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    The Windermere Witness: A Lake District Mystery
    Unavailable
    The Windermere Witness: A Lake District Mystery
    Unavailable
    The Windermere Witness: A Lake District Mystery
    Ebook357 pages5 hours

    The Windermere Witness: A Lake District Mystery

    By Rebecca Tope

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    Following a personal tragedy, florist Persimmon "Simmy" Brown has moved to the beautiful Lake District region to be closer to her charismatic parents. Things are going well, and Simmy is happy 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 wedding florist 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—a distant mother, a cheating father, and a husband twenty-five years older than his bride. When events take another sinister turn, all eyes turn to the groom and his close-knit friends, each more secretive and volatile than the next. As a prime witness, Simmy finds herself at the heart of a murder investigation that could undo a family and a whole town …

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateJan 6, 2015
    ISBN9780062397249
    Unavailable
    The Windermere Witness: A Lake District Mystery
    Author

    Rebecca Tope

    Rebecca Tope is the author of three bestselling crime series, set in the Cotswolds, Lake District and West Country. She lives on a smallholding in rural Herefordshire, where she enjoys the silence and plants a lot of trees.

    Read more from Rebecca Tope

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    Reviews for The Windermere Witness

    3.5/5

    36 ratings5 reviews

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    • 4/5
      This was my first book by Rebecca Tope, and the central character is a florist who gets caught up in a murder at a wedding in Windmere in the Lake District. It is very much a cozy, and in the book Simmy is put at the forefront of the murders and sets out to find out who the killer is. It was an enjoyable read without being a great read, will certainly give other books by Rebecca Tope a try. Overall I would describe it as good honest writing which isn't too taxing on the old grey cells!
    • 3/5
      This is the first of a series of contemporary murder mysteries set in various locations in the Lake District. Reading the book during this year's holiday in this lovely part of the country that is one of our favourite holiday destinations, I had every incentive to like it and pursue the series, especially as most of the subsequent books in the series are currently available at very low prices in ebook form. However, I'm afraid it is unlikely I will be reading them. While the author displays a great familiarity with Lake District locations that I loved to relate to where I have actually been, I found the plot of this novel, based on two murders around a high society wedding at a posh hotel on the shores of Windermere, rather unrealistic. Worse, I didn't really like any of the characters, finding nearly all of them rather irritating to a greater or lesser degree. The central character, Persimmon Brown, a florist, seemed to change her attitudes frequently towards the other characters and the murderous events in which she becomes unwittingly involved, at times trying to act the private detective and find out everything she can about the high society families involved, and at other times ruing her involvement in the affairs of people with whom she has little in common, and yearning for her quiet ordinary life. And at the end I still wasn't really clear about the murderer's motivations for the specific murders he committed.
    • 3/5
      I picked this up at a used book shop during our aborted Christmas travels; having spent time in the Lake District, specifically, the towns of Windermere, Bowness, and Ableside that this story is set in, it appealed to me instantly.Alas, it was no more than a drab average. The characters didn't know what they wanted to be: the MC tells an inspector at the beginning she's moved to Windermere after her divorce, that she was childless and insisted that there were "compensations". By the end of the book she's barely coping with the stillborn birth she had 2 years before. Coping and repression are likely, of course, but they aren't part of of the narrative, so the reader is left with no grasp of this MC. The Inspector is either attractive and friendly or greasy-haired and antagonistic. The MC's mother is supposed to be a hippy, but acts more like a criminal attorney; I never once got the impression she liked her daughter. The bride of the story is either flaky, naive and needs to be protected, or a headstrong woman who is the only one that can steer her much older husband's life. Flip-flop.The elements of the plot were interesting, but the plot itself wasn't anything special. The motivation was pathetic and unbelievable, given the characters, and the murderer pretty obvious after about half-way. The setting was what I'd hoped for, at least. My memories of the Lake District are still vivid, and I loved the area, so 're-visiting' it through the book kept me picking it back up. This is the first in a series all set here, and while weak, not so bad that should I come across another one at a used book shop, I'd probably pick it up.
    • 3/5
      Not bad. Typical cozy mystery with a bit more psychological emphasis. Main character is interesting and her job as a florist is a great addition to the story. She’s a bit wish-washy for my money, but I’ll continue the series.
    • 4/5
      One of the very first things I learned about Simmy Brown is how tender-hearted she is. Still reeling from tragedies in her own life, she's throwing herself into her new business. Her part-time employee isn't the best fit for a florist shop, but Simmy sees the best in the young girl and doesn't look for a replacement. She also gets embroiled with the bride's family much too easily. Whenever they want to speak to her, she just can't seem to say no. Instead, she drops everything to see what they need from her. It's almost impossible not to like someone who sees the best in people and who is always willing to help-- especially when she's not doing so blindly. No, Simmy has a good head on her shoulders, and she does know how to use it.I also learned a great deal about what goes into the running of a florist shop. Not just irritating customers, but flower ordering, wedding planning, and how to brainstorm ideas for new arrangements and display windows for the shop. Tope comes nowhere near to overwhelming the storyline with these facts, and since I'd never given any thought to this particular type of business, I found it very interesting.The cast of secondary characters in The Windermere Witness is a strong one. Simmy's parents-- especially her mother-- are a bit eccentric, and readers can learn a bit about the bed-and-breakfast business as well. Simmy's part-time employee begins as an irritating young woman but with more shading given to her character, she becomes an important part of the cast. The winner to me, however, was seventeen-year-old Ben. Ben is intelligent, funny, and full of ideas. Simmy seems to be just the person to bring out the best in Ben, and I definitely want to see more of him.As for the mystery itself, I have to admit that I was flummoxed. The main pool of suspects consisted of members of the wedding party, and they acted so strangely that I spent most of my time trying to figure them out, and I never did get around to trying to pin down the identity of the killer.The lovely setting of England's Lake District, a strong cast of characters, and a puzzling mystery all lead me to look forward to Simmy Brown's next adventure!