Books by Rebecca (Author) Tope

The wedding of Simmy and Christopher is underway in a pub in Threlkeld, in the late summer. After the happy couple and most of the guests have departed, a young man is found mysteriously injured close by

'As Rebecca Tope tells it, every rural idyll is blighted by underlying menace. Such is her writing skill, I'm inclined to believe her' Daily Mail

Spring has brought many new beginnings into the world of Persimmon 'Simmy' Brown but when a former acquaintance of Christopher's reminds him of an undertaking made a decade previously but failed to fulfil, their lives soon take a sinister - and deadly - turn.

Thea Osborne is house-sitting in the late Greta Simmonds' house when she finds herself embroiled in a murder investigation once again. After befriending undertaker Drew Slocombe, she soon finds she's aligned herself with the police's only suspect. But in a village simmering with secrets, a means and a motive could be laid at anybody's door.

Simmy Brown had hoped for a quiet autumn in her new home in Patterdale. But when a lodger is poisoned at her parents' B&B, peace is destroyed and the investigation begins.

Thea Osborne is thanking her lucky stars. After two disastrous housesitting incidents in which she unwittingly became embroiled in murder and mayhem, she is only too happy to have a bit of time to concentrate on her blossoming releationship with DI Phil Hollis. The couple has retreated to Phil's late aunt's cottage in Cold Aston, and other than the odd interruption from his childhood acquaintance, the eccentric Ariadne, they look forward to some peace and quiet.But the bad luck that plagues the hapless Thea and her beloved spaniel Hepzibah is never far away. With autumn drawing in, preparations for Samhain, the pagan origin of Halloween, are well underway when Ariadne discovers a very tangible reminder of the season of death: a body laid out like a sacrificial victim on Notgrove Barrow.It soon becomes apparent that the cosy village has more than its share of secrets. But just how far will some go to keep them hidden?

Persimmon `Simmy' Brown is reminded that life in the Lake District is far from relaxing when her fiance Chris discovers the body of his friend brutally strangled in Grasmere. As old grudges against the dead man are revealed, and with Chris's increasingly odd behaviour, Simmy begins to wonder if he is more involved in the murder than he is saying.

Thea Slocombe is tired of having to entertain Drew's children through the long summer holiday while he works, so keenly accepts a commission to watch over a house in Barnsley. However, her return to house-sitting is far from relaxing as on her first night she finds a fugitive woman hiding among some bushes...

Thea is ready for a relaxing if rather boring two weeks, with phone calls to new boyfriend Drew Slocombe the highlight of her days. Until, that is, a dead body is discovered in a nearby quarry...

When Thea Osbourne agrees to house sit for Oliver Meadows as a favor to her mother, she expects a few days peace and quiet. But as usual, Thea quickly finds herself at the center of a dark mystery when she discovers a dead body in the gardens of the house.

The isolated and somewhat unsettling village of Snowshill has Thea on edge as soon as she arrives, and Hyacinth House - her new, rather cluttered house-sitting assignment - does nothing to dispel such feelings. Soon enough, her intuition in this case proves to be right, and once again Thea becomes entangled in another mystery.

Thea Osborne is perhaps over-optimistic about the summertime and her latest assignment house-sitting for reptile breeder Harriet Young. The region's charms prove deceptive, as Thea soon finds that Harriet's beloved geckoes are not the only cold-blooded creatures at large in Cranham.

A shattered peace in the tranquil West Country.The peace of a small West Country village is rudely shattered when a bomb explodes in the local supermarket. Karen Slocombe, a member of the Food Chain Group and staunch supporter of local produce, would not normally care for the loss of a supermarket, but she does take offence to such violence and that fact that she and her daughter were very nearly caught up in the explosion.When, a few days later, Karen witnesses the horrifying murder of an adjacent stallholder at the local farmer's market, she begins to wonder just who is committing these seemingly motiveless crimes and why does she keep finding herself in the middle of the crime scene?

A sinister disappearance in the beautiful Devon countryside.One glorious summer's afternoon, Karen Slocombe is visited by her cousin Penn, who unexpectedly asks for husband Drew's help in tracking down a missing relative, Justine. But why has Penn come to him, and why is she reluctant to get the police involved?Justine's mother, Roma Millan, an avid beekeeper, is not interested in the whereabouts of her daughter, but husband Laurie senses a troubled history between mother and daughter. Detective Den Cooper joins Drew as the case takes a sinister turn when it is discovered that a small child is also missing. But can the tangle of secrets and lies be unravelled before somebody gets hurt?

FROM THE AUTHOR OF THE BESTSELLING COTSWOLD MYSTERIES SERIESWhen the body of herdsman Sean O'Farrell was discovered in one of the farm buildings, DS 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-fiancee 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?

FROM THE AUTHOR OF THE BESTSELLING COTSWOLD MYSTERIES SERIESNina Cattermole had an unusual death: head-butted by a horse as she protested against the local Devon hunt. The official verdict? It was a freak accident. But when another hunt saboteur is found dead in a ditch on the day of Nina's funeral, local DC Den Cooper is sent to investigate.It soon becomes clear that this is not another accident. Charlie Gratton has been trampled to death by a horse, the blows struck with such precision that they could only have been delivered by an animal under the control of an experienced rider. It seems that Charlie, a practising Quaker, has been murdered. As Den tries to solve the case he finds himself drawn in to an insular Quaker community and a village divided by loyalties and past misdeeds...

FROM THE AUTHOR OF THE BESTSELLING COTSWOLD MYSTERIES SERIESFifty-five-year-old Jim Lapsford makes an unusually healthy-looking corpse. A life-long devotee of vitamin pills and herbal remedies, it seems almost ironic that he has succumbed to a heart attack. His GP is convinced that this is the case but trainee undertaker Drew Slocombe isn't so sure and he is convinced that there is enough conflicting medical evidence to merit a coroner's inquest at least. And then there's Jim's personal life: in addition to a long suffering wife, two sons and a grieving terrier, Jim appears to have left behind a series of scorned mistresses.It seems everyone else is happy enough to accept the doctor's verdict and Drew shouldn't really rock the boat, but can he really turn his back on murder? Even so, Drew may have plenty of suspects but he has no proof. And Jim's cremation is days away...

Thea and Drew are settled in the village of Broad Campden, but Thea is bored of domestic routines, missing the adventures of house-sitting. When a burial exposes family secrets, Drew finds himself caught in a feud. As he struggles with a profound dilemma and Thea fights the charms of a new man, can their marriage survive this latest Cotswold drama?

Thea Slocombe, nee Osborne, is trying to settle into normal, domestic life with Drew and his two children in Broad Campden. But in the course of an attempt to make friends locally, she finds the body of a close neighbour and suddenly feels much less settled and secure

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.

Winter has arrived in the town of Windermere, and has bought with it the death of Frances Henderson, the best friend of Persimmon 'Simmy' Brown's mother. Simmy must cope with the loss of an important figure from her childhood, as well as the confusion at being bequeathed something in Frances's will.

A brand-new collection of short stories, featuring the popular characters from Rebecca Tope's Cotswold mystery novels.

Murder lies beneath the charm of the Lake DistrictThe spring bank holiday should mark an idyllic first year for florist Persimmon 'Simmy' Brown's shop in the Lake District town of Windermere. But there's a funeral to prepare for and the long weekend takes a further deadly turn.There's word of a series of sinister dognappings in nearby Troutbeck and whilst walking up Wansfell Pike, Simmy and her father, Russell, stumble upon a dead dog. Unnerved by this and a second suspicious encounter, Simmy reluctantly finds herself caught up in a murder investigation after a body is found on a farm. And when Russell receives an anonymous death threat, Simmy has no choice but to do all she can to find the killer . . .

Valentine's Day is fast approaching and Persimmon 'Simmy' Brown's flower shop near Lake Windermere is doing good business. But when Simmy receives a string of anonymous delivery orders, each one causing their recipient great distress, she begins to suspect that the messages they contain mask a sinister intent. When one of the recipients disappears, it would seem that her worst fears have been confirmed.As if that isn't enough, Simmy's friend Kathy turns up, on the trail of her wayward daughter Joanna, who she fears has grown unhealthily close to one of her university tutors. When Kathy attempts to reason with her daughter she finds that Joanna's older lover may be even more menacing than she had imagined. With both Kathy and Joanna in peril, Simmy and her friends find themselves caught up in a web of deception, blackmail and murder. It seems that Simmy Brown faces her most puzzling, and perhaps her most dangerous, case yet.

After an eventful previous year, Persimmon 'Simmy' Brown is adjusting to life in Windermere, running her florist shop and trying to put her tragic past behind her. But just when Simmy thinks her life is quietly coming together at last, it begins to unravel at the seams. With the delivery of a bouquet of flowers to an elderly lady - complete with mysterious message attached - old and sinister secrets come creeping into the light. When another old woman is found dead in her own home, Simmy is drawn into the centre of a murder investigation. With the prime suspect naming Simmy as his alibi, the unfortunate florist knows her peaceful existence in the Lake District is about to be shaken once again. While trying to rebuild her own life, Simmy must untangle the murky lives of others and uncover the motive behind a mysterious killing . . .