The Staveley Suspect

Persimmon Brown #5

by Rebecca Tope

Simmy Brown has a lot on her mind. Not just keeping her florist business afloat, her father’s failing health, the challenge of developing a long-term relationship with Christopher, but also the approach of Mother’s Day, a busy and painful day for her.
But in taking an order for a retirement party in Staveley, she is pulled into her most challenging investigation. When a daughter starts accusing her own mother of murder, Simmy, Ben and Bonnie find themselves taking different sides of the investigation. With her relationships under strain, Simmy is tried on all fronts. However, she has to learn to leave her own concerns behind to discover just who the killer is.

Genres: Mystery, Crime, Fiction, Book Club

320 pages, Paperback

Published March 21, 2019

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

[ReadAlongWithSue ★⋆. ࿐࿔catching up · Rating 3 out of 5]

This started off really well then seemed to have lost its way where the mystery bits concerned, but, still an enjoyable read.

It might have been where I was sent this book by the publishers and it really isn’t a standalone. So it had background I wasn’t aware of in some characters.

[Phil · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was very light on the plot/mystery element. Most of it consisted of Simmy dreading the approach of Mother's Day because she lost her stillborn child on Mother's Day several years ago and can't bear to be reminded of it. Which is totally understandable, but it's a really dumb idea to set yourself up as a florist if you can't bear to think or talk about Mother's Day!

There was also a weird subplot that ended up not being one - Bonnie, Simmy's teenage assistant, has a mysterious cold which just won't get better. Paragraph after paragraph is devoted to Bonnie's illness- it becomes such a major part of the book that I expected it to have some great significance, like Bonnie discovering it's really an allergy to flowers so she has to give up the job, or worse still, that she has some kind of serious illness. Instead, the cold eventually gets better and that's the last we hear of it. Ok, I know that in real life, people do get extra-bad colds and other people worry about them, but in a novel, I don't expect something to take up so many pages unless it is going to contribute in a major way to the storyline. Bonnie's cold didn't add a thing to this book except that it padded out some pages.

When the murder is committed, Simmy decides one of the suspects must be innocent because she has such a nice best friend. And when Ben & Bonnie refuse to rule the woman out on that basis, Simmy gets upset that they are now 'on different sides'. It seemed an incredibly juvenile attitude for a woman of nearly 40. And several times, she talks about herself and the two youngsters as being like the Famous Five. Most of the time, teenage Ben & Bonnie seemed to be far older than the rather juvenile Simmy.

While the trio's research does raise one or two helpful points, the mystery is finally solved when the guilty party (for a reason that is never made clear) suddenly decides to confess in a dramatic scene.

Overall, I was really disappointed in this book - it started off so promisingly, yet fizzled out partway like a damp squib.

[Laurie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fair read in this series, just not my favorite by Rebecca Tope. I will admit that I thought that I had the murder solved midway through the book but I was wrong. Similar to the divided camps of our main characters, I was in the wrong camp!

[Cliff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another in the series featuring Simmy, the florist from Windermere, and her sidekicks. I see there are 8 in this cosy series, yet Simmy has only been in the area for a couple of years. Remind me not to go to the Lake District for my next holiday, the area seems very dangerous! I was a little surprised to see Simmy thinking that solicitors (lawyers) never go into court. If that is Ms Tope making her seem a tad naive, ok. However if the author believes it, she's so wide of the mark. Solicitors account for something like 80% of court appearances. As someone retired from that profession, I both prosecuted and defended and also appeared often in the County Court. I even defended at a Court Martial on one occasion. For many years now, solicitors have been able to obtain a certificate to appear in higher courts. That said, an entertaining day's read while I've been feeling a little under the weather.

[Anne Robinson · Rating 2 out of 5]

I haven’t read anything by this author before and I might just try another book from a different series. I enjoyed the setting of this book as I have been to the area quite a few times and actually stayed in Troutbeck as a child. The domestic and personal background to the story was quite interesting at first, but very soon it all overwhelmed the actual mystery that the main characters were trying to solve, so much so that I became bored with all of the shop opening and closing, deliveries and personal issues. The ending was so abrupt that I thought, at first, that there had been a few paragraphs or pages missed out. So, not a very satisfying read.

[Stephen Obrien · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointed

Worst book in series not enough detection too much baby talk can't see the point in Christopher this series is becoming romantic fiction

[JenniferB · Rating 3 out of 5]

Started off very nice and cosily with the main characters, and the relationships between them, developing nicely. I did enjoy this book, but the plot of the crime was a bit ridiculous.

[Karen J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rebecca Tope is an author I’ve met over lunch, so I learned of her intellect. She may be a farmer, but she has a most interesting mind. I read several of her books back in 2914-15, then lapsed, but lately have been binging on the Lake District mysteries. They keep me captivated in troubled times without being escapist. Her characters are unique and relationships complex — to say the least. She is brilliant at constructing a fictional world on top of the real geography of the region, using the many locations and finding new companions in criminology by making the nexus the flower shop, a place open to a variety of good and bad events. And there now is the auction house that I suspect will figure more prominently in stories ahead.
One aspect of her series (plural) I am not so sure I like is the realism taken to extremes, such as the symptoms of Crohn’s disease in this novel just finished. Also, Simmy is getting overwrought by her own disappointment in being childless. I wonder where that’s going at age 38.

[Leeanne McHarg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another easy read (or listen!) from Rebecca Tope. I really enjoy her stories because you can simply sink into the narrative and enjoy the ride. Life in the villages of the Lake District always brings a cast of wonderful characters—some that make you sigh, others that make you laugh out loud—all while they live quietly alongside a murderer!

This story had it all: mystery, intrigue, family drama, and of course the amateur detectives Simmy, Ben, and Bonnie, who find themselves on opposing sides this time. Investigating from different angles, it almost felt like a race to see who would identify the killer first. We also learn more about Simmy’s past heartbreak, which gives a clearer picture of why she reacts the way she does.

I’m very much looking forward to the next book in the Lake District series. And as I’ve been listening to the audiobooks, I have to mention the narrator, Julia Franklin, who does a wonderful job bringing the story and characters to life.

[Rob Cook · Rating 3 out of 5]

Simmy Brown returns in the 7th installment of the Lake District Murders.
Much like the 2nd in the series, much of the plot takes place in Simmy's shop as she discusses the latest murder with her assistant Bonnie and various other characters that come into the shop.
Many of the recurring characters are mentioned but do not appear in this installment including Ninien, Corinne and Mel and those that do (inc. DI Moxon) do not appear much at all. The addition of Ben's sister Tanya sets up a potential exit for Ben and Bonnie in a future book.
I found the secondary stories of Simmy's father's stroke and Simmy's ex having legal troubles more interesting than the case and wish they took more prominence.

[Helen Birkbeck · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was intrigued by all the characters and really didn't want the murderer to be who it turned out to be. I feel their storyline wasn't gone into enough to provide sufficient motive for such a hateful crime. I would have liked more psychological depth on what caused the crime, but you don't get that with this kind of book. Nevertheless, it gets you thinking about family relationships!

The author's female characters are well drawn but the men can seem less whole sometimes, especially Christopher, who seems too often argumentative and childish!

[Ginette Doyle · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was selected for me by the library staff, as we currently can't use the library with the Covid-19 situation being what it is. I was disappointed, I am afraid. I found the characters either weak, unbelievable or just uninteresting. I persevered with the book and couldn't get excited about it at all, I'm afraid. I thought the resolution of the mystery unsatisfactory, and generally was rather underwhelmed by the whole thing.

[Bookfan53 · Rating 1 out of 5]

What to say, this is my first Rebecca Tope book and I found it boring. There is a detective that is hardly in it and an awful lot about opening/closing a flower shop and hardly anything about the murder.
I don't know it was a strange book, sadly not for me.

[Liz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Having read the Hawkshead one I should have known better than to try another. Described as cosy crime, this is Midsummer Murders but in the Lake District and with a very unlikely amateur sleuthing trio. I found it slow and oh so twee.

[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was good . Love this series although the ending was a little bit abrupt.

[Michelle Debnam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cosy murder mystery

[Caroline Ingvaldsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the seventh Lake District Mystery, redoubtable florist Persimmon Brown's complicated personal life is exceeded in complexity only by her involvement in murder and mayhem.

[K Hudson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok read

But not as good a read as the earlier books in the series of The Lake District Mysteries by Rebecca Tope.

[Sandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

O dear good story but such a plodder of a book.
I like Rebecca Tope's books but they are not like the modern thrillers there is very little excitement within the pages.

[Janet · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dnf .. gave up after about 2/3 or way through . Far to slow and repeatative for me .

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like the setting and I like the cast of characters. The mystery part is a bit thin.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

this was quite the story, had me going...

[Nothfan · Rating 3 out of 5]

For some reason I found this story less enjoyable than the earlier ones. A large part was they way Bonnie spoke to and treated Simmy, her boss. I found it really grating and it did dampen my enjoyment. The actual mystery didn’t hold my attention either, but it’s more the day to day life with Simmy that I find appealing usually.

Hopefully the next book will be back on track

[Kathleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Again read this out of order but it doesn't spoil the tale for me. These are quite enjoyable books but totally unbelievable as far a real life is concerned. It moves along nicely and I usually like the characters, however Simmy wasn't as likeable in this and Bonnie was unbearable but hey ho, it's only a story 😊