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Rebecca Tope is a British author who writes mainly in the Mystery and Thriller genres. She has written four successful murder mystery series’ and also some ghost stories. Rebecca is known is known to have penned down a few famous fictional characters such as Den Cooper, a Devon police detective, Thea Osborne, a house sitter in Cotswold, Drew Slocombe, former nurse, etc. She is also a journalist by profession. Rebecca Tope was born on January 1, 1948 in the Midlands and was raised in Chesire. Later, she moved to Devon along with her family full of farmers by profession. She had some extreme experiences during her farming days, which inspired her to write her first novel titled ‘A Dirty Death’. In this novel, she has very well depicted the cruelty, the frustration of idyllic summer days, harvesting teamwork, delights of staying among young animals and death based on her experiences.
Rebecca went on to write a number of other novels and wrote pretty much everything that she experienced. But, before becoming an author, Rebecca has done a lot of jobs such as a marriage counselor, pre-natal instructor and funeral director. All these jobs taught her a lot about human and social values which she widely used in her writings. Rebecca also went on to establish her own publishing press in the form a small British press named ‘Praxis Books’. All the novels written by Rebecca are set in real villages including Frampton Mansell, Cold Aston, Snowhill, Duntisbourne Abbots, Lower Slaughter, Blockley, etc. Her unique style of writing is based on deep observations by visiting the pubs of the villages where the plot of her novels are usually set. Rebecca never indulges with any of the villagers for getting knowledge and writes whatever she makes out of her observations. Her upcoming novels is based on the biography of Sabine Baring-Gould and she is currently working on the plot. Rebeca does not miss any crime fiction event and makes sure that she attends all the possible ones.
Currently, she lives in rural Herefordshire, close to the Black Mountains, along with her Cotswold sheep, two dogs and pigs. She has transformed the paddock of the pigs into a wild garden full of trees, lots of bamboo and a pond. Rebecca spends most of her time in weaving blankets, spinning and knitting. She is very fond of making baby blankets from pure wool derived from her own flock of sheep. Rebecca Tope was the membership secretary of the Crime Writers’ Association in the year 2009. She has been longlisted for Crimefest, for a number of awards for her novels. These include ‘Sounds of Crime’ for ‘Blood in the Cotswolds’, ‘eDunnit Award’ for ‘Fear in the Cotswolds’, ‘Audible Sounds of Crime’, ‘Goldsboro Last Laugh Award’ and ‘eDunnit Award’ for Deception in the Cotswolds’, every year from 2009 to 2012.
The first novel series written by Rebecca Tope ass titled ‘Cotswold Mysteries’. The series contains eleven highly successful novels, which were published by Allison & Bubsy printing press from 2005 to 2014. The series is based on the life of the fictional character named Thea Osborne, who is a house-sitter in the Cotswold, in England. The series depicts Thea Osborne as a widow aged forty-two. Her husband Carl died in a car accident a year ago. She has a daughter named Jessica, who is a police probationer and a cocker spaniel named Hepzibah. The first novel of the series was published under the title ‘A Cotswold Killing’. The plot of the novel opens up in the time of May and Thea is shown taking her first commission as a house sitter in the village of Duntisbourne Abbots, a lovely and small village. She is asked to take the charge of a house consisting of two dogs and a small flock of sheep. In the village, she gets to meet the local people, including Harry Richmond, who is somehow involved in the murder of a local farmer. She has the habit of visiting pubs a lot and doing random scrabble on her computer as well as attending funerals. Although the village of Duntisbourne Abbots seems beautiful and timeless, it is filled with well-kept secrets. Thea believes that her initial weeks as a house sitter is going to be quite dull. But, suddenly things begin to change, increasing her level of excitement. She hears a screaming voice during the night, but decides not to pay heed to it as the place was dark and new to her. The next day, she indulges with the neighbors to get some answers and discovers the tragedy behind the beautiful village. The novel is full of tense journeys along with muddy paths and winding roads. It was a very well written novel that kept the readers interested till the very end. The readers were quite amazed with the way the drama of the novel unfolds. Rebecca was praised for her efforts. Her depiction of the characters and observational writing were liked by many readers worldwide. This motivated her to write more novels set in real life locations.
The second novel of the series was published under the title ‘A Cotswold Ordeal’ in the year 2006 and features the happenings in the life of the fictional character, Thea Osborne. The plot of the novel continues from the late summer of the first book, where Thea takes up the job of house sitting for a family who have moved to Ireland. The house is situated in Frampton Mansell, close to the Cotswold Canal. Thea is joined by her younger sister named Jocelyn, who is trying to overcome her own personal crisis. Thea is required to take care of a vintage car, poultry and an old pony. She meets inspector Phil Hollis, who is involved in a murder mystery in Frampton Mansell. They have already met before and are in love with each other. But she questions her trust when she undergoes a gruelling ordeal. The murder mystery is about a suicide that takes place alongside the Cotswold canal. The southern part of the Cotswold is known for its woolen mills which were active in the nineteenth century, and are now full of a number of secrets of the local people. Hollis questions Thea as the confusion goes on growing between them. Soon, the investigations turn into frustrations and lead to a mysterious climax. The novel saw a successful opening and went on to sell a number of copies all over the world. It was very well received by the readers similar to the first novel. Rebecca was overwhelmed by the response she got from the readers and the fellow authors. She was highly praised for her efforts and was nominated for a number of prestigious awards. This enabled her to few more novels in the series as well as other series. Rebecca still enjoys writing during her free time and is about to come up with another novel in the ‘Cotswold Mysteries’ series.
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7 Responses to “Rebecca Tope”
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Our retirement village has five of Rebecca’s books. I am about to start no. 5. I have never read so much in my life, totally hooked.
Read my first Rebecca Tope Book 12-18mths ago. Love them all. I now have 33, thank heaven for online shopping. They’ve seen me through Covid, Broken Ribs, Broken leg, lousy weather, and the death of my husband. I am looking for the rest, I think that’s 23 to go. Cant wait.
Just started the series and Im loving them
After reading the first book and thoroughly enjoying it and ironically just having a week’s stay in a cottage in Duntisbourne we have just brought the whole series (2-19) plus the the Cotswold case book.
Here’s to happy reading in our old age.
I have just ordered Rebecca Topes last book and have enjoyed everyone of them .I hope she is still writing and looking forward to any new publications. Many thanks to her Com a group of elderly ladies who have read all your books through the Covid situation .Kindest regards.
Barbara Mason
love all her books
Now living in a “Village” situation in Canberra after leaving “Bishops Cleeve in 1986.
Found a couple of your books in New Zealand (whilst on a cruise) now trying to find a source here to carry on with remanising about B.C. and the Cotswolds.
Hope I find a source soon.
All the best
David Lissimore