‘A Lake District Christmas Murder’ by Rebecca Tope

Published by Allison & Busby,
19 September 2024.
ISBN 978-0-7490-3169-5 (HB)

Rebecca Tope is a prolific author and the highly acclaimed writer of three series of mystery novels.  A Lake District Christmas Murder is book 14 of her Lake District Mysteries which feature Persimmon (Simmy) Brown, her husband Christopher, and her long-term fellow amateur detectives Ben and Bonnie.

Though they have lived in the village for two years, Simmy has been so busy looking after her toddler son and trying to run her florist business over in Windermere, she has not had time to make friends with the locals. An invitation to a party just before Christmas in the neighbouring village of Glenridding would seem to be an excellent opportunity to remedy the situation.

Simmy has reservations about the people she meets but all of that is quickly overshadowed when early the next morning the body of a man is discovered in a beck a short distance from the house where the party was held. His throat had been cut and his body rolled down the bank into the freezing water.

That is not the only mystery troubling Simmy. On Christmas Eve, Celia, one of the women she’d met at the party turns up and thrusts a newborn baby into Simmy’s arms. According to Celia, the baby had been left on her doorstep. She had brought him to Simmy because the shops were now closed, and Simmy was the only person who was likely to have baby formular and nappies. Celia leaves before Simmy has time to protest.

Are the two events connected? It is evident that there is more going on than her new acquaintances are telling her. Who can she trust?

Rebecca Tope’s consummate skill creating a complex plot, well-drawn characters, a vivid setting together with a wonderfully engaging easy style all keep the reader turning the pages long into the night. I loved it and read the whole novel in two days.
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Reviewer: Judith Cranswick  

Rebecca Tope is the author of four popular murder mystery series, featuring Den Cooper, Devon police detective, Drew Slocombe, Undertaker, Thea Osborne, house sitter in the Cotswolds, and more recently Persimmon (Simmy) Brown, a florist. Rebecca grew up on farms, first in Cheshire then in Devon, and now lives in rural Herefordshire on a smallholding situated close to the beautiful Black Mountains.
Besides "ghost writer" of the novels based on the ITV series Rosemary and Thyme. Rebecca is also the proprietor of a small press - Praxis Books. This was established in 1992.

www.rebeccatope.com

Judith Cranswick was born and brought up in Norwich. Apart from writing, Judith’s great passions are travel and history. Both have influenced her two series of mystery novels. Tour Manager, Fiona Mason takes coach parties throughout Europe, and historian Aunt Jessica is the guest lecturer accompanying tour groups visiting more exotic destinations aided by her nephew Harry. Her published novels also include several award-winning standalone psychological thrillers. She wrote her first novel (now languishing in the back of a drawer somewhere) when her two children were toddlers, but there was little time for writing when she returned to her teaching career. Now retired, she is able to indulge her love of writing and has begun a life of crime! ‘Writers are told to write what they know about, but I can assure you, I've never committed a murder.
I'm an ex-convent school headmistress for goodness sake!’
Her most recent book is Passage to Greenland 

http://judithcranswick.co.uk/