Grave Concerns (West Country Mysteries, 4) - Softcover

Tope, Rebecca

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0749009705 ISBN 13: 9780749009700

Publisher: Allison & Busby, 2011

Synopsis

With Peaceful Repose Cemetery, Drew Slocombe is determined to revolutionize the entire death industry and make cheap, ecologically sound burials a popular choice. Unfortunately, Drew’s gravedigger has just discovered that their cemetery has one too many corpses. The body of an elderly woman has been occupying the field for months before Drew opened for business. The police don’t appear to be particularly concerned by the death and seem to think that the body is 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.

The mystery deepens when Genevieve Slater turns up at Drew’s door. With reasons of her own for not wanting to contact the police, she wants to hire Drew to prove that the body is that of her missing mother. Drew realizes helping her might get him in trouble with the law, but for a man looking to escape both money worries and marriage problems, Genevieve proves impossible to resist.

About this title

About the Author:

REBECCA 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.

From Booklist:

This British whodunit features an unusual hero in Drew Slocombe, a former nurse who has become an undertaker and opened an alternative cemetery where he promotes ecologically sound, environmentally friendly (and much cheaper) burials. But just as business is picking up, the body of a woman is found in a shallow grave in an undeveloped part of the cemetery. She wears only a cotton shroud and an unusual necklace, with little else to identify her. When word about the discovery gets around, Drew receives a call from Genevieve Slater, whom Drew met (and was attracted to) when he and his wife wanted to buy the same house as Genevieve and her husband. The contact sets off warning bells for Drew, but when Genevieve offers him 2,000 to find out if the dead woman is her mother, Drew can't resist. Tope's fourth book is competently written, with offbeat characters, an inventive plot, and some biting commentary on the funeral business. A natural pairing with the genre's only other undertaker-sleuth, Tim Cockey's Hitchcock Sewell, although this series is less given to madcap humor. Emily Melton
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About this edition

• Publisher: Allison & Busby
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0749009705
• ISBN 13: 9780749009700
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 512