Echoes in the Cotswolds

Thea Osborne #19

by Rebecca Tope

As spring returns to the Cotswolds, so too does Thea Solocombe to house-sitting. She has agreed to look after Lucy Sinclair's new home in Northleach while Lucy is away. Thea soon meets several of the locals and the neighbours who seem to irritate Lucy so much, and comes to the conclusion that Lucy is far from popular herself.

When a body is found in Northleach, Thea needs all her wits about her. The man's death is not as straightforward as it seems, and at the heart of the mystery are secrets betrayed and exacted revenge. Thea is once again caught up in the underhand dealings played out in the idyllic countryside.

Genres: Mystery, British Literature

320 pages, Hardcover

First published July 22, 2021

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

[Cidney · Rating 1 out of 5]

Well I didn't hate it nor did I like it, so is this a 1 star or a 2? 1 and a half probably.

I had problems with this book, firstly I really didn't like Thea Slocombe, housesitter, hmm not that good a housesitter either, she's hardly there. She's such a self-centred cold fish, ignores her young stepson who seems to be having problems at school and favours her stepdaughter. The said stepdaughter is answering her dad's landline to his natural funeral parlour business where his customers seem to be buried in his field, presumably he has a licence. Stephanie apparently has a warming voice to clients and she knows how to embalm bodies and knows his pricing structure I think. Oh, and she's 12yrs old. Just what is this?? I really don't get this book.

Thea is housesitting for a former client whom she doesn't even like which is probably why she's hardly there. She also has a knack of discovering bodies and getting involved in murders. Oh really, another big sigh, what is this, another literary Midsomer Murders? Well it is the Cotswolds I suppose. Needless to say said client's stepson turns up murdered and everyone is saying he was a drug addict. Apparently not. Oh, and Thea has a great hotline with the local police who like her to "help" them with their enquiries and they like to share confidential information with her. Hmm.

I'm surprised that I actually finished this book, although I confess to skipping over some places where it really really was bugging me. I don't want to read another book about this cold hearted self-centred woman with problems at home which she can't be bothered to address and prefers to run down her clients and mess around in the murder business with the police. Hang on is this where her hubby's getting his business from?

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm a huge fan of Rebecca Tope's work and I'm pretty sure I've read all her publications to date in the three series The Cotswold Mysteries, The Lake District Mysteries and The West Country Mysteries. As with all series books the hook for the reader lies in the strength of the characterisation. Most thrillers or crime books have flawed plots so I think it's absolutely necessary to suspend disbelief if you intend reading any of them. However, once you accept the world you are offered the reality therein has to be believable and that's why the characters are so important. Any story that involves amateur detectives whether it's Miss Marple, Sherlock Holmes or in this case, Thea Slocombe will have to play fast and loose with whatever are the police procedures at the time. I love the settings and every time I read one I think I really must go for a drive around those villages. I know some of the locations first hand but not all. What I particularly enjoy about this series is the meandering progress of the plot. Some readers I'm sure want lots of spills and thrills in every chapter. There's certainly tension but I never feel a desperate need to discover whodunnit as that somehow seems less important than the development of the relationships within the story. The lives of the constant cast members has moved on and that makes sense in the story.
If you're a fan I'm sure there will be plenty for you to enjoy. If this is your introduction to the series I don't think you'll find it difficult to pick up the threads.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thea is a house sitter. When an old client asks her to come and watch her home while she is off having surgery, Thea seems confused. She doesn't understand why she needs a house sitter and the client's responses are vague. She speaks of general fears. Nevertheless she shows up when she is expected and is soon introduced to a cast of unusual neighbors. When a young man down the street is found murdered, Thea learns that he was the stepson of her client and wonders if there is any connection to her client's fears.

I rather like Thea. Most of the time. She's good at setting boundaries, she isn't easily intimidated, she's clever, and she says what is on her mind. Most of the time. I don't understand her relationship with her husband. Perhaps it's because this is the first book I've read in the series.

Drew doesn't want Thea bringing her work home and gets pouty when she does, but he keeps decaying corpses in the hallway of their home? I just feel like I'm missing something because she doesn't seem the sort of meek individual who would put up with that dynamic.

I loved the setting of the mystery. What could be better than a village in the Cotswolds? I felt like there was a good pool of suspects, but I figured it out fairly early on. Thea didn't always seem to ask the right questions.

I think I would like to go back and read some of the earlier books in the series and see if it gives me a better feel for the characters.

[Iona Mohammed · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another book full of the rudest people and conversations that would never happen between people who have never met before.

[Carol Waterkeyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read several of this series set in the lovely Cotswolds. This one didn't disappoint. Thea, the protagonist, gets embroiled in another murder when she goes to housesit for a former client. It seems none of the local villages are safe!

[Jan Richardson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve read this book before but Goodreads decided to wipe it, and others, off my reading list, along with all 90 of the books I read last year (2024) and the previous 3 years worth too.
Well done Goodreads (NOT)

[Hayley R · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought I knew whodunnit then I wasn’t sure, then it turned out I was right all along. I’m enjoying seeing the relationship between Thea and Stephanie evolve, they will be a formidable crime solving team before long.

[JenniferB · Rating 3 out of 5]

The latest in the Thea Osborne/Cooper series. Ok. Plot a bit ridiculous but characters of the main recurring people quite good.

[Susan Rogers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love her books and the recurring characters. I look forward to the next.

[Tandy Davies · Rating 3 out of 5]

Absolutely a comfort read on a wet bank holiday afternoon, perfect

[Hana Musa · Rating 1 out of 5]

Was a slow read, wouldn’t recommend at all.

[Rowena Onions · Rating 4 out of 5]

Listened to on Audible