Set in 1846, on the Oregon Trail, this is a coming-of-age story, told by young Charity Collins. A large cast of emigrants, each with their own aspirations and beliefs, intermingle and teach each other a great deal.

This cemetery's got one corpse too many...With Peaceful Repose Cemetery, Drew Slocombe is determined to revolutionise the entire death industry and make ecologically sound burials a popular choice. Unfortunately, his gravedigger has just discovered that their cemetery has one too many corpses – that of an elderly woman. The police don't appear to be particularly concerned and seem to think it's that of a vagrant. But for Drew things don't add up: even if the woman died a natural death, someone was obviously responsible for burying her.When Genevieve Slater, a woman from Drew's past, turns up at his door, and asks him to help prove that the body is that of her missing mother, the mystery deepens. Why does Genevieve not go to the police with her concerns? All Drew's skills as an amateur detective will be needed if he is to get to the truth . . .

'AS REBECCA TOPE TELLS IT, EVERY RURAL IDYLL IS BLIGHTED BY UNDERLYING MENACE. SUCH IS HER WRITING SKILL, I'M INCLINED TO BELIEVE HER' DAILY MAILThea Slocombe, formerly Osborne, is trying to settle into normal family life with Drew and his two children in the village of Broad Campden. But any sense of cosy domesticity is shattered when Thea finds the body of a neighbour. No longer a house-sitter, Thea has no choice but to stay in the village and deal with the fallout, even when this risks damage to her marriage.Unconvinced that the swift conclusion the police reach is the right one, Thea is compelled to follow her nature and investigate for herself. But what repercussions might there be for her, Drew and those with whom they share this corner of the Cotswolds?

Thea Osborne, accompanied by her beloved spaniel Hepzie, has had her fair share of unfortunate occurrences while house-sitting, and her new assignment for the mysterious Yvonne Parker is no exception. The isolated and somewhat unsettling village of Snowshill has Thea on edge as soon as she arrives, and Hyacinth House – her new, rather cluttered home – does nothing to dispel such feelings. Soon enough, her intuition in this case proves to be right, and once again Thea becomes entangled in another mystery.Stevie Horsfall, a mischievous child from the village, is found strangled outside Hyacinth House, with his eccentric mother Gudrun as the prime suspect. Believing in Gudrun’s innocence, Thea, alongside her friend Drew Slocombe and Sonia Gladwin, works to uncover a sinister plot, where seemingly separate lives are intertwined with secretive and strange relationships. This malicious web of suspects leads Thea through the lives of the villagers and their secrets, to London and beyond.Review'Rich in psychological insight ... Tope is particularly skilled in creating interesting and unique characters, and Thea is one of her best' --Deadly Pleasures About the AuthorREBECCA TOPE is the author of fifteen previous crime novels. She lives on a smallholding in Herefordshire, with a full complement of livestock, but manages to travel the world and enjoy civilization from time to time as well. Most of her varied experiences and activities find their way into her books, sooner or later; for example, bee keeping, milk recording, spinning, arguing, undertaking and gardening. She is also currently the membership secretary of the Crime Writers' Association.

Thea Osborne's latest housesitting assignment is a little different to the rest. Along with her spaniel, Hepzie, Thea finds herself in the village of Chedworth. She is asked to create an inventory of Rita Wilshire's possessions, requested by her son, after he moved her into a care home. All goes according to plan, until Thea and her fiancé, Drew Slocombe, find a body in the barn.When family members come knocking, Thea and Drew struggle to give them answers. Was it suicide, or something more sinister? When the clues lead them in circles, Thea's relationship with Drew is put to the test. But there is a crime to solve, and neither of them is willing to give up just yet...

Following a personal tragedy, florist Persimmon 'Simmy' Brown has moved to the beautiful region of the Lake District to be nearer her charismatic parents. Things are going well, with her latest flower arrangements praised and Simmy content to lose herself in her work. But the peace she has found is shattered when, at the wedding of a millionaire's daughter, the bride's brother is found brutally murdered in the lake.As the florist of the wedding and one of the last people to talk to Mark Baxter alive, Simmy gradually becomes involved with the grief-ridden and angry relatives. All seem to have their fair share of secrets and scandals - an uncaring mother, a cheating father, and a husband twenty-five years older than his bride. When events take another sinister turn, Simmy becomes a prime witness and finds herself at the heart of a murder investigation. The chief suspects are the groom and his closely knit band of bachelor friends. They are all intimidating, volatile and...

Thea Osborne is thanking her lucky stars. After two disastrous housesitting incidents in which she unwittingly became embroiled in murder and mayhem, she is only too happy to have a bit of time to concentrate on her blossoming releationship with DI Phil Hollis. The couple has retreated to Phil's late aunt's cottage in Cold Aston, and other than the odd interruption from his childhood acquaintance, the eccentric Ariadne, they look forward to some peace and quiet.But the bad luck that plagues the hapless Thea and her beloved spaniel Hepzibah is never far away. With autumn drawing in, preparations for Samhain, the pagan origin of Halloween, are well underway when Ariadne discovers a very tangible reminder of the season of death: a body laid out like a sacrificial victim on Notgrove Barrow.It soon becomes apparent that the cosy village has more than its share of secrets. But just how far will some go to keep them hidden?

The account of the life of St Cuthman, who pushed his mother across England in a handcart.

When the body of herdsman Sean O’Farrell was discovered in one of the farm buildings, Detective Sergeant Den Cooper is more than happy to cast one of the local farmers, Gordon Hillcock, in the role of chief suspect. After all, it is a well-known fact that there was no love lost between Gordon and the victim. And besides, Den has a little grudge of his own – Gordon is currently dating Den’s ex-fiancee Lilah and was actually the reason she dumped him only a few short months before their wedding.However, Den did not plan on Lilah’s determination to protect her new lover. How far will she go to make sure that Den directs his suspicions elsewhere?From the author of A Dirty Death comes another wonderful tale of muck, mayhem, and murder set in the deceptively idyllic English countryside. With a richly textured plot and a memorable cast of eccentric characters, Tope draws us into all the drama and complexities of small-town life where nothing is quite what it seems.

In the wake of a series of unfortunate experiences house-sitting in the Cotswolds, Thea Osborne, accompanied by her spaniel Hepzibah, is perhaps over-optimistic about the English summertime and the possibilities of her latest assignment – house-sitting for transatlantic reptile breeder Harriet Young. However the region's bucolic charms prove to be more than deceptive, as Thea is thrust once more into the heart of a Cotswold mystery.Despite the ease with which Thea's new assignment in the secluded village of Cranham begins, she soon finds a dark side to the characters she encounters. From the elderly Donny Davis to the enigmatic figure of Edwina, Thea begins to realise that Harriet Young's beloved geckoes are not the only cold-blooded creatures at large in Cranham.Family intrigue, murder and suicide combine to give Thea a decidedly challenging summer in the Heart of England . . .

Thea and Drew have been married for a year and are settled in the village of Broad Campden, but Thea is chafing at the domestic routines she is expected to devote herself to, missing the novelty and adventure that house-sitting used to bring. When a routine burial exposes the secrets of the deceased, Drew finds himself caught in the middle of a family feud, in which he feels he is on the wrong side, and Thea's inquisitiveness and penchant for solving crimes draws her in too. With another crisis at Drew's other business leaving him with a profound dilemma and Thea struggling against the charismatic charms of a new man, can their marriage survive this latest Cotswold drama?