Number 5 in the cosy crime series set in the Cotswolds, in this the story is told from the viewpoint of Thea's boyfriend Phil, a senior policeman. His weekend with Thea at her latest house sitting is spoiled when he puts his back out, and then human remains are found near the house after a tree falls down. Soon they are embroiled in the hidden agendas of the neighbourhood, and two families in particular, with ancient links to the Templars, a medieval order of warrior monks.

This book also sees the introduction of Sonia Gladwin, a Detective Superintendant at the same level as Phil but newly transferred to the area from Cumbria. She and Thea don't instantly hit it off but by the end have reached a rapprochement where Gladwin allows Thea to bring a particular party to the farm where people are being held hostage, after having worked out the identity of the murderer. In a later book that I've read where Gladwin reappears, the two women are good friends, and Gladwin's more casual approach fits well with Thea's own.

Phil is playing catchup throughout the story, a victim of back pain and disability, and feels rather sidelined at times, having doubts about his relationship with Thea despite his declaration of love to her just before his back trouble commenced. Having read later volumes in the series already, he is right to have such doubts. The decision to tell the story from his viewpoint creates a distancing effect from Thea's character which I noticed before in 'A Grave in the Cotswolds' a later volume also told from a man's POV. It makes Thea a lot less sympathetic because we don't get an insight into why she is being quite offhand towards Phil. In a later book I do remember that she feels bad about the way she treated him during this period. The prickliness which characterises their relationship following his injury is deliberate in view of what presumably happens in the next volume which I have not yet read, so I do understand why they are often at loggerheads in this story. But it would have been nice to have seen it from Thea's viewpoint.

The underlying murder mystery is rather complex though most of it makes sense once you work out what underlies it - and I did actually work out the twist before the end. But there are certain factors that don't go anywhere such as the village re-enactments of saints' deaths and martyrdoms - why for example was the body treated in the same way as one of the saints? It is put across as a key part of the mystery and yet seems to have been forgotten about before the end. Hence with niggles like this and the lack of Thea's own viewpoint, I have rated this at 3 stars. ( )

An old tree near the house where Thea is house-sitting collapses. Phil finds a skeleton which had been buried underneath the tree.

There were lots of references to earlier books in the series which I read long enough ago to have forgotten what happened while the references weren't explicit enough to prompt my memory. Phil puts his back out in this one, and the descriptions of the physical and mental effects of that rang very true to my own experience. The actual mystery was well done. I did get glimmerings of the solution at one point, but foolishly didn't follow them up. ( )

this is the first book I've read by this author and it won't be the last. It takes someone who is having aquiet time house sitting and thrusts them into a murder when a body is found underneath a dislodged tree. Add in her boyfreiend with a bad back and the scen is set. ( )

Thea Osborne is a historian and house-sitter whose current job takes her to the village of Temple Guiting. Her boyfriend, senior policeman Phil Hollis, joins her for the weekend but while there slips a disc in his back and has to stay on longer to recuperate. He is therefore present when a large tree is uprooted and a skeleton is uncovered. The bones turn out to be relatively recent and a full-blown murder investigation ensues, though Hollis is on sick leave and has to sit painfully on the sidelines while the official investigation is carried out.

My primary reason for selecting this book was fond memories of staying in the Cotswolds several times (although no blood was spilled during my trips there) and in that respect I was not disappointed. The story’s village setting is depicted exactly as I imagined where any crime is relatively gentle and the suspect pool consists of a handful of characters who share complicated family connections and long histories and everyone is very civilised. Even when one of the suspects holds one of the protagonists at gunpoint it’s all done in quite a gentlemanly way and it never feels like anyone is in much actual danger of getting hurt. To take one’s mind off the criminal element there’s a pet snake, snippets of Templar history and an English version of a hot summer (where I live several days of 28°C-30°C temperatures would qualify as a cool change during our summers).

Thea Osborne is quite a strong female character, especially as her civil libertarian leanings are at odds with her boyfriend’s job and she doesn’t automatically fall into a nursemaid role when Hollis is injured but Hollis is a bit wet. Having experienced the same back injury myself I can appreciate that the author has captured his pain and frustration well but there is a limit to how interesting someone else’s ailments can be and, for me anyway, that limit was reached before the end of this book.

Although it was a pleasant enough tale it didn’t really have anything terribly original to offer but if you’re a fan of Misdomer Murders I think you’d probably enjoy this book. If you like audio books I can recommend this narration as Caroline Lennon does a rather good job of drawing you into the story and differentiating the characters in an understated way that suits the tone of the story. ( )

Fun cosy. I'd enjoyed the first one, but the library didn't stock the intervening ones so I picked up this to see how the series has progressed. The opening was a bit of a jump from the first book. Only a year or so has passed but Thea has overcome all her grief and is now pretty much normal. She's also been in a relationship with DI Hollis for some time - allowing easy access to police information. This book is somewhat of a departure from the norm, as it is told pretty much exclusively from Phil's POV. He doesn't get much action though as he's laid up with a bad back for just about all of it.

Thea is again house-sitting in the Cotswolds. And despite the title there is very little gore at all, and only 1 body. The Blood is a reference to family blood as the village is steeped in the ancient mystery of the Templars with one well connected family spread out over most of the area. Phil accidentally finds a body - it was disturbed by a fallen tree. The villagers seem to take offense at this, as if he should have quietly re-buried it and gone on as normal. Thea does a bit of digging around and asking questions before rushing off on a mis-guided quest to 'solve' the mystery. Fortunately the local DI (Phill not being on duty with his bad back), already has most of the answers.

There's a lot of relationship stuff - Thea can't cope with an invalid very well and Phil isn't used to spending much time away from work. This gets a bit tedious at times and you do wonder if the author is trying to separate them gently so that she can have the fun of introducing a new character. Meanwhile Thea continues to be the enjoyably blunt and outspoken character that made her such fun in the first books. Crime novels aren't usually the source of insightful social commentary (which is usually the preserve of SF) but it was refreshing to have some here. Thea and Phil have a few debates of social policing in the UK. You might not agree with either side, but the debates need to be had, and they aren't - at least not int he mainstream media. I suspect this will date fairly badly, but it still feels contemporary enough only a year or two on.

Enjoyable mystery - not quite a cosy, but not far from it. Well worth continuing with the series, and I'll be back to check out the intervening books too. ( )