together to reveal the final picture.

The beautiful but remote setting of Borrowdale and the Lake District provides the perfect backdrop to this enjoyable novel.
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Reviewer: Judith Cranswick
For Lizzie Sirett (Mystery People Group)

[Tripfiction · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cozy crime set in BORROWDALE, The Lake District



The author is well known for her crime mysteries set not only in the Cotswolds but also in The Lake District. The Borrowdale Body is no. 13 and is firmly set in and around Borrowdale, with plenty of local colour to transport the reader to the area, from Castle Crag to Lodore Falls and over to Hartsop, where the main characters, Simmy (Persimon) and Christopher live in a converted barn, together with their son Robin and their dog. In the Author’s Note, Tope states: “…the story is set in real places but High Gates House is an invention”. There is a small map as the book opens to help locate the various places mentioned.

High Gates House is a rambling house, built of dark Lakeland stone and it is filled with all kinds of interesting antiques (you will, for example, discover what a veilleuse is!). Christopher is an auctioneer and has been tasked with selling off the estate, and the author wonderfully conjures up the sense of grandeur and interest, as well as Christopher’s growing attachment to the wonders within. Jennifer Reade, the sole heir to the estate, has been tracked down and serendipitously the two meet, just as Christopher is signing off on the project, having moved all the contents over to Keswick, where he has his auction house.

Together they take a turn around the building and in the cellar, they are confronted by a body. Jennifer is quite a character and persuades him to ‘overlook’ the rank, decomposing corpse for now, in order to keep the sale on track; against his better judgement, he agrees…. Of course, the ramifications of this decision are significant and when another body turns up, mayhem ensues.

The author puts together a decent, well-told story, set against the colourful backdrop of the Lake District.

[Katarina Easterbrook · Rating 3 out of 5]

As the first book from the series I’ve read I’m not sure I’d jump to read any more. I picked it up as someone with a love of the Lake District and I did enjoy the story being set around somewhere I love deeply. Tope truly brought the scenes of Borrowdale to life.
However, I didn’t feel I could attach myself to any of the characters. Perhaps if I went back and read some of the earlier books I would, and I gather from other reviews that this may not be Tope’s best book in the series. I also found the plot extremely confusing and difficult I follow along. A few twists and red herrings along the way are a enjoyable and necessary aspect of a good murder mystery but this was just difficult to follow, unclear and then suddenly wrapped up at the end without much flair or finesse.
There were a huge number of characters involved, some of which seemed confusingly similar to eachother and others completely unnecessary to the plot. This just caused added confusion and distraction to a story that already seemed to involve an unnecessary level of convolution. You never want a book to be predictable but I would say this story was the other end of the extreme.
Overall I loved the setting and Tope’s ability to place the reader right in the midst of the characters’ world. However, the plot and overall story was confusing and fell flat ultimately distracting from the good writing.

[Leeanne McHarg · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really struggled to connect with this instalment of the series. There were a lot of characters to keep track of, and the murder—or murders—felt confusing and a bit far-fetched in terms of motive. It was difficult to believe why the victims were actually targeted.

One thing this book highlighted clearly is just how incompatible Simmy and Christopher are. Simmy also seems to expect everyone around her to pitch in endlessly with her son Robin while constantly reminding us how hard it is to juggle a business, a baby, and living far from her shop. It becomes frustrating, especially considering she chose where to buy her house.

Overall, this was a disappointing read—the first time I’ve felt this way about the series. I did listen to the audiobook on Spotify, and it seemed to jump around quite a bit, so I’m not entirely sure whether that contributed to my confusion. Even so, I’m still looking forward to the next instalment in the Lake District series.

[Helen Birkbeck · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have enjoyed this series so was looking forward to this one. I thought the plot was pretty good: though the instigator of one of the crimes was fairly obvious from early on, it wasn't clear how they had done it and with whose help. The reveal of that person felt a bit rushed, as there hadn't been much of a hint that they were involved. I would have liked to know more about some of the characters. I still find Simmy a bit frustrating: she doesn't seem to enjoy being a mother and expects her parents to take up the slack too much, and Christopher is just not easy to like. The relationship between Simmy and Moxon is odd too - perhaps they should be together! There were a few cases of 'me' being used as a verb subject instead of 'I', but sadly that's everywhere these days.

[Judith Cranswick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rebecca Tope is a master at creating the complex plot. Just when the reader feels close to solving the problem, more unanswered questions arise, and everything is turned on its head. Only in the final chapters are the various separate threads woven together to reveal the final picture.

The beautiful but remote setting of Borrowdale and the Lake District provides the perfect backdrop to this enjoyable novel.

[Michelle (Clover Hill Book Reviews) · Rating 2 out of 5]

I finished this, but didn't enjoy it. This is the first book I've read from the series. If I like a book set in the series, I normally go to lengths to read them all...I won't be reading the rest of this series personally. It is meant to be a cosy who-dunnit, but it just didn't grip me and I didn't feel any attachment to any of the characters.

[dennis Waters · Rating 4 out of 5]

The one thing I enjoy about these books is where it is set “the Lake District “ it’s somewhere I love. I felt there were too many people in this book in the team I preferred it when it was the fabulous four. Simmy didn’t seem to be involved as much and that was a shame.

[Vicky Ball · Rating 2 out of 5]

These books are just lots of moaning about how her husband doesn't want to look after their kid, how her parents have moved to a place that she can't get to to dump her kid on, how she can't go where she wants to go because of the dog and kid, and mobile phones that are never switched on.

[Carys Goodman · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am horribly addicted to these books, but probably not for the right reasons. After 14 books, I thought I would know the main characters inside and out, but all I feel is irritation that they haven't been developed at all. Tope just seems to concentrate on their negative qualities.

[Susan Abbey · Rating 2 out of 5]

The death of a recluse - the search for the relative destined to inherit a historic mansion and all the mirade of priceless contents - is tantalising - unfortunately I became disillusioned with the plot and characters.

[JenniferB · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite a good example in this series, although the plot is quite convoluted, and the decisions of some of the main characters a bit hard to understand, e.g. not reporting things to the police when they should have.

[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this one .

[Jan Richardson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another outing for Simmy Henderson ( nee Brown ) although it’s her husband Christopher who features more in this one. A nice little cosy read

[Denise Bonham]

Absolutely gripping love this series great settings and interesting characters.

[c s dowgill · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cozy

[Rowena Onions · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you overlook the questionable lack of police concern about an unreported body, this is a good listen!