Nestled in the fertile hills of the Cotswolds, the village of Duntisbourne Abbots is a well-kept secret: beautiful, timeless and quintessentially English. When recently widowed Thea Osborne arrives to house-sit for a local couple, her only fear is that three weeks there might prove a little dull. Her first night's sleep at Brook View is broken by a piercing scream outside but she decides such things don't require investigation in a sleepy place like this. At least not until a body turns up... In calling on her neighbours to get some answers, Thea uncovers more tragedy and intrigue than she thought possible behind the peaceful Gloucestershire village. The first in a series of thrillers set in the Cotswold area, A Cotswold Killing takes the reader on a tense journey along winding roads and muddy paths towards a dramatic and unexpected denouement. Thea Osborne is thanking her lucky stars. After two disastrous house-sitting incidents in which she unwittingly became embroiled in and mayhem, she is only too happy to have a bit of time to concentrate on her blossoming relationship with DI Phil Hollis. But the bad luck that plagues the hapless Thea and her beloved spaniel Hepzibah is never far away. With autumn drawing in, preparations for Samhain, the pagan origin of Halloween, are well underway when Ariadne discovers a very tangible reminder of the season of death: a body laid out like a sacrificial victim on Notgrove Barrow. It soon becomes apparent that the cosy village has more than its share of secrets. But just how far will some go to keep them hidden? Thea Slocombe is struggling to entertain her stepchildren through the long summer holiday while her husband Drew works, so she keenly accepts a new job house-sitting in Barnsley, near Bibury. However, her commission proves to be far from relaxing when she stumbles across a woman hiding among some bushes. The woman's story is thin and incoherent, but Thea agrees to offer her sanctuary for the night. When her guest is.