Rebecca Tope, A Cotswold Mystery (2006)

This British novel is the fourth in the Thea Osborne series. I bought number three and four some time ago as part of my ´cozy mystery education´.

I picked the book yesterday because I suffered from a nasty headache and could not concentrate on anything heavier. It was entertaining, though Thea and her grown daughter annoyed me once in a while (well, let´s just be honest: a headache doesn´t exactly make you patient with people, does it).

Just a few words about the part I enjoyed mostly while I still remember it: Thea Osborne goes house-sitting as usual, but this time the bargain includes looking after old Mrs Gardner, the mother of the couple who inhabits the major part of the house. Thea knows the old woman is confused and forgetful, but she is at her wit´s end after a few minutes with her charge. Mrs Gardner suddenly admits that she realizes how forgetful she is, adding, “I can´t tell you how frightening it can be.”

“The lucid confession startled Thea yet again. It was like being in the presence of a growing group of people, all inhabiting one body.”

And getting to know this old woman was a great pleasure; she is so convincing - and so confusing. One moment she is there, and the next she seems to have forgotten she ever saw Thea before.

If you like a cozy mystery, taking place in the most charming, British setting, you´ll love this one. (And don´t worry, it doesn´t take a headache to enjoy it).

Repecca Tope, Death in the Cotswolds (2006)

This British novel is the third in the Thea Osborne series but the first I have read.

The murder weapon was a novelty to me, and the idyllic setting is a small Cotswold village:

“I had wasted much of the day thinking about Phil and how it would be to have him across the street for a week, pottering about tidying my house when I should have been working in the garden, digging potatoes, picking up windfall apples for my pig. She was a very beautiful Tamworth, incidentally, called Arabella, living in a patch of old coppice I rented for peanuts half a mile away.”

Even though it is called a ´Thea Osborne´, the main character and first-person narrator is Ariadne, the local woman who lives across the cottage which Thea and her partner, Phil Hollis are staying in.

Ariadne lives alone with her independent cat and her beloved pig, spinning and knitting beautiful garments and scarves. She is the very enthusiastic leader of the local group of pagans, or wiccans, so when one of her few close friends, young Gaynor, is found murdered in Notgrove Long Barrow, a holy site used for pagan rituals, the police have to put her on the initial list of suspects. This results in a strained relationship with Phil Hollis who is not only Ariadne´s childhood friend, but also a Detective Inspector. As he was on the spot, he is put on the case, of course, leaving Thea and Ariadne to spend most of the week together, feeding Phil with useful bits of information about the villagers.

Though the motive did not seem very convincing to me, this was a fast, but really enjoyable read.


Reviewed for the 2010 Cozy Mystery Challenge # 5.