Rebecca Tope Knihy

Karen Slocombe's cousin Penn, asks for 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?

Set in the picturesque town of Askham, near Ullswater, the story opens with the funeral of Humphrey Craig, the builder who converted Simmy's new house in Hartsop. The following day, when Simmy goes back to look at the grave and the flowers on it, she meets two women, Lindsay Wilson, an academic in her late twenties who is writing a thesis on Charles Dickens' Dombey and Son, and Pauline Parsons, a local matriarch aged 90. Just 24 hours later, Mrs Parsons is found dead on Askham Fell and Simmy is summoned to Penrith police station. She is told that she has been identified as the prime suspect . will DI Moxon be able to help Simmy out of this unscathed?

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.

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.

When a herdsman is found dead, Sergeant Den Cooper happily suspects Gordon Hillcock, who is dating Den's ex-fiancee, Lilah. But how far will Lilah go to protect her new lover?

Set against the picturesque backdrop of the Lake District, this Christmas special by Rebecca Tope immerses readers in a festive mystery. The story unfolds with a blend of holiday cheer and suspense, featuring engaging characters and a captivating plot that intertwines seasonal themes with a gripping narrative. As the characters navigate the challenges of the season, the tension builds, promising an intriguing and heartwarming experience for fans of cozy mysteries.

When Guy Beardon meets a very dirty death in his own farmyard, at first it seems like an accident. Only his daughter Lilah begins to suspect foul play. Suspicion becomes certainty when two more deaths occur - and both of them are unmistakably murder.

When two hunt protestors are killed, apparently in 'accidents', DC Den Cooper investigates. 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.

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.

'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

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...

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.

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. All thanks to the delivery of a bouquet of flowers with mysterious message attached.

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 and Drew have been married for a year but Thea is chafing at the domestic routines. When a routine burial exposes secrets of the deceased, Drew finds himself caught in the middle of a family feud. With another crisis leaving him with a profound dilemma and Thea struggling against the charms of a new man, can their marriage survive this test?

Drew Slocombe is determined to make ecologically sound burials popular. Unfortunately, his gravedigger has just discovered that their cemetery has one too many corpses - that of an elderly woman. When Genevieve Slater asks for help proving that the body is that of her missing mother, the mystery deepens.

Following a string of disastrous house-sitting assignments, and an equally troubled personal life, Thea Osborne is understandably apprehensive about her latest commission: a wintry month in an isolated house with only an assortment of animals, including her loyal spaniel Hepzie, for company.

Thea Osborne and her faithful spaniel, Hepzie, have taken on a house-sitting assignment in the Cotswold village of Temple Guiting. But as always, an idyllic village can harbour a disquieting number of secrets and when a skeleton is discovered at the roots of an old beech tree, Thea is grateful for the presence of her partner DS Phil Hollis.

Thea Osborne and her spaniel Hepzibah embark on their second house-sitting commission with few worries. She arrives at idyllic Frampton Mansell with renewed enthusiasm. However it seems she is jinxed: within days of her arrival she finds a body hanging from the rafters of one of the barns. But was it suicide... or murder?

Simmy Brown's fiance, Chris, finds the body of his friend, strangled in Grasmere. Simmy discovers that many people wanted the man dead, and even Chris is acting strangely.

A wedding day turns into a far darker affair in the idyllic Lake District.

Thea Osborne reconnects with her friend Emmy while on a visit to the church in Baunton, near Cirencester with her stepdaughter Stephanie. Emmy, now married to local farmer Nick Weaver, asks Thea to, help them find their missing niece, Ginny. But before Thea can get started, she stumbles upon the recently killed body of Alice, a woman they had briefly seen in Cirencester the day before. Stephanie concentrates on searching for Ginny via social media while Thea is diverted into helping the police with the murder investigation. It soon becomes clear that Ginny and Alice are linked in a sinister way.

Thea Osborne has just lost her beloved father and retreats to housesitting in Lower Slaughter hoping to find peace. But reality soon catches up in the shape of her elder sister, the witness of a horrific killing. The rural serenity descends into a web of suspicions, accusations and confrontations.

Florist Persimmon 'Simmy' Brown and her new assistant are busy compiling wreaths but there's word of a series of sinister dognappings occurring in nearby Troutbeck. Whilst taking a walk, Simmy and her father stumble on a dog, strangled to death. It's not long before Simmy reluctantly finds herself caught up in a murder investigation.

Following a personal tragedy, florist Persimmon 'Simmy' Brown has moved to the beautiful region of the Lake District to be nearer her charismatic parents. Things are going well, with her latest flower arrangements praised and Simmy content to lose herself in her work. But the peace she has found is shattered when, at the wedding of a millionaire's daughter, the bride's brother is found brutally murdered in the lake. As the florist of the wedding and one of the last people to talk to Mark Baxter alive, Simmy gradually becomes involved with the grief-ridden and angry relatives. All seem to have their fair share of secrets and scandals - an uncaring mother, a cheating father, and a husband twenty-five years older than his bride. When events take another sinister turn, Simmy becomes a prime witness and finds herself at the heart of a murder investigation. The chief suspects are the groom and his closely knit band of bachelor friends. They are all intimidating, volatile and secretive - but which one is a killer?

After three catastrophic house sitting commissions, filled with murder and intrigue, the Montgomery house in Blockley seems like a welcome break for fearless Thea and her trusty spaniel Hephzibah. The opportunity to explore the lost Cotswold villages, with only the minor hindrance of checking up on the client's mother, in the adjoining house, promises to be the perfect get away. But Granny Gladys Gardener, with her conveniently erratic memory and series of ailments that disappear as quickly as they arrive, is a force to be reckoned and is soon arousing Thea's suspicion. After all, why do the Montgomery's lock her connecting door to the house? And why do they set an alarm that goes off every time Granny goes out? Thea's concerns, however, soon turn to something more sinister when the arrival of her daughter, trainee police woman Jessica, prompts the discovery of a body. Slowly the secrets of Blockley begin to unravel themselves to the Osborne women, but nothing in the village is quite what it seems. Up against the clock to try and solve another murder, with the added complications of her elderly charge, her daughter's career troubles and her deepening relationship with DI Phil Hollis, Thea is beginning to feel well and truly lost in the Cotswolds.

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 relationship with DI Phil Hollis.

Thea Osborne's latest house-sitting assignment is a little different to the rest. She finds herself in the village of Chedworth. She is tasked with creating an inventory of Rita Wilshire's possessions, requested by her son, Richard Wilshire, after moving her into a care home. All goes to plan, until Thea finds Richard dead in a barn.

The peace of a small village is shattered by a bomb explosion and Karen Slocombe and her daughter are nearly caught up in the carnage. When Karen also witnesses a murder at the local farmer's market she begins to wonder who is committing these seemingly motiveless crimes and why does she keep finding herself in the middle of the crime scene?

Fifty-five-year-old Jim Lapsford makes an unusually healthy-looking corpse. A lifelong devotee of vitamin pills and herbal remedies, it seems almost ironic that he has succumbed to a heart attack, but his doctor is convinced that this is the case.Trainee undertaker Drew Slocombe isn't so sure. As an ex-nurse, Drew 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.Everyone else seems happy to accept the doctor's verdict, and Drew knows he shouldn't rock the boat. But can he really turn his back on murder? With plenty of suspects, zero proof, and Jim's cremation just days away, Drew sure has his work cut out for him

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.

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

Thea Slocombe is trying to settle into normal life with Drew and his children but any sense of domesticity is shattered when she finds a body. Unconvinced the conclusion made by the police is correct, Thea decides to investigate herself. But what repercussions might there be for her, Drew and those with whom they share this corner of the Cotswolds?

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 Osborne is perhaps over-optimistic about the English summertime and the possibilities of her latest assignment house-sitting for transatlantic reptile breeder Harriet Young.

A classic British mystery set in the idyllic countryside.

Two days before a special auction at a large house in Borrowdale, Christopher Henderson meets up with Jennifer Reade, the only known heir to the entire estate, and the expected recipient of the proceeds of the auction. She discovers a dead man in the cellar but threatens and cajoles Christopher into remaining silent about it until after the auction. The auction begins, but after a few hours is halted by the police. Jennifer Reade has been murdered ... Christopher's wife, and amateur sleuth Simmy, applies herself to the mystery of who the dead man was, and why he and Jennifer were killed.

Things are all set for a fantastic Christmas in the Slocombe house, but then a local lady disappears, relationships are put to the test, and there's a death.

Nestled in the fertile hills of the Cotswolds, the village of Duntisbourne Abbots is a well-kept secret: beautiful, timeless and quintessentially English. When recently widowed Thea Osborne arrives to house-sit for a local couple, her only fear is that three weeks there might prove a little dull.