The Grasse Grudge

Simmy and Christopher return to the Lakes District after a week's holiday abroad. But the holiday feeling does not last long when a business associate of Christopher asks for his help. When Christopher discovers Jonathan's body, Christopher becomes the main suspect. Simmy works with her friends, Ben and Bonnie, to solve the crime and clear her fiance's name, but there is the feeling that he has not told them the full story.

The Grasmere Grudge by Rebecca Tope is set in England's Lake District. One of the features of this series of books (this is number 8 in the Lake District Mysteries) is the descriptions of locations within the Lake District, many that we visited in 2011. 

In this book it soon becomes obvious that many people hold a grudge against the murdered man and are not sorry that he is dead. Although the book is easy to read, events in the plot appear to become confused and after a time some of the characters become annoying. It is not a bad book but not one of the best cosy mysteries that I have read.

Ambleside Alibi

Persimmon Brown (Simmy) has moved to Windermere to establish a florist shop. When she is requested to deliver a bunch of flowers to an elderly lady in Ambleside from a granddaughter the lady did not know existed, Simmy is unaware of the hostility that will be incurred by this simple task, not to mention that  her life will be in danger.

Ambleside Alibi is the second book in the Lake District Series by Rebecca Tope involving Persimmon Brown. Each title in this series is set in part of the Lake District, a picturesque part of England. The author has also written a series of crime novels set in the Cotswolds.

In this series Simmy helps the police with their enquiries assisted by her young shop assistant, Mel, and Ben, a seventeen year old student who wants to study forensic archaeology. When an elderly lady is murdered Simmy is able to provide an alibi for the main suspect. However this also brings Simmy to the attention of the murderer who attempts to eliminate her. The plot in this cozy mystery becomes convoluted in places but eventually all is revealed.