Reading books set in the Cotsworld aren't new to me. I have read the first nine books in the Agatha Raisin series by M.C. Beaton and have fallen in love with them. I will write about her books in a future post. After reading about another series of books set in the Cotsworlds. I thought I would give it a go to see if it's as good as the Raisin woman.
All of the books featuring Thea Osborne are set in the Cotsworlds. Tope tend to use real villages and towns for the book's setting and only use fictional names for the houses, farms and characters. Thea Osborne is an early 40s widow who recently lost her husband, Carl in a road traffic accident. She has a spaniel, Hepzie and enjoys playing Scrabble online in her spare time.
She takes up a self employed job as a house-sitter. Looking after the house, garden and fields whilst the owners are away long term. Her first venture saw her looking after Brook View in Duntisbourne Abbots. A village that doesn't have a post office, local shop or even a pub (although there is one in real life, Five Mile House). The owners, Clive and Jennifer Reynolds are taking a three week cruise while they have left the house, the massive field, the sheep and their two labradors in the capable hands of Thea. After settling in, she is first met by local farmer Joel Jennison. However, sleeping on her first night at Brook View she hears a scream in the garden but doesn't investigate. The next morning she discovers a deceased Joel at the back of the house. Thea decides to investigate to see who murdered Joel by visiting the neighbours and the farm he lived on. Not everything is normal in the village as a previous murder from two months earlier is unearthed.
I felt the book was sort of in the middle. OK but not brilliant. I think the problem I had with the first book was Thea is mostly on her own and barely has any detective interaction outside Brook View. Yes, she does visit the neighbours of Duntisbourne Abbots but the people are mostly suspects and she hasn't got anybody to bounce her theories off from. She has got a brother in law, James who works for the police but when he first visits Thea at Brook View, Tope has wrote him in as a person who doesn't take any notice of Thea's theories and always looks at his watch. Also James only pops in and out throughout the book and not a permanent character. It seems of all the crime books I read the lead characters always has an aid. Like Watson to Holmes, thus.
Hercule Poirot has either Arthur Hastings or Aridane Oliver,
Agatha Raisin has either James Lacey or Sir Charles Fraith,
Carole Seddon has Jude,
Cora Felton has her niece Sherry,
Tom Thorne has Dave Holland,
and son on
Perhaps it's me but I felt Thea could've had someone by her side to help her but not all the time attached to her. If James was featured more then I would change my opinion. Given there are a lot of family members in the plot it was difficult to follow to how they're related to Joel. Also I felt the way where Thea was working out the murderer could've been done much earlier given the resources she had. The first book does have some interesting bits but it does dip from time to time.
My main gripe is how the booked ended. It felt abrupt and cut short. I thought "is that it?". When the murderer was revealed and why it happened did make sense but I felt a prologue or an extra chapter could've benefited to wrapping the book up. I will commend Tope for using actual place names for the settings to give it realism but I feel the first book overall could've been better. That said, the series could improve in my eyes as she has released another nine books in the Thea Osborne series. In comparison to the Agatha Raisin series. These books are a bit darker and doesn't have the humour compared to the love to hate character of Agatha Raisin.
Would I recommend this book to you? Yes, if you enjoy a complex murder plot featuring a family but there are better murder mysteries out there.
Would I read the next one in the series? Yes as it may improve but I wouldn't rush to read the next one straight away.
I gave A Cotswold Killing 3 out of 5 stars on Goodreads.
Next to read: The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry
No comments:
Post a Comment