Crisis in the Cotswolds

Thea Osborne #16

by Rebecca Tope

Thea and Drew have been married for a year and are settled in the village of Broad Campden, but Thea is chafing at the domestic routines she is expected to devote herself to, missing the novelty and adventure that house-sitting used to bring. When a routine burial exposes the secrets of the deceased, Drew finds himself caught in the middle of a family feud, in which he feels he is on the wrong side, and Thea’s inquisitiveness and penchant for solving crimes draws her in too. With another crisis at Drew’s other business leaving him with a profound dilemma and Thea struggling against the charismatic charms of a new man, can their marriage survive this latest Cotswold drama?

Genres: Mystery, Crime, British Literature

282 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 19, 2018

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

[Beth Appel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Rebecca Tope - because not a one of her primary protagonists is a "perfect" person. They get cranky, they make mistakes, they get judgmental, they are sometimes dishonest. I love that she allows them to be so vulnerable.
Thea is no different - and we've seen her at her worst and best. I haven't finished Crisis yet, but I just had to make this comment. It has taken me a number of Tope's books to get to the core of why I like them so well. There are other reasons. I enjoy the settings. The stories are well-crafted. They are an easy read. Most of all, though, is I recognize myself in these characters. I'm far from perfect.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Thea Osborne and Drew Slocombe have been married for a year and are settled in the beautiful Cotswold village of Broad Campden, but Thea is chafing at the domestic routines she is expected to devote herself to, missing the novelty and adventure that house-sitting used to bring.

"When a routine burial exposes the secrets of the deceased, Drew finds himself caught in the middle of a family feud in which he feels he is on the wrong side, and Thea's inquisitiveness and penchant for solving crimes draws her in too.

"With another crisis at Drew's business leaving him with a profound dilemma and Thea struggling against the charismatic charms of a new man, can their marriage survive this latest Cotswold drama?"
~~front flap

One of the secondary motifs of this series is the age-old new stepmother coming into the family struggle. Added to the difficulty of Drew relating to his small son, it makes for interesting situations. I also realized that I find Drew's character rather one-dimensional: he professes to love Thea dearly yet is often unhappy with her inquisitiveness and her lack of "catering" proficiency. Those episodes are very much in the limelight, but the moments of intimacy between Drew and Thea are few and far between. It certainly makes for continuing interest in the series.

Another sub-motif is Thea's attraction to Clovis, the eldest son of the deceased's first marriage. Thea battles it mightily, but there's always the lurking suspicion that she might find him more of a kindred spirit than Drew is.

The mystery is somewhat secondary in this book, but, as always, is resolved in the end. What mystery could be written with a cliff hanger?

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read all of Rebecca Topes' novels and enjoyed them. This is latest in The Cotswolds series. I find them engaging reads as well as informative. I knew very little about natural burials until reading this series and now feel well informed. In some ways I preferred the earlier stories when the heroine, Thea, was house sitting and being drawn into murders in the various Cotswold villages. As with most detective fiction the reader has to suspend disbelief or accept that these idyllic country villages have more than their fair share of murder and mayhem. I hugely enjoy the detail about the area, the natural environment and historical backdrop to some of the settings. As with previous books in the series the story moves on, the main characters develop and events happen which may change the direction of future stories. I know nothing about the author except for the small blurb which is included in the book. I do feel, as with most novels, that the author will be found somewhere in the characters and often I sense that Thea is the author’s mouthpiece. I find it refreshing that Thea, although often described as something of a looker and attractive to men, is also portrayed as far from perfect and often is downright irritating. I’m already looking forward to the next adventure.

[Ben M · Rating 2 out of 5]

Picked this book out at random looking for a mystery book. I enjoyed it enough, I'm picky with books so I wouldn't have finished it if not. But I was particularly impressed. I liked that it wasn't overly dramatic for the most part, and although the main character isn't very endearing she also has a certain cheeky humour to her. I don't really understand how her life's career is 'housesitting' and how she keeps getting wrapped up in murder mysteries, I'm not convinced she's worthy of being any kind of sleuth. Somewhat of a spoiler- she doesn't even really solve the mystery. There was very little suspense for me in terms of the solution. I did want to finish the book to find out, but the solution is kind of just plunked down in one page. Well that's that, I guess. I don't regret giving it a try but I won't be picking up any others from the series.

[Violet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow !! What a lot to get sorted in this one. A splintered family trying to get one of their members buried without letting others of them even know about it; Maggs quitting her job with Drew and no one to run that part of the business; the death of a young woman and found in Drew's burial grounds; the police (Gladwyn) wanting Thea's help, etc. etc. Far from the more common police procedural detective stories but if one has been following Thea to this point, we sympathize and hope that things run more smoothly in future.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was the first book I had read by this author. It was an easy to read book with lots of detail about other things that were going on which I found a bit distracting. These included Thea’s attraction to Clovis, the question about what to do about Peaceful Repose, users of the Paxton Centre And Thea’s feelings about doing lots of housework and cooking and looking after the children which she found a bit of a tie. However, easy to read book and would read others by thisauthor.

[Wendy Jakob · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a quick pick from the library as the cover matched the criteria for a book club read. It was ok but I certainly didn't love it. There were times when the author suggested that there was humour in the interactions between characters but it didn't come across like that. It's one of a large series but I won't be seeking out any of the others.

[Danielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love reading about England and the Cotswolds, which is why this series is so interesting! Thea does house-sitting as a job and goes to various villages. Thea thinks a lot about life and the people she meets, and tries to make connections. These books are always interesting and thoughtful!

[Claramcgrath · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read about half way through this book and then, after another detailed tedious description of how Thea prepared her Sunday meal, decided I couldn't read any more. Basically I had little empathy with the characters, the pace was slow and overall I found it boring.

[Karen wadey · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a bit dull, I don't really like Thea Slocome she seems to resent her marriage and stepkids and her husbands business. She has a roving eye for any man who crosses her path and all told does nothing but moan.

[Jane Shand · Rating 4 out of 5]

A murder very close to home and some more personal crises cause Thea much trouble and a bit of anguish. This time I didn’t work out who did it before hand either. The usual blend of twisty plot, strange connections and peculiar characters. Enjoyable read as ever.

[Claire · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was good. Not as good as previous ones in this series .

[JenniferB · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this addition to the series. Good development of characters. Plot and motive for the crime were a little bit confusing, but overall good.

[Caroline Ingvaldsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

The 16th in the Cotswolds series, another slightly edgy cozy featuring a would-be sleuth and her undertaker husband.

[Priscilla Shorne · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found it extremely dreary and had trouble finishing it

[Misha Herwin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Perfectly pleasant read but lacked tension and there were times when I found the main character very annoying.

[Marina.Downing · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Read

[Hayley R · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the story to this one… good twists and nice to see old characters returning albeit briefly in one case.