Showing 1-2 out of 2 reviews.

• More of Thea housesitting in the Cotswolds. Enjoyably cosy. I've read much of this series out of order but apart from catching up in her relationship with Phil Hollis it doesn't seem to make much difference. This time Thea is in a slightly bigger village and instead of a farm full of animals she's been asked to keep an eye on 'Granny' who lives in the annex next door. Granny - Gladys - is 92, physically fit, but not always mentally with it. Apparently this isn't Altzimers although you wouldn't know. A casual mentionis made of a drug side effects but this is also somewhat unbelivable, along with the rest of the characters. Which is a same because Tope usually writes quite acceptable one off cahracters to appear briefly in the various problems thea encounters. Gladys however just never really seemed believable, too fit, too random in mental comments, too cunning, and without enough backstory to explain her role. Anyway Thea takes onher role, and has her daughter the provisional police officer come to visit as well. Together they discover the dead body of one of her neighbours - cue mystery. Everythign else proceeds much as it normally does in this series. Thea meets a few local villagers, trys to decide how the mystery could have come about, walks about with her dog, and declaims in equal parts on the wonder of english villages in the countryside, and the changes that are required to make them fit into modern life, without answering what could be done differently. She also manages to have a magnificent rant about the state of the police in today's society. It is so rare to find this kind of modern commentry on social life in an essentialyl cosy mystery like this and one of the standout features of the series. Somewhat contrived ending again, but fun enough in it's own way.

  3.50 out of 5

  reading_fox

• Like the rest of Rebecca Tope's books that I've read this is enjoyable, requires some suspension of belief (like most mysteries do) but not too much, and provides a cast of interesting characters in a location that works well. It's gentle and entertaining, though I did think the conclusion was a bit rushed. I'll no doubt pick up more books in the series in time.

  3.00 out of 5

  nocto

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