Customer Reviews

A Cotswold Killing (Cotswolds Mystery 1)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

For true mystery aficionados, even those still drawn by the English village genre, this is a real disappointment. The "sleuth" is not much of one and little about her half-hearted investigations is either credible or interesting. The cast of characters is fairly large but one never learns enough about any of them to be particularly interested in which of them actually committed the Cotswold killings that are the subject of the story. I kept hoping V.I. Warshowski, or at least Miss Marple would appear. Cotswold villages and landscape might have provided a secondary reason for reading for those who like these (as I do). But the background is as poorly developed as the foreground and awkward writing and inadequate editing throughout lessened whatever enjoyment might have been taken from the ambiance.

A COTSWOLD KILLING BY REBECCA TOPE is a well-written book with excellent descriptions of the Cotswold area of England. The armchair traveler will enjoy the novel with the well-crafted story line, high suspense, excellent characterization, and good English overtones that give the reader a sense of British approach to life in today's world while transporting the reader to the beautiful Gloucestershire, England. The mystery revolves around two different murders which happen in the field of a house which the narrator is house-sitting, thus involving her in an attempt to solve the murders. The reader will most likely be held in suspense of whodunit until the final pages of the book, because so many possible suspects and an indiscernible motive make the mystery nearly impossible to solve. A very good read that may keep you up late at night to learn what happens. You will certainly want to read more of Rebecca Tope's books

I am an avid reader and I love British "cozies". That said, I could barely make myself finish this book. The characters are not interesting, I got tired of hearing how "beautiful" the main character is and the mystery was uninspired.

I have a weakness for British mysteries. Add to that my love of the English countryside and the Cotswolds in particular and I snapped this book up when I first saw the title. Well.........

The lovely descriptions of all things Cotswold didn't last very long and that left me with a novel that never helped me form any kind of attachment to the characters. I can forgive a lot of things in a story since I freely admit that I am unable to construct one. However, being totally ambivalent toward all the characters in a book just will not do. To add insult to injury, I never even cottoned to the dog! Thea (not Doro or An or Ale, just Thea) Osbourne has taken on the three week job of house-sitting for the Reynoldses at their home in the village of Duntisbourne Abbots. The recently widowed Thea, in her early forties, travels with her spaniel with the undocked tail, Hepzibah. She received all the instructions left by Mr and Mrs Reynolds and saw them off on their way to a vacation cruise. That first night in the house Thea wakes up to a scream somewhere outside the house but manages to convince herself it was either a dream or a night sound she misunderstood because she was sleeping. The next day she discovers a corpse.

There are many things I didn't understand about this book but one which irritated me the most was the authors insistence that Thea was middle aged. In her early 40's? Well, if so then why did she have Thea climbing over walls, climbing fences, climbing stiles, climbing gates, and climbing trees? And just what was going on with Thea and her injured finger? Was I correct in thinking that the author was hinting that Thea was injuring herself as a form of taking her mind off her grief? Surely not. That's just too bizarre for words. Anyway, the mystery aspect of this story was singularly uninteresting to me. Thea's method of investigating was to bumble from one unfortunate situation to another sticking her nose in where she had absolutely no logical reason to do so. The residents of Duntisbourne Abbots were, for the most part, quite mean and nasty people and so, this is not a series I will be tempted to continue. That's really a shame from my standpoint because there are other books in the series and I would love to add this author to my list of must read authors. I'll just keep looking and searching for good English "cozy" mysteries elsewhere.

**CLARIFICATION** I have been gently chided by someone with greater knowledge than myself because of my statement in this review about the protagonist physically injuring herself to divert her attention away from her grief. I was told that this is a common practice. I don't know about that, I'm 67 years old and have never been aware of this before. My point still has to be that the author of the novel did not give me any information within the book to explain if this is a common occurrence so my problem with that aspect of the book still stands. If it is all that common, it is my opinion that some information stating that should have been included for people such as myself who were not aware of this phenomenon.

The majority of this novel is spent in Thea's head. It is not a place the reader actually wants to be. Thea's thoughts ramble down aimless bunny trails, jump to disconnected conclusions, and generally go round and round and round. Additionally, being in Thea's head means you get to know what Thea is really like, and I found her to be childish and self absorbed. The author also allowed her to make huge mistakes in judgment. Why on earth wouldn't she give potential evidence to the police immediately? The book is so poorly written, that I began skim reading it around page 200. The author made the mistake that most writers are warned against; rather than Tope showing us what her characters were doing, she just let Thea tell us everything, sometimes wrapping things up in conclusions that had no supporting evidence. It was maddening and a total waste of time and money. Not even worth borrowing from the library let alone buying.

This book is the first in the Cotswolds Mystery series. What attracted me to the book in the first place was the setting. Tope does an excellent job in writing with great description about the countryside. She also does a good job in describing and building the characters. However, the ending was very anticlimatical making the novel (for me) somewhat disappointing. Disappointing enough that I would not buy another. In addition, there is some sparse raw language and some sexual content that really could have been left out as it did not add to the book in any beneficial way. I read all 349 pages hoping that the story line would live up to the beauty of the descriptive writing, but alas it did not.

First Line: The pain in Thea's finger was intermittent, but sharp.

Recently widowed Thea Osborne has decided to house-sit, and Brook View Farm outside the picture perfect village of Duntisbourne Abbots in the Cotswolds looks ideal. Thea's only worry is that spending three weeks there with the owner's persnickety pages of instructions and three dogs might prove a bit dull.

Her first night's sleep is interrupted by a piercing scream, but since it wasn't close to the house, no one's dogs seemed bothered by it, and it wasn't followed by anything else suspicious, Thea did nothing. Nothing, that is, until she discovers the body of a neighboring farmer at the bottom of one of Brook View's fields. As the investigation unfolds, Thea finds herself talking to neighbors and uncovering bits and pieces of enough secrets and tragedy that she forgets all about her worry of being bored.

I enjoyed this book much more than I thought I would. That makes it sound as though I expected to dislike it, which isn't true. The setting became very real for me with two sentences:

"Every roadway leading to the village centre was steep and twisting, with no clear vistas. Most of the houses escaped being overlooked by any of the others, producing a sense of solitude and secrecy that felt strange in the middle of a village."


If you're anything like me, that description is just the tiniest bit creepy. Who knows what goings-on and secrets can be found in a place with no clear line of sight and with none of the houses being overlooked? (I have to admit that the above description reminded me a bit of a drive through the Yorkshire Dales on one-lane roads, steep hills, and blind corners. What began as a white knuckle ride for me became enchanting due to one simple fact: in that part of England some of the politest drivers in the world are to be found.)

Besides the setting, I found that I really liked the main character, which is amazing because I'm normally very suspicious of anyone who's described as being beautiful. Yes, Thea is beautiful, but she's not obnoxious about it. She's not obsessed with clothing, shoes, makeup or hair styles. She occasionally uses her looks as a tool, having learned years ago that "it was amazing what a smile could do, accompanied by an open and innocent demeanour."

Thea's not obsessed by her appearance, she's not nervous about being alone in a strange place, and she shares what she knows with the police. As she gets to know various villagers, some are very forthcoming-- she won't be around for long, so it won't hurt to talk to her-- and some look at her with distrust. They've heard about Miss Marple, you see.

As I was enjoying my leisurely read in the Cotswolds, getting to know the village and its inhabitants, I actually found the answer to the mystery to be a total surprise because I'd forgotten all about searching for clues. I'm looking forward to reading other books in this series, although I do have one concern: if Thea stumbles into each mystery by house-sitting, won't she soon garner a reputation as The House Sitter of Doom? I think I'll enjoy finding out!

This is the first book I've read by this author. I like her style of writing. The mystery was very weak. I will continue reading the series with the hope that the author will give the reader more insight into the character's personalities and that the mysteries are more interesting.
Again, the style of writing is very good. Just needs some tweaking with the actual mystery itself.