Number 13 in the Cotswolds cosy crime series. This time Thea is determined to keep out of trouble and is worrying about her money situation and the fact that Drew, her boyfriend, is also struggling to make ends meet with his Somerset natural burial company. She fears they will never get together properly as his young children are still grieving for their mother, and Drew's business partner on whom he relies so heavily is now pregnant.

This time, a house with an elderly corgi and a hibernating tortoise are her main charges, although an almost last minute extra duty is to visit a house in a nearby village and keep the plants watered during the first week of her two week stay and to check all is well. Thea starts off with good intentions and goes for a walk with her spaniel, Hepzie, to the other house. En route, she encounters two women and tries to have a friendly chat. One of them starts preaching at her about environmental matters and it turns out that the two are members of a local activist group which has been harrassing various farmers etc when they don't agree with the farmers' policies towards animals/the environment. Shortly afterwards, she sees the two women again with another woman, (Fe)Nella. It seems that the three were discussing Nella's engagement and her boyfriend's reluctance to set a date for the wedding. The boyfriend is a leader in the same activist organisation.

Before long, Thea is dragged into another murder mystery when the said boyfriend turns up dead in the local quarry. To be fair to her, she does often try to steer clear though her curiosity urges her to investigate, but various suspects keep turning up at the house she is sitting, sometimes to threaten her to keep out of their business. They have come to the conclusion that she is a police spy, which is ironic in the light of later developments, but I won't say more about that. As usual Thea tries to juggle her family life, worrying about her daughter's mysterious and possibly dangerous assignment as a police officer, and Drew's family problems, while looking after the elderly corgi - rather an endearing animal I thought. She is directly targeted at one point, and speculates about the motive of the murderer as well as their identity, as a local farmer is blamed by the activists.

I felt quite sorry for Thea in this story, although she can be a bit irritating on occasion. She doesn't do anything really stupid as she sometimes has, she is public spirited enough to help an injured man and try to care for his dog, and yet she is roundly abused by people who turn out to be quite unpleasant. An interesting backstory to this book is the controversial badger cull which has been taking place in real-life England, and the changing face of the Cotswolds, with houses being bought as second homes or by people who commute to London etc. ( )