A Death to Record

Den Cooper #3

by Rebecca Tope

When the body of herdsman Sean O'Farrell was discovered in one of the farm buildings, Detective Sergeant Den Cooper is more than happy to cast one of the local farmers, Gordon Hillcock, in the role of chief suspect. After all, it is a well-known fact that there was no love lost between Gordon and the victim. And besides Den has a little grudge of his own - Gordon is currently dating Den's ex-fianc�e Lilah and was actually the reason she dumped him only a few short months before their wedding. However, Den did not plan on Lilah's determination to protect her new lover. How far will she go to make sure that Den directs his suspicions elsewhere?

Genres: Fiction, Mystery, Crime, British Literature

352 pages, Paperback

Published January 23, 2020

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]

Having really enjoyed book 1 of this series I was looking forward to an enjoyable read and, to begin with, it was such. It is obvious that the writer really knows her subject on a practical level and I found the details of farming life, with the tedious yet essential paperwork and recording of milk yields etc, interesting. And the murder of the herdsman almost under the noses of the farmer and the milk recorder set up the mystery to be solved.

The problem I found as the story went on was that a lot of ground was gone over repeatedly and eventually a bit boringly, yet the police investigation left promising areas completely unexamined. For example, the victim's participation and possible organising of badger baiting and other cruel pasttimes should at least have put his partner in such activities into the frame, yet although mentioned, this person was not even interviewed.

A lot of the story revolves around the relationship of Lilah, who was a main character of book 1, with the chief suspect, the farmer on whose premises the murder occurred. I found the sexual details a bit unnecessary especially the scene near the end where the particular turn they take seemed to resolve that relationship rather drastically in a way I found unconvincing. And it remained a mystery to me how the farmer was such a stud in the district especially since he came across as a rather creepy controlling character, particularly so in that scene. So by the end it balanced out at an OK 2 star read for me.

[Jenny]

Entertaining light reading. Very tidily wrapped up.

[Sheila Saunders]

Enjoyed this book difficult in places when you realise how hard farming is.
Good twists in the plot sending you one way then the other

[Kate McDougall Sackler]

Zzzzzzzzzz....I love cows but even being set on a dairy farm couldn't save this from being boring. Even though I did not guess whodunnit I didn't even care. It was way too boring.

[Leeanne McHarg]

This story definitely kept me guessing, with family history playing an important part in the mystery. I also really enjoyed the reintroduction of Den Cooper’s ex-fiancée, Lilah, into the story. It was great to see a familiar character return and add another connection to the story.

This village certainly had a lot of secrets, and everyone seemed more than happy to talk about them -but only if the police knew the right questions to ask! There were plenty of twists and hidden connections to keep me wondering who was telling the truth.

This book felt much more like the Rebecca Tope stories I had come to know and enjoy. I really enjoyed the mystery, the familiar characters from previous novels and the connections between the different stories.

Another enjoyable read in the West Country Murder Mysteries series, and I’m definitely looking forward to reading more!

[Lisa Arnold]

I absolutely loved the thea osbourne series but this one is much darker and more depressing. It outlines the pressures that farmers are under and why so many farms are going under as well as the high rates of suicide in regional areas. This particular story is about family secrets that eat away at the lives of those around them. There is nothing as such wrong with the story telling it is just that the content leaves you feeling that makind is so depraved that we should all be eradicated. It may simply be that policemen see the worst of everything or that the country is in recession or that farming as a way of life is pretty much extinct these days but as a country person this series is hard to read

[Anne]

A very enjoyable read. I had read another book about DC Den Cooper and his character stars again in this book.

Not only a murder mystery, but an intriguing thriller. The way it considers the plight of the dairy farmers and the precarious situation they were in, with mass slaughter of cattle, the cull of Badgers and the way that so many farms became unsustainable.

A slow starter, as the facts came to light about the various suspects and the murder victim, the narrative gathers pace and the book becomes a page turner, very exciting with surprising twists and turns.

A great read, I was absorbed from start to finish.

[Miss Kirstine]

This book got my blood boiling due to the description and handling of a character with ME/CFS. The description was ignorant, insulting and offensive.
There was no attempt to explain it, show any compassion or educate readers. Instead it felt like an attack from someone uneducated in the devastating impact of such a condition, on both the patient and the surrounding family, with little to no assistance from the medical community and no cure.
Very disappointing to read and really negatively impacted my opinion of the author and my ability to enjoy the rest of their books.

[Simon Fenwick]

Two things I found rather odd or annoying about this book. Firstly some of the chapters are very much over long being between 40 minutes plus or in some cases well over an hour with very few breaks.

The thing that I found odd, despite being English and this is written by an English author, is the very strange forms of English used by some of the characters. Even I at my age had a real struggle to understand some of it!

[JenniferB]

Not my favourite book of the author, the main relationships are a bit "yucky", and the plot too convoluted. A few good emotional insights.

[Hamida]

Not great - like reading an episode of emmerdale …

[Lisa Houghton]

I found this a tough read with lots of characters which made it a little difficult to follow sometimes

[Netty White]

Normally I really enjoy her books. Sadly I couldn't get into this at all

[Susan]

DNF. Just ok. Didn’t care how it ended.

[Jon Frum]

I've been putting down mystery books after a few pages recently, so the fact that I was motivated to finish this one says something positive about it. Set on a small dairy farm where everyone knows everyone else, and their lives have been interconnected for years, forensics and 'clues' play lesser roles than the personalities of the locals.

I limited the book to two stars for multiple faults in the story. The book suffers from coincidence-itis. The girlfriend of the investigating detective left him for the dairy farmer at the center of the story. In the investigation, there are three gay males out of about six-seven male characters )to create another thread to the story). And the children of the adult characters all seem to be potentially involved in the murder at least peripherally.

Finally, the end of the book - not the reveal of the murderer, but the resolution of a relationship - came off as totally false to me. I won't spoil it, but the author just didn't motivate this particular ending. It wouldn't stop me from recommending the book for genre fans, but it left me on a flat note.

[Joy Oakley]

Very disappointed - I thought cosy mysteries were sex free. I was reading this book on the train and was so embarrassed at people seeing what I was reading I closed it and read something else. I didn’t finish the book as I didn’t want to read any more sex scenes.

[D Wedd]

An interesting story,which unfolds nicely and keeps you wanting to read on. A close farming community is the back drop,with a murder victim that nobody likes.

[Val]

Different type of murder mystery set in rural England. Quite light reading.

[Nina Levison]

A bit gruesome in places but a good story nevertheless. It kept me guessing to the end about who the murderer was.