Revenge in the Cotswolds

Thea Osborne #13

by Rebecca Tope

Thea Osborne is determined to avoid trouble during her latest commission house-sitting in the pretty Cotswold village of Daglingworth. Anticipating a relaxing two weeks spent looking after an old corgi and a hibernating tortoise, spiced with phone calls to boyfriend Drew Slocombe, Thea settles down quite contentedly – for about half a day. Until, that is, a dead body is discovered in a nearby quarry. Having encountered a group of environmental activists, Thea suspects the death might be a backlash from angry residents against their radical ways. And while she can empathise with the activists’ views against wind farms, badger culls and building developments, Thea’s not so sure about their violent methods. As real tensions begin to unravel, even Thea, a seasoned crime-solver, is surprised by the truth...

Genres: Mystery, Crime, Fiction, British Literature, Audiobook

352 pages, Hardcover

First published March 19, 2015

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

[Kimberly]

Ive read every book in this series and have loved many of them. This book however started off great and then fell short. I saw many things happening that have happened time and again in the previous books in the series. It was slightly like reading the same book over and over again. With Thea never getting the romance going with Drew, the stories are starting to feel stagnant. This was my fav series EVER. It hurts me to say these things about my fav author and books. I have to be honest. I will read the next in the series which came out last year, only because I am dedicated to see it all to the end. I just hope for more action, more places to visit or descriptions instead of mindless on and on thought processes from Thea, page fillers.

[Evelyn]

Another of the Thea Osborne house-sitting tales. This time she is entangled in the murder of an eco activist. A bit samey as the previous tales and not really much character development of the main characters. Not a huge fan I’m afraid ☹️

[T.A.]

I really tried to like this book as I love cozy mysteries but I just couldn’t get past some of the oddities.

Thea is a similar age to me (although at one point in this book her age changes so who knows really) now I know the book was published in 2015 (I checked) but even with that Thea remains within a similar age bracket of me, my friends and sisters. We all use social media profusely and are up with tech to a reasonable extent so to have a woman who is running her own freelance business not be using social media and making good use of her phones just odd!

My image of the character was that of a 80 year old (I’d say 70 but that would be offensive to my mum). She has such old fashioned ideas and opinions of others. Maybe if I’d read any of the earlier books it might make more sense but to be honest I have so many other books to read I know I won’t.

If you’re old fashioned and think technology is the end of all good things, that single people who enjoy food are probably fat and sad (I’m paraphrasing a little), like self-indulgent women who do not think through their decisions and yet judge everyone else harshly for theirs - then this is the book for you.

[Lynda Macken]

I have read every book in this series and this plot is one of the better ones. I think the author has hit her stride. Unlike previous reviewers, I am quite fond of the protagonist, Thea Osborne. It is this character that keeps me coming back. She's quite saucy.

[Jean Kovats]

Slow, not nice people. I doubt if I would care to read any more by her

[Maureen]

Not the best book I’ve ever read. Not much of a plot.

[Teresa]

Lightweight nonsense. I like amateur sleuths but this was ridiculous and the prose was poor; the word ruefully being vastly overused.

[Cathy Quigg]

I finished this book 32 hours ago and I had to go back to the book description to remember what it was about. Obviously I'm not retaining what I'm reading. And that is truly the purpose of this series, to provide a comfortable escape without taxing your mind or your memory.

It's another surprise ending, catching you off guard because an essential fact about the victim is hidden throughout the book. And there's not much explanation of why he was doing what he was doing. This is typical of the series, a shock revelation of whodunit with a very loose tying of dangling ends and not enough explanation despite Thea spending endless pages running over the events in her head or bouncing ideas off her various companions and new friends.

[Pam]

Another formulaic Rebecca Tope book starring Thea and Hepzie, her dog. Once again she is house sitting in the Cotswolds and murder soon follows. This time a who's who guide at the beginning of the book wasn't needed and the plot/people were easy to follow.

Towards the end when the revelation was beginning there was a hefty plot twist I didn't see coming. I also guessed the wrong murderer right up to the end.

[Violet]

Thea seems to be beset with doubts. The common theme is that she knows she's a "busybody" but she just can't help herself. And, of course, there is more murder and mayhem around her than the normal person. This time it is one of a group of quiet environmental protesters. They know who in their group is the murderer but protect him pretty well. But, Thea is pretty brave; in the end she confronts the group. Another entertaining story.

[Tracy Lewis]

I was bored stiff. I skipped to the back to find out who the killer was, then put it in a box to give to someone I don’t like very much for Christmas. I found myself skipping chunks just to get to a more interesting part, except there was never one. There’s a lot of attention to detail, for example the interiors of the houses she visits but it simply makes for unnecessary, boring words to pad the book out. I won’t be buying another of this author’s books.

[Sharon Gallup]

These series of books are what i call comfort murder mysteries that you enjoy reading while curled up in a warm blanket in front of the fireplace with a glass of wine. No matter where the heroine goes to house sit for people to be able to travel, she can always find herself involved in a murder. This one kept me suspended in suspense and the ending was not what i expected.

[Alice Castle]

A very enjoyable romp through the Cotswolds that felt a little like the housesitting holiday the amateur sleuth herself was taking. Interesting snapshot of rural life intertwined with some topical issues. Nicely done, and I enjoyed the description of the dogs as well.

[Helen]

I started well into this series, as I found two of the books on sale, but I will probably look for more. A good, quite dense, cozy English mystery. Thankfully, no obvious americanisms, as seem to occur in many modern cozy mysteries set in England.

[Drasko]

Entertaining cozy mistery with bit annoying heroine who can't grasp realities of the life. Lot of wondering through ethical and philosophical wilderness with some contradictory conclusions. If you love dogs you must love this one.

[Patrick Dennehy]

Slow, dreary and full of socio-political clichés. Even the plot twist at the end was easily foreseeable if I could have been bothered to spend any time thinking about it (which I wasn't). Honestly, there's far better books and authors out there worthy of your time.

[JenniferB]

Another good example in this series.

[Ann Cross]

Not a particularly memorable book!

[Christine Marshall]

Enjoyable relaxing read

I like Thea and her adventures, so glad she has a new man in her life. Looking forward to reading more Cotswold adventures.

[Donna Squire]

Again lots of Wretched animals, people and events. And a police officer in 2015 would be unlikely to address themselves as WPC.

[Hayley R]

Another one down! Desperate to get through these to find out what happens between Thea and Drew!

[Susan]

I promised myself after #12 in this series that I wouldn’t read any more. I should have kept my word. Two starts because I finished it.

[Rose]

Another fabulous story in the Thea Series.

[Nell Burden]

I was very disappointed by the ending, it was very clear about who the killer was as there was so much going on

[Pam Baddeley]

Number 13 in the Cotswolds cosy crime series. This time Thea is determined to keep out of trouble and is worrying about her money situation and the fact that Drew, her boyfriend, is also struggling to make ends meet with his Somerset natural burial company. She fears they will never get together properly as his young children are still grieving for their mother, and Drew's business partner on whom he relies so heavily is now pregnant.

This time, a house with an elderly corgi and a hibernating tortoise are her main charges, although an almost last minute extra duty is to visit a house in a nearby village and keep the plants watered during the first week of her two week stay and to check all is well. Thea starts off with good intentions and goes for a walk with her spaniel, Hepzie, to the other house. En route, she encounters two women and tries to have a friendly chat. One of them starts preaching at her about environmental matters and it turns out that the two are members of a local activist group which has been harrassing various farmers etc when they don't agree with the farmers' policies towards animals/the environment. Shortly afterwards, she sees the two women again with another woman, (Fe)Nella. It seems that the three were discussing Nella's engagement and her boyfriend's reluctance to set a date for the wedding. The boyfriend is a leader in the same activist organisation.

Before long, Thea is dragged into another murder mystery when the said boyfriend turns up dead in the local quarry. To be fair to her, she does often try to steer clear though her curiosity urges her to investigate, but various suspects keep turning up at the house she is sitting, sometimes to threaten her to keep out of their business. They have come to the conclusion that she is a police spy, which is ironic in the light of later developments, but I won't say more about that. As usual Thea tries to juggle her family life, worrying about her daughter's mysterious and possibly dangerous assignment as a police officer, and Drew's family problems, while looking after the elderly corgi - rather an endearing animal I thought. She is directly targeted at one point, and speculates about the motive of the murderer as well as their identity, as a local farmer is blamed by the activists.

I felt quite sorry for Thea in this story, although she can be a bit irritating on occasion. She doesn't do anything really stupid as she sometimes has, she is public spirited enough to help an injured man and try to care for his dog, and yet she is roundly abused by people who turn out to be quite unpleasant. An interesting backstory to this book is the controversial badger cull which has been taking place in real-life England, and the changing face of the Cotswolds, with houses being bought as second homes or by people who commute to London etc.

[Nicola Francis]

This book was very enjoyable. Thea is again house sitting this time for an elderly dog and hibernating Tortoise. Again she doesn't have a quiet time looking after her charges. However this book was definitely more enjoyable than her previous book and I didn't work out who the murderer was. This series of books needs to be read from the start and this is definitely not the book to introduce new readers too.

[Deborah Morgan]

If I could give it zero atars I would. I've completely given up on this character now, she is obnoxious, self obsessed and self pitying. I've struggled more and more with this series, only reading it because it's based around where I live.

There is absolutely nothing to redeem this main character, I would suggest that if the author cannot find a way to make a change that she retire what is apparently one of the most spoilt selfish characters I have ever had the misfortune to read about.

[Erica]

Thea Osborne is an unlikeable character. She whines, she interferes, she judges. She has too much time on her hands - needs a real job that occupies her every day, instead of wandering around the Cotswolds and sticking her nose into other people's business. She says she has money problems but she doesn't do anything about them. Her romantic association, Drew, sounds like it's only going to be another reason for her to whinge.

I just want to slap her out of her uselessness.

[Helen]

I have really enjoyed this series as it's set somewhere I know and I like a crime novel but this one is so weak. Thea is getting very annoying and I think it's time she settled down and went home! I suspect this maybe the last one with her in that I read.

[Peggi Warner-Lalonde]

An interesting read, but a little confusing for me in parts. Still, it was enjoyable.