Slaughter in the Cotswolds

the long version

Thea Osbourne has just lost her beloved father and, with her faithful spaniel Hepzie, she retreats to her next house-sitting job, hoping to find peace and quiet to deal with her grief. As she settles down to two weeks of solitude her biggest challenges are jigsaw puzzles, and bats in the bedroom, but when her bossy elder sister arrives on the doorstep having witnessed a horrific killing, the rural serenity in Lower Slaughter is shattered. Investigating a murder while being a responsible house-sitter is no easy task, especially when you've got a dog-killer and a temperamental parrot on your hands.