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The Dacre Dilemma
The enthralling English cosy crime series
Series: Lake District Mysteries
Ratings/reviews counts are updated frequently.
Check link for latest rating. ( 75 ratings, 13 reviews)
Brief Description
Simmy Brown is four months pregnant, working partly from home, partly from her Windermere florist shop and very much feeling her age when her husband, Christopher, asks her to deliver flowers to Eleanor Padgett. As an expert in antique textiles, Eleanor has been a considerable help...
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The Dacre Dilemma
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Description
Simmy Brown is four months pregnant, working partly from home, partly from her Windermere florist shop and very much feeling her age when her husband, Christopher, asks her to deliver flowers to Eleanor Padgett. As an expert in antique textiles, Eleanor has been a considerable help to him at his auction house.
The visit out to the charming Lake District village of Dacre is squeezed into Simmy's endless to-do list. It is a moment of calm to appreciate the approach of spring and the interesting churchyard, but this is shattered when she discovers the body of a young man among the graves.
It is not long before Simmy once again finds herself in a complex and puzzling investigation, led by DI Moxon and aided by her friends Ben and Bonnie.
The Dacre Dilemma by Rebecca Tope intricately weaves the beauty of the Lake District with the suspense of a murder investigation, all through the relatable eyes of Simmy Brown.
Series: Lake District Mysteries
View all-
The Askham Accusation
Set in the picturesque town of Askham, near Ullswater, the story opens with the funeral of Humphrey Craig, the builder who converted Simmy's new house in Hartsop. The following day, when Simmy goes back to look at the grave and the flowers on it, she meets two women: Lindsay Wilson, an academic in her late twenties who is writing a...Paperback$2799Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
The Borrowdale Body
Two days before an auction of the contents of High Gates House in Borrowdale, Christopher Henderson bumps into Jennifer Reade, the heir to the entire estate, and the expected recipient of the proceeds of the house clearance sale. She discovers a dead man in the cellar of the house but threatens and cajoles Christopher into remaining silent about it until...Paperback$2799Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
The Ullswater Undertaking
But when a former acquaintance of Christopher's reminds him of a promise he made a decade previously, their lives soon take a sinister—and deadly—turn. Yet even with a young baby to consider, Simmy cannot ignore her instinct to investigate, especially with the personal link to her soon-to-be husband. Ably assisted by her would-be detective friend Ben, can Simmy puzzle out...Paperback$2799Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
A Lake District Christmas Murder
As Christmas draws nearer, Simmy Henderson is invited to a party in Glenridding at the heart of the Lake District. However, the festivities are overshadowed by two alarming discoveries: a man's body in the beck above the village and a vulnerable newborn baby, apparently abandoned by its mother. Caught in the crosscurrents and tensions of the inhabitants of Glenridding, Simmy...Paperback$2799Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
The Threlkeld Theory
On a glorious July morning in the pretty Lake District village of Threlkeld, Simmy Brown and Christopher Henderson celebrate their wedding day. While the event passes off without undue calamity, when most of the guests have departed a severely injured young man is found nearby. Pressure on police resources compromises the investigation and speculation is rife. Was it an accident...Paperback$2799Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
The Dacre Dilemma
Simmy Brown is four months pregnant, working partly from home, partly from her Windermere florist shop and very much feeling her age when her husband, Christopher, asks her to deliver flowers to Eleanor Padgett. As an expert in antique textiles, Eleanor has been a considerable help to him at his auction house. The visit out to the charming Lake District...Paperback$4600Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 2-3 weeks -
The Eskdale Episode
With the approach of autumn, a heavily pregnant Simmy Brown is anticipating the imminent arrival of her new child and juggling the move of her florist business to Keswick. A bouquet order to be delivered to the beautiful but remote Eskdale is an awkward addition to Simmy's to-do list. There she encounters three generations of women - and the next...Hardback$5500Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
Pre-orderThe Eskdale Episode
With the approach of autumn, a heavily pregnant Simmy Brown is anticipating the imminent arrival of her new child and juggling the move of her florist business to Keswick. A bouquet order to be delivered to the beautiful but remote Eskdale is an awkward addition to Simmy's to-do list. There she encounters three generations of women— and the next day,...Paperback$2799Unit price /UnavailableOut 3 Nov 2026Pre-order -
Pre-orderThe Langdale Legacy
Florist Persimmon 'Simmy' Brown is juggling life with a demanding newborn when visitors arrive in the Lake District with questions about a long-forgotten disappearance. Thea Slocombe and her brother Damien are searching for the truth about their great-grandfather, John Armstrong, who vanished without a trace in 1931, leaving behind his family and a medal awarded for an act of bravery...Hardback$5500Unit price /UnavailableOut 5 Jan 2027Pre-order -
The Hawkshead Hostage
Summer has come to the Lake District town of Windermere, where Persimmon 'Simmy' Brown runs her own florist shop. But there's no time for her to stop and smell the roses with the shop struggling for money, so a contract to provide floral displays for a hotel in Hawkshead couldn't have arrived at a better moment. However, Simmy's association with...PaperbackSold Out -
The Bowness Bequest
Winter has arrived in the town of Windermere, bringing with it the death of Frances Henderson, the best friend of Persimmon 'Simmy' Brown's mother. Having known the Henderson family all her life, Simmy must cope with the loss of an important figure from her childhood, as well as the confusion of being bequeathed something in Frances's will. When Frances's husband...PaperbackSold Out -
The Windermere Witness
Following a personal tragedy, florist Persimmon 'Simmy' Brown has moved to the beautiful region of the Lake District, 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 dead in the lake. As the wedding florist, and one of the last people...PaperbackSold Out
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9780749032777
Publisher: Allison & Busby
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 22 January 2026
Country: United Kingdom
Imprint: Allison & Busby
Audience: General / adult
DIMENSIONS
Width: 129.0mm
Height: 198.0mm
Weight: 250g
Pages: 352
About the Author
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.
Also by Rebecca Tope
View all-
A Discovery in the Cotswolds
A Discovery in the Cotswolds by Rebecca Tope unfolds as Thea Osborne reconnects with her friend Emmy during a visit to the church in Baunton, near Cirencester, with her stepdaughter Stephanie. Emmy, now married to local farmer Nick Weaver, asks Thea to help them find their missing niece, Ginny. However, before Thea can start her search, she stumbles upon the...Paperback$2799Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
A Cotswold Killing
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...Paperback$2600Elsewhere:$2799Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
Crisis in the Cotswolds
Thea and Drew have been married for a year and are settled in the village of Broad Campden, but Thea is chafing at the domestic routines she is expected to devote herself to, missing the novelty and adventure that house-sitting used to bring. When a routine burial exposes the secrets of the deceased, Drew finds himself caught in the middle...Paperback$2799Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
Betrayal in the Cotswolds
A handsome, if slightly shabby, stone house in Upper Oddington is home to Umberto Kingly, as well as his three dogs, and will be Thea Slocombe's latest house-sitting assignment. Without even a local shop, Thea expects the location to be one of her quietest, until the serene atmosphere is shattered with a fatal hit-and-run. The ensuing high-profile police investigation plunges...Paperback$2799Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
Secrets in the Cotswolds
Secrets in the Cotswolds by Rebecca Tope follows Thea Slocombe, who is struggling to entertain her stepchildren through the long summer holiday while her husband, Drew, works. 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...Paperback$2799Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
Peril in the Cotswolds
Thea Slocombe is trying to settle into normal family domestic life with Drew and his two children in Broad Campden. But any sense of cosy domesticity is shattered when Thea finds the body of a neighbour. No longer a house-sitter, Thea has no choice but to stay in the village and deal with whatever happens next, even when this risks...Paperback$2799Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
Death in the Cotswolds
Thea Osborne is thanking her lucky stars. After two disastrous house-sitting incidents in which she unwittingly became embroiled in murder 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...Paperback$2799Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
The Askham Accusation
Set in the picturesque town of Askham, near Ullswater, the story opens with the funeral of Humphrey Craig, the builder who converted Simmy's new house in Hartsop. The following day, when Simmy goes back to look at the grave and the flowers on it, she meets two women: Lindsay Wilson, an academic in her late twenties who is writing a...Paperback$2799Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
The Borrowdale Body
Two days before an auction of the contents of High Gates House in Borrowdale, Christopher Henderson bumps into Jennifer Reade, the heir to the entire estate, and the expected recipient of the proceeds of the house clearance sale. She discovers a dead man in the cellar of the house but threatens and cajoles Christopher into remaining silent about it until...Paperback$2799Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
The Ullswater Undertaking
But when a former acquaintance of Christopher's reminds him of a promise he made a decade previously, their lives soon take a sinister—and deadly—turn. Yet even with a young baby to consider, Simmy cannot ignore her instinct to investigate, especially with the personal link to her soon-to-be husband. Ably assisted by her would-be detective friend Ben, can Simmy puzzle out...Paperback$2799Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
A Lake District Christmas Murder
As Christmas draws nearer, Simmy Henderson is invited to a party in Glenridding at the heart of the Lake District. However, the festivities are overshadowed by two alarming discoveries: a man's body in the beck above the village and a vulnerable newborn baby, apparently abandoned by its mother. Caught in the crosscurrents and tensions of the inhabitants of Glenridding, Simmy...Paperback$2799Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
The Threlkeld Theory
On a glorious July morning in the pretty Lake District village of Threlkeld, Simmy Brown and Christopher Henderson celebrate their wedding day. While the event passes off without undue calamity, when most of the guests have departed a severely injured young man is found nearby. Pressure on police resources compromises the investigation and speculation is rife. Was it an accident...Paperback$2799Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks
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