Thank you for joining us on the Virtual Book Tour for The Troutbeck Testimony, a Cozy Mystery by Rebecca Tope (first published Published 21 May 2015; this US edition 25 October 2016, Morrow / Witness Impulse, 352 pages). This is the fourth book in the Lake District Mysteries series.
Don't miss our interview with author Rebecca Tope. as well as our follow up questions about The Troutbeck Testimony.PREVIEW: Check out the book's synopsis and the Kindle Cloud Reader Preview below.
Author Rebecca Tope will be awarding a digital copy of The Troutbeck Testimony to three randomly drawn winners via Rafflecopter during the tour. Please do take part: comment on our post and follow the tour where you will be able to read other excerpts (☀), interviews (ℚ), reviews (✍) and guest blog posts (✉).
|| Synopsis || Teaser: KCR Preview || The Series || Author Interview: The Coniston Case || Author follow up Q&A || About the Author || Giveaway & Tour Stops ||
Synopsis
Murder lies beneath the charm of the Lake DistrictThe spring bank holiday should mark an idyllic first year for florist Persimmon ‘Simmy’ Brown’s shop in the Lake District town of Windermere. But there’s a funeral to prepare for and the long weekend takes a further deadly turn.
There’s word of a series of sinister dognappings in nearby Troutbeck and whilst walking up Wansfell Pike, Simmy and her father, Russell, stumble upon a dead dog. Unnerved by this and a second suspicious encounter, Simmy reluctantly finds herself caught up in a murder investigation after a body is found on a farm. And when Russell receives an anonymous death threat, Simmy has no choice but to do all she can to find the killer . . .
The Series: Lake District Mysteries
|| [1] || [2] || [3] ||Click on the book cover to Look Inside the book on Amazon and read an excerpt.
The Windermere Witness [1]
Following a personal tragedy, florist Persimmon 'Simmy' Brown has moved to the beautiful region of the Lake District to be nearer her charismatic parents. Things are going well, with her latest flower arrangements praised and Simmy content 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 florist of the wedding 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 - an uncaring mother, a cheating father, and a husband twenty-five years older than his bride. When events take another sinister turn, Simmy becomes a prime witness and finds herself at the heart of a murder investigation.
The chief suspects are the groom and his closely knit band of bachelor friends. They are all intimidating, volatile and secretive - but which one is a killer?
[First published 26 November 2012; this reprint edition published 6 January 2015, 349 pages]
The Ambleside Alibi [2]
Simmy has been adjusting to life in Windermere, running her florist shop, integrating into the community and trying to put her tragic past behind her.But just when Simmy thinks her life is quietly coming together, it starts to unravel at the seams.
She delivers a bouquet of flowers with a mysterious message attached to an elderly lady, and sinister secrets come creeping into the light. And when another old woman is found murdered in her own home, Persimmon knows her peaceful life in Windermere is about to be shaken once again.Simmy is inexorably drawn into the centre of the murder investigation as the prime suspect names her as an alibi.
Trying to rebuild her own life, Simmy must untangle the murky lives others and uncover the motive behind the murder before another one is committed.
[first published 26 August 2013; this reprint edition published 10 March 2015, 323 pages]
The Coniston Case [3]
Valentine’s Day is fast approaching and business at Persimmon “Simmy” Brown’s flower shop is booming. But when Simmy fulfills a string of anonymous delivery orders, she is startled to realize that each contains a secretly menacing message for the recipients. When one of the people who receives a bouquet disappears, it seems that her worst fears have been confirmed.
As if that isn’t enough, Simmy’s friend Kathy turns up, on the trail of her wayward daughter Joanna, who she fears has grown too close to one of her university tutors. When Kathy attempts to reason with her daughter she finds that Joanna’s older lover may be even more dangerous than she had imagined. With both Kathy and Joanna in peril, Simmy and her friends find themselves caught up in a web of deception, blackmail and murder . . .
[First published 24 July 2014; this US edition 30 August 2016, 320 pages]
Additional Author Q&A
What compelled you to write this particular story?"My publisher, primarily.How much of yourself is reflected in this book?
This is the fourth in a series featuring Persimmon Brown, a florist living in the English Lake District. The storyline involves dognapping, which I happened to hear a radio piece about, just as I was starting the book."
"Impossible to say. I’ve never been a florist or lived in the Lake District. On the other hand, every word comes from my imagination, and that suggests the answer is 100% of the book is ‘me’ in some way.From my personal viewpoint, it's definitely about the second. It's about what may have piqued your imagination, for example dog-napping, and what you may then have researched and particular expertise you may have picked up on the way. This may mix with other particular fascinations or you may just enjoy playing devil's advocate. It all relates to how your own particular world-building develops, which makes it completely unique to you :-)
I do wonder why this question arises so often. Do readers genuinely want to know about the author’s personality? If so – why? Doesn’t it risk confusing fact with fiction in a very unproductive way? Or does it reflect a fascination with the way these two very different elements interact? If so, that’s a massive question!"
What was one of the most surprising things you learned in creating this book?
"That it’s really quite easy to walk from Troutbeck to Ambleside. I did it, as a piece of research."
Something quirky about this book?"Persimmon’s name. I got it from a tree in the south of France."What has been your greatest challenge as a writer?
"Finding a publisher, after thirty years of writing."Hero. Main influence.
"These can only be my mother, and my English teacher. They showed me that writing was a possible ambition, that fiction was crucial to an understanding of the world. I was born, I think, with that odd trait, whereby the world only actually makes sense through writing about it. My teacher gave me confidence, suggested reading matter."
What’s in store next?"With this series, there are at least four more titles. One already published, one in production, and two which have titles and nothing more.
I am currently writing the 15th title in my Cotswolds series. I am also hoping to see my magnum opus published next year. This is a biography of a forgotten Victorian writer, Sabine Baring-Gould. He was a remarkable man, with many activities."
About the Author
Rebecca Tope is the author of four murder mystery series, featuring Den Cooper, Devon police detective, Drew Slocombe, Undertaker; Thea Osborne, house sitter in the Cotswolds and now Persimmon Brown, Lake District florist. She is also a “ghost writer” of the novels based on the ITV series Rosemary and Thyme.Follow Rebecca Tope:
Giveaway and Tour Stops
Enter to win one of three digital copies of The Troutbeck Testimony.a Rafflecopter giveaway
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I read this book, as well as THE CONISTON CASE, and enjoyed both of them. Another great interview!
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