Bücher von Rebecca Tope

Thea Osborne and her faithful spaniel, Hepzie, have taken on a house - sitting assignment in the charming Cotswold village of Temple Guiting. But as always, an idyllic village can harbour a disquieting number of secrets and when a skeleton is discovered at the roots of an old beech tree, Thea is grateful for the presence of her partner DS Phil Hollis. There is no concrete evidence as to who the bones belonged to although it isn't long before theories and rumours abound. Thea soon finds herself drawn into a murder investigation - perhaps the countryside isn't that quiet after all.

Nina Cattermole had an unusual death: head - butted by a horse as she protested against the local Devon hunt. The official verdict? It was a freak accident. But when another hunt saboteur is found dead in a ditch on the day of Nina's funeral, local DC Den Cooper is sent to investigate. It soon becomes clear that this is not another accident. Charlie Gratton has been trampled to death by a horse, the blows struck with such precision that they could only have been delivered by an animal under the control of an experienced rider. It seems that Charlie, a practising Quaker, has been murdered. As Den tries to solve the case he finds himself drawn in to an insular Quaker community and a village divided by loyalties and past misdeeds...

 Once again, there's death on her doorstep - Thea throws herself into house - sitting for Babs and Cedric Angell in Lower Slaughter following her beloved father's death - anything to keep her busy and away from some of her rather difficult relatives. Although it's lonely, she has her spaniel Hepzie for company, and keeping the house in order and looking after the Angells' menagerie of animals does the trick for a short period of time. But when Thea's prickly older sister turns up, after witnessing a horrific killing, the timeless tranquillity of Lower Slaughter vanishes, replaced by the sinister connotations of the town's name.