Death of a Friend: West Country Mysteries 3

Den Cooper #2

by Rebecca Tope

Nina Cattermole had an unusual death: head - butted by a horse as she protested against the local Devon hunt. The official verdict? It was a freak accident. But when another hunt saboteur is found dead in a ditch on the day of Nina's funeral, local DC Den Cooper is sent to investigate. It soon becomes clear that this is not another accident. Charlie Gratton has been trampled to death by a horse, the blows struck with such precision that they could only have been delivered by an animal under the control of an experienced rider. It seems that Charlie, a practising Quaker, has been murdered. As Den tries to solve the case he finds himself drawn in to an insular Quaker community and a village divided by loyalties and past misdeeds...

Genres: Crime, Mystery, Suspense, Fiction

448 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

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

[Pam Baddeley]

Second in the Den Cooper series of crime novels, this differs from the author's other series in being more of a police procedural, which for me added interest. The cast list at the start is however very necessary as the focus does shift away from Den's difficulties as a rookie detective very frequently to show the various groups of people involved in the two deaths - one accidental, one murder
- which the story encompasses.

There is a slight red herring to do with the difficulty in interviewing one possible suspect, but that eventually leads to a good twist though I did have suspicions as to who the murderer might be. Along the way, other old family-centered crimes are laid open, and the victims are not the obvious ones with whom the police were concerned originally. Not as good as the first in this series, but still an enjoyable read.

[Kathryn]

This is my first Rebecca Tope book and it was a satisfying read. Solid writing where suspects seemed to be popping up everywhere. The ending took me by surprise...yikes!

[kami]

Murderer could be seen a mile off, but the story was still skillfully done.

[Hailstones]

Having read 'A Dirty Death' I couldn't stop myself so bought the next in the series. I now know why people get slightly addicted to soap operas.
The prologue sets the scene perfectly because throughout the rest of the book, you are taken through all the characters, the good and bad side of them wondering 'who dunnit'... no butler in this saga to blame though.

Nina's funeral is where we meet everyone. She got head butted by a horse's head as she protested against the hunt; the horse will always win that one. Nina is from a family of Bohemians, imagine a modern Bloomsbury Set without the art. Three sisters all with different and unknown fathers. Nina, now dead, Martha the teacher with a dull husband, and Alexis, moody as anything youngest who was dating Charles who, on the day of Nina's funeral, is found dead. Also killed by a horse it seems.

The fatherless sister element is tame however compared to some of the other revelations.
We are meant to dislike Nev the Nesbitt (silly name suits him). He's the father of Nina's two boys and they are not happy at having the wayward father figure Nev who likes his foreign lengthy trips too much to be a good father figure.

The Quakers of the village are drawn into this saga as Den the ever reliable police officer has to solve this, finding out along the way that Charlie was a Quaker. Den gets emotionally involved in this case which is written in such a moving way, like a revelatory moment. At the same time however, he has to deal with sulky, moody and at times jealous Lilah his fiancé. He does deal with her remarkably well all things considering. It's not easy being hitched to a copper but even harder if you're a dairy farmer who has to milk twice a day.

It's a great little book; enough to make me buy the next one and hope that Den and Lilah have moved on and are still together but happier.

[Leeanne McHarg]

I enjoyed this third instalment in the West Country Murder Mysteries series, and the second featuring Den Cooper.

Like the previous book, there was quite a large cast of characters to keep track of, but I enjoyed seeing Lilah return and the references to Den's previous case. Those connections gave the series a nice sense of continuity.

This story explores several different themes, but it quickly becomes clear that the things people choose not to tell are at the heart of the mystery. With plenty of twists and turns, every suspect Den interviews adds another layer to the story, making it enjoyable to piece together the truth alongside him.

Overall, this was an entertaining cosy mystery with a well-constructed plot and enough surprises to keep me guessing.

[Pam]

This was the first of Rebecca Tope's Den Cooper West Country Mysteries I have read. The style is similar to the Cotswold murder mysteries but it differs from those in that Den is a detective.

The plot was extremely convoluted with, what seemed like, a cast of thousands. There were so many characters I found myself constantly going back to the list of who was who. This was a bit of a distraction but all the character links became obvious towards the end when the whodumit was revealed.

Overall the book left me with feelings of sadness for several of the characters. I hope each one found, if not a happy ending, some peace.

[Pam White]

This was a book sent to me as part of a 3-month subscription at Christmas. I'm not familiar with this author but I found the characters well-drawn and the storyline a bit different. My main criticism is the number of characters in the book. It was quite difficult for me to keep track of who was related to who and I would therefore have preferred there to have been fewer people involved. I liked that the chapters were quite short and I liked the main character of the detective on the case although I found I couldn't 'picture' him in my head. I would be interested to read other books by this author as I think she takes a different approach to crime stories than a lot of other writers.

[Sharon Gallup]

i have to admit that Rebecca Tope is one of my favorite writers. Her mystery books keep you wanting to read more. if you like reading a mystery , murder story with lots of twists and turns this will just be up your alley. A woman is killed by a horse and the day of her funeral the man who sleeps with her sister is murdered by another horse. The policeman trying to find out who the killer is finds that nearly every one in the town could have killed him. and had disliked him yet loved him. yes i know it sounds silly but that is what keeps you in suspense.

[Anne]

A slow paced murder mystery with so many twists and turns. As I'd been introduced to two of the characters, DC Den Cooper and Lilah, in a previous book, I was interested to see how their stories would evolve.

The characters are interesting,with various reasons for their behaviour. The background is the Quaker Society, and there's a lot of background to this, as well as to the hunting fraternity.

Looking forward to reading more about DC Den Cooper and have another book lined up. I enjoyed reading this, and am sure other fans of murder mysteries will too

[Janet H]

Not my favourite

I prefer the Lake District series and Cotswold series characters much better than these West Country series which are all different characters and it felt more like a documentary and rather dreary than non-fiction mystery. I picked the perpetrator very early on so the plot did not keep me interested until the end. I live in Australia and visit family in UK. The other two series encourage me to visit those regions but this series does not inspire me to hunt down those villages, however I have passed through.

[Carolyn]

I found it difficult to work out all the characters at the beginning. This is not the best murder mystery I’ve read.
The thing that annoyed me the most was the denigration of the Birmingham accent of one of the characters. For some reason, the Brummies accent is often ridiculed in the media, and it comes across as prejudice. In the interests of equality, diversity and inclusion, I suggest regional prejudices should be left out.

[Sara Eames]

A good murder mystery with good characterization and a strong plot. Most of the characters were believable and, although they each had flaws, none were totally unlikable. The main murder itself was intriguing and I did not guess whodunit. The ending was good and tied up all the loose ends satisfactorily. All-in-all, not a bad read, and I would recommend it to other mystery fans.

[Marney]

This book seemed to drag on forever. There were too many people introduced all at once at the beginning, who continued to be hard to distinguish from one another. The method of murder was frankly ridiculous, it would be impossible to force a horse to trample a human being. And the incest and paedophilia angle was distasteful and unnecessary.

[JenniferB]

I enjoyed this book, although the wide range of characters was a bit confusing (I was reading on an e-reader, so not so easy to go back to the beginning all the time, which had a description of them). Ending was a bit sad. I am enjoying this series though.

[Greeshma Antony]

Slow but engaging. Took me on a journey to the west country. The Author has shown the effect of a murder at a place like that, how it affect the people and family. The slow pace of the story keep the reader enhanced till the last page.

[Louise]

I expected to like this but found it a bit lacking in emotional connection. The characters felt quite flat and I found I didn't much care who the murderer was anyway.
A day later I can hardly remember their names.
Not terrible but a bit forgettable.

[Lydia Mae Clarke]

4.5*

This was my favourite Rebecca Tope book I’ve read so far, I loved the development of the characters and the fact I didn’t guess the killer. That said, the ending was ever so slightly disappointing.

[Rebecca]

Many twist and turns which make you want to continue reading. The ending is plausible but sad. I felt the weak character was the wayward father - hard to figure out.

[G. Lawrence]

Read and enjoyed several of this author's books, but I just found this one terribly dull. Struggled to the end. Sorry, Ms Tope. Won't put me off trying others, but this book was hard going

[Susan]

I have read a lot of her books, and this one is incredibly boring and complicated. Not worth reading

[Renita D'Silva]

A taut mystery

[Amy]

A bit of a slow read and there was times when I was bored but the ending wasn't what I expected so that was a nice twist.

[Jean]

Lived up to and more than my expectations, didn’t trivialise the steady slog that police work must involve and kept the culprit only subtly hinted at until the last dramatic finish. Great read

[Elainebowden]

A cracking good read

I really enjoyed this book the characters are really well written ,I !overall of the books that Rebecca trips has written.

[chowchowgrl]

The End Blew Me Away

I never guessed the outcome! It got me good!

A great “ride” — I couldn’t stop reading till the end.

[William]

Wow!

[Margaret Mackenzie]

I enjoyed this more than the cotswolds series - more depth

[Margaret Eaton]

So very slow & very repetitive, found it very boring. The conclusion was far fetched & not believable. Did not enjoy this book

[mrs madeline p peters]

Enjoyed the story , characters were a mixed bag and the plot line kept me interested .

[Andrew]

A great novel, I really recommend reading this