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Thea Osborne #12
Trouble in the Cotswolds
Thea Osborne hopes to spend a quiet Christmas house-sitting in the picturesque village of Stanton. Walks in the local countryside with the dogs are all the excitement she wants. Her arrival at the village coincides with the funeral of Douglas Callender and the murder of his girlfriend the following day.Thea finds herself thrust into the middle of another Police investigation as she unwraps motives and scandals across the village. The arrival of Drew Slocombe is the best present Thea could receive. Amid the bleak winter of Stanton and the murderous scandal, Thea is determined that she will survive the festive season.Thea s interest is stirred but the onset of flu looks to prevent any sleuthing. However, when two people show up brutally murdered the following afternoon, even when battling a fever Thea finds herself thrust into the middle of yet another Police investigation. With the Callendar family linked to most of the village Stanton is bursting with motives for the murders including jealousy, closures of footpaths and secret animal testing. Thea turns to local resident Dennis Ireland for safety but Dennis, as with the other villagers, may not be as safe as first appears and Thea wonders who she can trust to help her survive the festive season.
384 pages, Hardcover
First published March 20, 2014
About the author
Rebecca Tope
73 books198 followersRebecca 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews
June 25, 2014
Is there any more unlikeable character than Thea Osborne? Self-centred, whingeing, rude and nosy - she's even worse in this book because she has the flu. Good grief.
December 11, 2014
Thea Osbourne, the protagonist in this series of supposedly detective stories, is one of the stupidest and most unpleasant characters I've read about. She never detects anything, just pokes her nose in and finds things out. Never puts two and two together, generally has to be spoon fed the glaringly obvious answer. And yet she sees herself as being a help to the police. Completely wooly headed and irresponsible. As well as delusional. It defies belief that she would get a second chance at house-sitting, the way she treats people's houses. You have to assume the stories are written to appeal to people without a logical bone in their bodies, and with very little moral sense.
July 30, 2014
It's Christmas and Thea is house sitting a dog and some rats. Things go from bad to worse when she gets a bad case of the flu. Because her brain is addled from the virus, she puts diesel in her car when it doesn't take it, and ends up with no car and a repair bill.
There is no cheer for the holiday season in the book. All Thea does for most of it is complain about being ill, about her life, about not being able to care for the dogs, and the weather.
And there are some very strange characters knocking at her door after the murder of a neighbor.
If you want a catalog of flu symptoms and a lot of whining about being alone and puny during the holidays, this is the book for you.
There is no cheer for the holiday season in the book. All Thea does for most of it is complain about being ill, about her life, about not being able to care for the dogs, and the weather.
And there are some very strange characters knocking at her door after the murder of a neighbor.
If you want a catalog of flu symptoms and a lot of whining about being alone and puny during the holidays, this is the book for you.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 10, 2021
Wonderful
March 27, 2020
Strangely enough, reading this during the 2020 coronavirus lockdown, the main character is overtaken by a very infectious flu, giving her a fuzzy mind and weak body to fulfill the task of mystery solver for this typical British country murder. I enjoyed the characters, the setting and the flow of the story. It was just a bit disconcerting to read from the point of view of a person suffering from a very virulent flu, one which we're all home at the moment trying to avoid. I will definitely check out other books in this series.
July 3, 2016
This is the twelfth of the cosy crime series set in the Cotswolds about the misadventures of house sitter Thea Osborne. This time, Thea's job doesn't seem too demanding apart from the emotional aspect of possible loneliness at Christmas, as she has agreed to look after a house plus a well behaved Alsatian bitch and three pet rats, over the period from 21st December to New Year's Eve.
She is determined to avoid murder and mayhem but as usual they seek her out. On her first day, she notes a funeral procession to the church, which a copy of the local paper explains - a prominent businessman in the district, running a firm that couriers medical supplies for animals, plus blood, and semen for breeding purposes - has died after an odd accident. The after funeral gathering is held next door, though she eventually discovers that this was the home of the man's mistress; the official gathering being held outside the village with the wife presiding. The mistress, Natasha, is popular even with the family and there is an odd tolerance of her relationship with the businessman.
On that first day, Thea encounters a woman called Cheryl walking a Great Dane near the church. The next day, when Thea is coming down with a nasty cold that eventually turns out to be influenza - there is an epidemic in the country generally - Cheryl turns up to visit her unexpectedly. While she is there, commotion next door draws their attention as the front window is smashed, and Cheryl, and the neighbour living on the other side of the house where Thea is staying, are among a bunch of locals who break into the house to help the woman - but it is too late. Thea soon finds herself helping the police with their enquiries, and struggling against a growing list of calamities with which she is increasingly less able to deal, while yet more odd characters impinge on her and offer themselves as candidates for the murder. And it seems that as well as the businessman, another person whose funeral was held elsewhere on the same day, has a connection with the man's firm.
Thea's budding relationship with Drew is also a strand of the story, as she has to wonder if there is really a place for her, despite his wife's death, and his business partner apparently now having some acceptance/tolerance for her after previous hostility - the business partner's change of attitude must have occurred in the book previous to this which I've not yet read - because of his busy life as a single father and alternative funeral director, struggling on the breadline.
This one is an interesting story, not least because of the sometimes needy, whinging and passive role Thea finds herself in and is annoyed by, but which rings true to anyone who has ever suffered from flu.
She is determined to avoid murder and mayhem but as usual they seek her out. On her first day, she notes a funeral procession to the church, which a copy of the local paper explains - a prominent businessman in the district, running a firm that couriers medical supplies for animals, plus blood, and semen for breeding purposes - has died after an odd accident. The after funeral gathering is held next door, though she eventually discovers that this was the home of the man's mistress; the official gathering being held outside the village with the wife presiding. The mistress, Natasha, is popular even with the family and there is an odd tolerance of her relationship with the businessman.
On that first day, Thea encounters a woman called Cheryl walking a Great Dane near the church. The next day, when Thea is coming down with a nasty cold that eventually turns out to be influenza - there is an epidemic in the country generally - Cheryl turns up to visit her unexpectedly. While she is there, commotion next door draws their attention as the front window is smashed, and Cheryl, and the neighbour living on the other side of the house where Thea is staying, are among a bunch of locals who break into the house to help the woman - but it is too late. Thea soon finds herself helping the police with their enquiries, and struggling against a growing list of calamities with which she is increasingly less able to deal, while yet more odd characters impinge on her and offer themselves as candidates for the murder. And it seems that as well as the businessman, another person whose funeral was held elsewhere on the same day, has a connection with the man's firm.
Thea's budding relationship with Drew is also a strand of the story, as she has to wonder if there is really a place for her, despite his wife's death, and his business partner apparently now having some acceptance/tolerance for her after previous hostility - the business partner's change of attitude must have occurred in the book previous to this which I've not yet read - because of his busy life as a single father and alternative funeral director, struggling on the breadline.
This one is an interesting story, not least because of the sometimes needy, whinging and passive role Thea finds herself in and is annoyed by, but which rings true to anyone who has ever suffered from flu.
August 28, 2019
This is the first in this series that I have read. I purchased two books on sale and then another two at a second hand book store. I should have read one before buying more. I am hoping the other books are better than this one.
The story consists of Thea being ill with flu and letting us know how dismal she feels throughout the entire book. The only spark i got from reading it was annoyance at the character for being so whiny and negative.
I was looking forward to a cosy mystery set in the Cotswolds for some easy reading to relax from my hectic pace, all I got was boredom and annoyed.
The story consists of Thea being ill with flu and letting us know how dismal she feels throughout the entire book. The only spark i got from reading it was annoyance at the character for being so whiny and negative.
I was looking forward to a cosy mystery set in the Cotswolds for some easy reading to relax from my hectic pace, all I got was boredom and annoyed.
January 22, 2017
I didn't realize when I found this book that it was so far into the series. Definitely not a series to start this far in. I did not know the characters and it was obvious the author expected that you had read the previous books, and she did not rehash information. I did not particularly care for anyone in the book and have no desire to go back to the beginning and get to know them.
August 4, 2017
This was by far the worst of the series. I have been getting increasingly irritated with how rude everyone is - not just for English people, but by any standards. I can understand carelessness, clumsiness, but Thea is getting more and more stupid. More and more of her actions are not understandable AT ALL.... Such a shame...
January 3, 2021
For the most part I liked this book. However, there were many parts that were quite annoying. For instance the MC Thea’s constant need for people to be so concerned that she had the flu. It got rather repetitive. She wasn’t overly likeable. Also her boyfriend had only been widowed for 6 months? The Cotswolds descriptions and the village aspect were enjoyable.
January 20, 2024
Lots of Wretched biographical errors in terms of when things previously happened in previous books. Why wretched? If you read it, you'll notice it's a favourite word.
November 3, 2019
Thea Osborne, a recent widow makes her living as a house sitter. Christmas is fast approaching and she will be spending it in a small town in England away from her daughter and other family members. The owners have barely left when she realizes she is coming down with the flu. Then, a woman is murdered in the house next door. Thea, in the throws of a fever and the other symptoms associated with the flu, finds her mind wandering and some of her conversations with individuals who arrive at her door are muddled. She is barely coherent. The players in the town associated with the murdered woman seem to take advantage of her weakened state.
Interesting book and makes one wonder about the advantages associated with house sitting!
Interesting book and makes one wonder about the advantages associated with house sitting!
August 23, 2024
I found the story fluent and easy to read. But I didn’t like the protagonist’s character and her behaviour towards the animals in her care. I would not like to have a house sitter like Thea! She ignored the wishes of the owners and didn’t even check on the pet rats when a visitor (a little boy) told her that they'd run out of drinking water. I was so appalled that it distracted me from the main plot. However, I enjoyed the author’s way of writing and might read another book by Rebecca Tope.
March 23, 2018
Enjoyed this episode very much. Thea proves that she is human ... she suffers thru the flu in this week or so of house sitting in which she is dealing with pet rats and an Alsatian, and then of course there is a death next door but fortunately nothing that she has to deal with ... much. She does get to spend a little more time with Drew.
May 9, 2019
Really a bit of a drag. Lead character was annoying and did some really stupid things like not accepting help and driving with the flu then suddenly getting well enough to go to the pub. Didn’t realise it was one of a series- not made clear on cover, probably deliberately so to stop people from avoiding buying it. Don’t think I will bother with others in the series.
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April 26, 2022Haven't read this one yet, so not a review, hope that's OK. I'm working my way through them all and picked up #11 and 12 from the library today!
Had to say though the cottage on the right is the one a family I nannied for owned. We used to go from London to Stanton every weekend and during school holidays, for horse time at the local stables.
Had to say though the cottage on the right is the one a family I nannied for owned. We used to go from London to Stanton every weekend and during school holidays, for horse time at the local stables.
December 18, 2024
Once again Thea is a completely inadequate house sitter. She’s takes mediocre care of the animals and allows strangers to waltz in and out of her employers’ house. Her obsession with Drew continues and it seems he is in a place to reciprocate. This was a good read, but confirmed for me that I am finished with this series.
December 20, 2022
Very pleasant light reading - unless you feel you might be coming down with the 'flu. Extremely vivid descriptions of Thea's illness that were making my body feel unwell. A complicated mystery as there were so many potential suspects, and motives.
September 27, 2017
The twelfth in the Cotswolds house-sitter series moves the romance of the protagonist and her undertaker admirer to long-awaited fruition.
July 28, 2019
Not great wouldn’t recommend reading it
January 6, 2021
Excellent thriller.
March 16, 2023
Slow going and repetitive but improved greatly almost at the end
April 6, 2023
Lovely gentle read.
August 31, 2023
a cosy murder mystery set in the cotswolds
March 3, 2024
such vivid writing i felt like i had the flu
March 19, 2024
Thea was quite annoying in this one and story seemed as confused as she was with the flu
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 16, 2017
Enjoyed this book which had an usual plot .
Characters from previous books popped in to give a good familiarity to the story .
Thea seems to be getting more wimpy .
A pleasant easy read .
Characters from previous books popped in to give a good familiarity to the story .
Thea seems to be getting more wimpy .
A pleasant easy read .
August 24, 2019
I like this series, I thought Thea was a bit caustic and jumped to conclusions too quickly in this one. She did have a very nasty flu so that might explain it. The story was good.
December 29, 2016
Easy read, fairly predictable and similar format to previous book. Passed the time with good dialogue and descriptive scenery.... beginning to find the main character a bit tiresome (I've only read books 11 and 12 in the series, maybe I should go back to book 1 to get a different perspective?!)
November 16, 2018
I may have caught Thea at her lowest ebb, but there was definitely something of Hannah Swensen about her! Yes she was ill, but she then did not do the reasonable thing: calling a friend or family member and getting them to help out. Even though her flu-fug is so thick that she's incapable of letting the dog into the garden to pee, she somehow works out who the killer is... hmmm...
Not entirely sold by her character.
The thing that brought the star rating up to 2 was the description of when she ended up lost in the Cotswolds. I can empathise with that: drive along them when you're not able to give the road your full attention and it is a nightmare!
After this book, I'm not too keen on trying to read another but may one day go back to the start of the series and give it another go.
Not entirely sold by her character.
The thing that brought the star rating up to 2 was the description of when she ended up lost in the Cotswolds. I can empathise with that: drive along them when you're not able to give the road your full attention and it is a nightmare!
After this book, I'm not too keen on trying to read another but may one day go back to the start of the series and give it another go.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews