Fourth in the series of Thea Osborne 'cosy crime' novels in which she sits houses and ends up involved in a murder mystery due to the propensity of villains to wait until the usual owners are on holiday and a housesitter is on the premises who doesn't know anyone or the area. This time, Thea is 'granny sitting' really, looking after an eccentric 92 year old who seems perfectly lucid and even cunning at times, and very confused/demented at other times. And as the story goes on, Thea starts to realise that sometimes the confusion is an act, so that Gladys can get her own way. It isn't hard to feel some sympathy given that her daughter who lives in the main house next door and her husband have divided their garden from the old lady's and keep the connecting door between the properties locked, plus they have installed an alarm that goes off if she opens her front door. So Gladys is pretty much a prisoner in her own home and unsurprisingly uses the absence of her 'gaolers' to do some exploring.

I didn't feel this story quite matched up to the first two in the series (haven't read the third yet). There was potential - we get to meet Thea's daughter who is a police trainee - and there is an intriguing rap poet character. Thea's lover, Detective Superintendent Phil Hollis, is offstage this time, represented by a couple of phone calls, although her deceased husband's brother makes a cameo appearance as he is another senior policeman who is mentoring her daughter. Daughter Jessica is awaiting a disciplinary hearing having slapped a child who assaulted her at a tense inner city confrontation between the child's parents, and has come for a few days with her mum who is trying to divert and distract her from her anxiety.

Part of the book switches into Jessica's POV to allow us to see the crime scene processing at the murdered man's house, since Thea could not realistically be present. The switch back to Thea is a bit confusing; just needed a scene break. But possibly it is elements such as this which make the book a bit 'flat' for me. Also, there is a thread through the story about Joanna Southcott, the 19th century prophetess, who I had actually heard of (she is an important background element in Jane Rodger's novel 'Mr Wroe's Virgins', a superb book I read years ago), but disappointingly this doesn't really go anywhere. It is a red herring and most of the characters in the book are indeed red herrings. And the resolution is a letdown with a character who has been talked about but never encountered being instrumental in the murder and the person everyone suspects being indeed the culprit. This is a real contrast with the previous books; even where I worked out who the murderer was in book 2, there was still other elements I wasn't clear about, and the characters did add to the air of paranoia in that story. Here, they are all much too gentle and non threatening. ( )

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. ( )

A Cotswold Mystery is the fourth in Rebecca Tope's series of novels set in Cotswold villages, and to my mind thus far the weakest. Our heroine, 42-year-old house-sitter Thea, is once again staying at the home of a couple while they go off to India; in this instance, the house has an attached cottage in which Gladys, the mother of one of the couple, lives. Gladys is 92 and getting forgetful and perhaps a bit demented - unless that's just an act, of course. Thea is wondering about her relationship with Chief Superintendent Phil Hollis, which has been going on for 8 months now but which is still not very well defined. She has her daughter, Jessica, come to stay with her during part of her assignment, and Jessica has her own troubles, including an incident during her police probationary training for which she expects at the very least a severe reprimand. When Jessica finds the murdered body of next-door neighbour Julian Jolly, there seems to be little interest on the part of the villagers or the police in bringing the culprit to light, not least because everyone is pretty sure that Gladys did it and besides, nobody liked the old curmudgeon anyway. That leaves it up to Thea and Jessica to work it out on their own, while trying to resolve their own troubles and keep an eye on the old lady.... Once again the author does a good job of bringing the beautiful settings to life in this novel, and some of the characters are quite interesting, in particular Gladys. But the portrayal of the other villagers seems quite one-dimensional, and I was extremely disappointed in the revelation of the murderer, a character who doesn't even show up until the final pages of the book. I'll continue reading the series (at any rate, I already own two more of the books), but this one did little to further my liking for it. Disappointing. ( )

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. ( )

A COTSWOLD MYSTERY is light reading without being too cosy. There is a cast of interesting characters and the descriptions of Blockley and its history make the reader want to visit the area. The relationship between Thea and Jessica in particular is well portrayed. The pair are close, but their relationship is frequently prickly so there are flare ups and squabbles. It is just what you’d expect from a strong-minded mother and daughter.
I liked Thea and Jessica a great deal and found the mystery to be engrossing. If there is a criticism of the book it is that perhaps the resolution felt a little rushed, but it is a minor quibble. A COTSWOLD MYSTERY is Rebecca Tope’s fourth in the Cotswold Mystery series.
Rebecca Tope’s website is http://www.rebeccatope.com