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Fethering #17
The Killing in The Cafe
The wickedly entertaining new Fethering mystery featuring chalk-and-cheese detective duo Carole and Jude
Polly’s Cake Shop has been a feature of the shopping parade for many years, but when its owner announces her retirement, the Fethering residents start to worry about the loss of this popular amenity. Alarmed by rumours that the café might become a Starbucks, a group clubs together to form the Save Polly’s Cake Shop Action Committee.
The plan is that Polly’s should become a community venture, managed and run by volunteers from the village. Roped in to help, Jude finds the committee meetings fraught with petty power struggles, clashing personalities and monstrous egos. Matters take a turn for the worse when she and Carole come across a badly-decomposed body on Fethering beach – and uncover a link to Polly’s. Not only do the two neighbours have to find out whodunit, they are also faced with the thorny question: is it possible to run a business on that most volatile of commodities - goodwill?
Polly’s Cake Shop has been a feature of the shopping parade for many years, but when its owner announces her retirement, the Fethering residents start to worry about the loss of this popular amenity. Alarmed by rumours that the café might become a Starbucks, a group clubs together to form the Save Polly’s Cake Shop Action Committee.
The plan is that Polly’s should become a community venture, managed and run by volunteers from the village. Roped in to help, Jude finds the committee meetings fraught with petty power struggles, clashing personalities and monstrous egos. Matters take a turn for the worse when she and Carole come across a badly-decomposed body on Fethering beach – and uncover a link to Polly’s. Not only do the two neighbours have to find out whodunit, they are also faced with the thorny question: is it possible to run a business on that most volatile of commodities - goodwill?
191 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 17, 2015
49 people are currently reading
300 people want to read
About the author
Simon Brett
330 books536 followersSimon Brett is a prolific British writer of whodunnits.
He is the son of a Chartered Surveyor and was educated at Dulwich College and Wadham College, Oxford, where he got a first class honours degree in English.
He then joined the BBC as a trainee and worked for BBC Radio and London Weekend Television, where his work included 'Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy' and 'Frank Muir Goes Into ...'.
After his spells with the media he began devoting most of his time to writing from the late 1970s and is well known for his various series of crime novels.
He is married with three children and lives in Burpham, near Arundel, West Sussex, England. He is the current president of the Detection Club.
He is the son of a Chartered Surveyor and was educated at Dulwich College and Wadham College, Oxford, where he got a first class honours degree in English.
He then joined the BBC as a trainee and worked for BBC Radio and London Weekend Television, where his work included 'Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy' and 'Frank Muir Goes Into ...'.
After his spells with the media he began devoting most of his time to writing from the late 1970s and is well known for his various series of crime novels.
He is married with three children and lives in Burpham, near Arundel, West Sussex, England. He is the current president of the Detection Club.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 103 reviews
November 10, 2021
In this 17th book in the 'Fethering' cozy mystery series, amateur gumshoes Carole and Jude try to save a cake shop and investigate a shooting on the beach. The book can be read as a standalone.
*****
Carole and Jude are the resident amateur sleuths of the English town of Fethering. Carole, a former government employee, is rather straight-laced while Jude - a self-styled healer/psychologist- is an easy going hippy-dippy type.
In this addition to the series, Polly's Cake Shop - a favorite Fethering café - is being sold. Some of the townsfolk, not wanting the site to become another Starbucks, form a "Save Polly's Cake Shop" action committee (SPCS).
Jude gets co-opted to be on the committee and the meetings are quite funny....and probably true to life.
There's a power struggle to chair the committee, arguments about where to hold the meetings, disagreements about what to do with Polly's (one free spirit wants it to be multi-use, with facilities for meditation), and discussions about how to run the café. Quintus Braithwaite - a full of himself retired military man who bullies his way into the chairmanship - usually manages to get his way.
The committee wastes a lot of donated money and tries to run the coffee shop as an all volunteer enterprise under the (not quite competent) auspices of Mrs. Braithwaite. This is all pretty entertaining.
While all this is going on Carole and Jude discover the decomposed body of a dead man - with a bullet in his head - on the Fethering beach.
It so happens that someone saw this body weeks before, in the storeroom of Polly's Cake Shop, but never bothered reporting it to the police. Jude was informed about this body at the time but also didn't tell the police. (Really?? Is this believable??) The body then disappears until it's washed up on the shore. Eventually, the dead man - a stranger to town - is identified, and Carole and Jude make it their business to find his connection to Fethering and try to reveal the murderer.
Carole and Jude question people, investigate, and eventually solve the crime. Most of the book, though, is devoted to the women's everyday lives. Carole is set to become a grandmother for the second time and spends a lot of time visiting/worrying about her son and pregnant daughter-in-law. Jude sees clients of her healing business. The gals go to the coffee shop and pub. Carole's dog Gulliver gets walkies. And so on.
There are interesting secondary characters in the book, including the SPCS committee members, the waitresses at Polly's Cake Shop, a local real estate developer who wants to build 'affordable housing' behind Polly's cafe, and various possible suspects.
Fans of the series would probably enjoy this quiet cozy mystery with familiar likable characters.
You can follow my reviews at http://reviewsbybarbsaffer.blogspot.com/
March 6, 2016
I wildly anticipate each one of Simon Brett’s Feathering Mysteries. After each one, I lament that it will be an entire year before I can enjoy Carole Seddon and Jude and their latest escapade.
In the 17th entry in the series, the owner of Polly’s Cake Shop, a cornerstone of the village of Feathering’s high street, decides to retire. The usual assemblage of busybodies decides that they can keep this landmark open as a sort-of co-op, roping in every person who doesn’t say “no” strongly enough. Caught in this net is poor Jude Needless to say, prickly Carole resents this hare-brained scheme. But soon enough, a man is killed in Polly’s Cake Shop, and Jude and Carole take it upon themselves to discover who he was and why he was killed.
The ending was rushed and a nonsensical deus ex machina, but The Killing in the Café had so many funny incidents and so many knowing and cynical observations that I still enjoyed my latest outing with Jude and Carole.
In the 17th entry in the series, the owner of Polly’s Cake Shop, a cornerstone of the village of Feathering’s high street, decides to retire. The usual assemblage of busybodies decides that they can keep this landmark open as a sort-of co-op, roping in every person who doesn’t say “no” strongly enough. Caught in this net is poor Jude Needless to say, prickly Carole resents this hare-brained scheme. But soon enough, a man is killed in Polly’s Cake Shop, and Jude and Carole take it upon themselves to discover who he was and why he was killed.
The ending was rushed and a nonsensical deus ex machina, but The Killing in the Café had so many funny incidents and so many knowing and cynical observations that I still enjoyed my latest outing with Jude and Carole.
March 11, 2016
I have enjoyed most of this series but sadly I felt that this book did not have a decent plot. The police do not seem interested in the murder and two of the witnesses do not even tell the police about having seen a corpse. There is also an attempted misdirection about a boat which is never explained. At the end the author even seems to sympathise with the murderer. All in all an odd book.
This is a cosy light hearted mystery featuring two women in a village in the south coast of England and I like the characters. There are some very funny moments in the descriptions of the committee meetings so it's not a bad read but the story does not work and it's not even much of a mystery.
This is a cosy light hearted mystery featuring two women in a village in the south coast of England and I like the characters. There are some very funny moments in the descriptions of the committee meetings so it's not a bad read but the story does not work and it's not even much of a mystery.
January 16, 2016
We're back in Fethering for the 17th outing for Carole & Jude the curious, nosey, "lesbian", crime duo.
In fact they live next door to each other, lead separate lives and are two very contrasting women; both have the ability to wheedle out the truth from direct questioning which places their success rate higher than the local police. Of course they are not lovers but over time have become close friends; Jude is a touchy/feely person who offers a range of healing therapies while Carole is a retired Civil Servant who is more straight laced and reserved.
The series has a fun, comedic approach that throws insight on communities where a death/murder often undermines the social norms. All titles rely on alliteration and perhaps Brett is struggling to find suitable ones, but we'll allow K for cafe. What the author isn't running out of however are amusing scenarios where we are drawn into a different aspect of village/small town living and dying. Here a local cafe is in danger of closing thus allowing a international player into the village. Therefore those who like to tut and uphold certain standards form a community action group to offset an american takeover and maintain English traditions.
Against this background is an interesting case of the missing body. A waitress who has suffered mental anxiety believes she saw a dead man in the storeroom one evening, but between locking up and the next day's service the corpse has vanished. She seeks out Jude to help as she thinks she is having visions again and losing it. When Carole & Jude find a body of a man washed up on the beach one morning it appears it may be the same individual from the Cafe's stockroom.
I am amazed that these two amateur detectives manage to get so many people to open up to them and like completing a jigsaw the mystery is slowly solved.
While obviously more Midsomer and less Luther the stories do have a real crime mystery to solve and as a mirror on society delivers a credible case and an entertaining story. I find them like a tasty sorbet that refreshes my reading palate to go again on something tougher and involved.
In fact they live next door to each other, lead separate lives and are two very contrasting women; both have the ability to wheedle out the truth from direct questioning which places their success rate higher than the local police. Of course they are not lovers but over time have become close friends; Jude is a touchy/feely person who offers a range of healing therapies while Carole is a retired Civil Servant who is more straight laced and reserved.
The series has a fun, comedic approach that throws insight on communities where a death/murder often undermines the social norms. All titles rely on alliteration and perhaps Brett is struggling to find suitable ones, but we'll allow K for cafe. What the author isn't running out of however are amusing scenarios where we are drawn into a different aspect of village/small town living and dying. Here a local cafe is in danger of closing thus allowing a international player into the village. Therefore those who like to tut and uphold certain standards form a community action group to offset an american takeover and maintain English traditions.
Against this background is an interesting case of the missing body. A waitress who has suffered mental anxiety believes she saw a dead man in the storeroom one evening, but between locking up and the next day's service the corpse has vanished. She seeks out Jude to help as she thinks she is having visions again and losing it. When Carole & Jude find a body of a man washed up on the beach one morning it appears it may be the same individual from the Cafe's stockroom.
I am amazed that these two amateur detectives manage to get so many people to open up to them and like completing a jigsaw the mystery is slowly solved.
While obviously more Midsomer and less Luther the stories do have a real crime mystery to solve and as a mirror on society delivers a credible case and an entertaining story. I find them like a tasty sorbet that refreshes my reading palate to go again on something tougher and involved.
December 3, 2015
"The killing in the cafe" is 17th book in the Fethering series. The intrepid detective duo Carole and Jude are back in action when a body is washed up on the beach at Fethering and they suspect that the death may have something to do with the change in ownership of Polly's cafe - a favourite watering hole of the gentle folk of Fethering.
The book was fairly enjoyable but as the story rambled on there seem to be a lot of padding and to be honest it seemed like that actual killing in the cafe had all but been forgotten. The last 40 or so pages dragged, there was nothing in the slow moving plot that could keep my attention for any length of time. To be honest I think that it is time that Carole and Jude retired from amateur sleuthing and took to spending their days in "The Crown and Anchor" drinking Chilean Chardonnay!
Yes I will read the next book in the series (if there is one) but only because I have read all the previous 17!
The book was fairly enjoyable but as the story rambled on there seem to be a lot of padding and to be honest it seemed like that actual killing in the cafe had all but been forgotten. The last 40 or so pages dragged, there was nothing in the slow moving plot that could keep my attention for any length of time. To be honest I think that it is time that Carole and Jude retired from amateur sleuthing and took to spending their days in "The Crown and Anchor" drinking Chilean Chardonnay!
Yes I will read the next book in the series (if there is one) but only because I have read all the previous 17!
May 19, 2016
Couldn't get past chapter 7, I usually never quit reading a book I have started but just couldn't finish it. May try again at later date
November 17, 2016
2.5 stars. Nothing really gripped me about this mystery, and there wasn't even anything very funny between Carole and Jude.
October 2, 2017
Not my usual cup of tea but I listened to this as an audio book on a recent long drive.
The first half of the book focuses on the operation (or lack of) a local community group trying to save a local cafe from becoming a Starbucks. There is a great scene when the community committee argue about the name of the Chair (or should it be Chairman), the name of the new cafe, how to improve PR and whether to what alternate uses the cafe could be used for. The pettiness, the lack of focus, the pursuit of individual goals were brilliantly covered. There was also a good smattering of unique characters, including a spoof of an ex-Royal Naval officer.
The rest of the book was a bit average. Why the two amateur detectives were not arrested for withholding evidence from the police still baffles me.
The first half of the book focuses on the operation (or lack of) a local community group trying to save a local cafe from becoming a Starbucks. There is a great scene when the community committee argue about the name of the Chair (or should it be Chairman), the name of the new cafe, how to improve PR and whether to what alternate uses the cafe could be used for. The pettiness, the lack of focus, the pursuit of individual goals were brilliantly covered. There was also a good smattering of unique characters, including a spoof of an ex-Royal Naval officer.
The rest of the book was a bit average. Why the two amateur detectives were not arrested for withholding evidence from the police still baffles me.
March 7, 2016
A charming mystery set in a seaside town
This is the sixth in Simon Brett’s Fethering Mysteries series and all in all it is a jolly good and enjoyable read.
It is not Literary Fiction, nor is it Booker Prize material, but it is all the better for that! What most readers want is an interesting mystery, eccentric characters and some good old fashioned sleuthing and this novel has these in spades!
The story has two threads: the fate of ‘Polly’s Cake Shop’ when its owner sells up, and the identification and investigation of a body washed up on the beach.
Amateur sleuths and next door neighbours Jude and Carole have an interest in both; they frequent the cake shop and it is they who discover the body.
As a backdrop there is the colourful Fethering community, in the guise of its ordinary residents and workers and of course the self-serving local ‘worthies’, first among them Commodore Quintus Braithwaite and his wife Phoebe who set up a committee to rescue ‘Polly’s’ and run it as a community café.
This story includes all of the aspects of small town life from the clear ‘class’ divisions to the petty bickering and backstabbing that are just as endemic.
What results is a charming and intriguing page turner, which requires little from the reader apart from going along with the fun. Yes, some of the characters are caricatures and yes, the plot is a little unlikely, but I for one would pick this author up again for his easy reading and lack of violence (apart from the murder of course!), lack of gore, and most of all, no superhuman hero!
A good book doesn’t have to tax the reader – after all, most of us read for pleasure!!
Pashtpaws
Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review
This is the sixth in Simon Brett’s Fethering Mysteries series and all in all it is a jolly good and enjoyable read.
It is not Literary Fiction, nor is it Booker Prize material, but it is all the better for that! What most readers want is an interesting mystery, eccentric characters and some good old fashioned sleuthing and this novel has these in spades!
The story has two threads: the fate of ‘Polly’s Cake Shop’ when its owner sells up, and the identification and investigation of a body washed up on the beach.
Amateur sleuths and next door neighbours Jude and Carole have an interest in both; they frequent the cake shop and it is they who discover the body.
As a backdrop there is the colourful Fethering community, in the guise of its ordinary residents and workers and of course the self-serving local ‘worthies’, first among them Commodore Quintus Braithwaite and his wife Phoebe who set up a committee to rescue ‘Polly’s’ and run it as a community café.
This story includes all of the aspects of small town life from the clear ‘class’ divisions to the petty bickering and backstabbing that are just as endemic.
What results is a charming and intriguing page turner, which requires little from the reader apart from going along with the fun. Yes, some of the characters are caricatures and yes, the plot is a little unlikely, but I for one would pick this author up again for his easy reading and lack of violence (apart from the murder of course!), lack of gore, and most of all, no superhuman hero!
A good book doesn’t have to tax the reader – after all, most of us read for pleasure!!
Pashtpaws
Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review
November 10, 2015
Polly's Cake Shop has been a feature of Fethering for many years and when its owner decides to sell up the residents of the town are keen to do something to salvage the amenity and keep it as a cake shop and café. A committee is formed to run the cake shop as a community venture. Naturally the usual arguments ensue and like most community ventures it is more concerned with massaging egos than getting the job done.
Carole and Jude find a badly decomposed body on the beach one morning and the this leads them into some very murky waters indeed. Can they find out who did it before the police? Why do several people in Fethering seem to have secrets to hide?
I enjoyed reading this latest instalment of the Fethering series in which Carole seems to be unbending a little and she a Jude seem to be taking fewer risks than they used during their investigations. This is an entertaining series with no on the page violence and no bad language. The author has taken two stereotypical middle aged women - one almost prim and proper and the other her polar opposite and turned then into something unique and all too human and endearing.
This book, like the others in the series is written in a low key amusing style, with an acute observation of the faults and foibles of people living in a small town on the South coast of England. I recommend it to anyone who likes their crime stories in a lighter vein with interesting characters.
Carole and Jude find a badly decomposed body on the beach one morning and the this leads them into some very murky waters indeed. Can they find out who did it before the police? Why do several people in Fethering seem to have secrets to hide?
I enjoyed reading this latest instalment of the Fethering series in which Carole seems to be unbending a little and she a Jude seem to be taking fewer risks than they used during their investigations. This is an entertaining series with no on the page violence and no bad language. The author has taken two stereotypical middle aged women - one almost prim and proper and the other her polar opposite and turned then into something unique and all too human and endearing.
This book, like the others in the series is written in a low key amusing style, with an acute observation of the faults and foibles of people living in a small town on the South coast of England. I recommend it to anyone who likes their crime stories in a lighter vein with interesting characters.
February 8, 2017
It was so nice to revisit Feathering. Each scene described is so familiar that one feels that if a door in the village was painted a different colour, you would know about it. So nice too to meet again the chalk and cheese of the local population, Carol and Jude. However, as a village to retire to, I am afraid that Fethering is starting to challenge Midsommer in the count of premature deaths.
The story is much along the lines of the previous books of the series with its gentle narrative and some nice misdirections by the author.
Did I spot the killer and unwind the motive? Of course I didn't, I was far too busy watching the red herrings but in Fethering that doesn't seem too important.
I appreciate how difficulty it must be for an author to think up original stories for a series like this but I hope to read a couple more yet.
I suppose that I should explain to readers new to the Fethering that this book marks a significant turning point. A change that to others would be insignificant but changing from Chilean Chardonnay to a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc ..... indeed!
The story is much along the lines of the previous books of the series with its gentle narrative and some nice misdirections by the author.
Did I spot the killer and unwind the motive? Of course I didn't, I was far too busy watching the red herrings but in Fethering that doesn't seem too important.
I appreciate how difficulty it must be for an author to think up original stories for a series like this but I hope to read a couple more yet.
I suppose that I should explain to readers new to the Fethering that this book marks a significant turning point. A change that to others would be insignificant but changing from Chilean Chardonnay to a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc ..... indeed!
July 2, 2016
Zzzzz. Cardboard characters, no detection, and hackneyed satire of the upper-middle classes. And Carole's character, once attributed to her upbringing, is now attributed to a personal event during her marriage. Why?, one asks.
There are several fine entries in this series, but the last few have been very disappointing.
There are several fine entries in this series, but the last few have been very disappointing.
February 20, 2017
Don't waste your time.
November 15, 2021
I really liked this installment! The mystery was actually a good one, and I was guessing until the end. The pacing was good, too- sometimes I feel like the mystery wraps up with a couple chapters to go. I always enjoy Brett's style in these of giving an epilogue - like telling us
April 29, 2017
The usual amusing mixture from Simon Brett, dissecting the characters, high and low, in the Sussex resort.
"Polly's Cake Shop has been a feature of the shopping parade for many years, but when its owner announces her retirement, the Fethering residents start to worry about the loss of this popular amenity. Alarmed by rumours that the cafe might become a Starbucks, a group clubs together to form the Save Polly's Cake Shop Action Committee.
The plan is that Polly's should become a community venture, managed and run by volunteers from the village. Roped in to help, Jude finds the committee meetings fraught with petty power struggles, clashing personalities and monstrous egos. Matters take a turn for the worse when she and Carole come across a badly-decomposed body on Fethering beach - and uncover a link to Polly's. Not only do the two neighbours have to find out whodunit, they are also faced with the thorny question: is it possible to run a business on that most volatile of commodities - goodwill? "
"Polly's Cake Shop has been a feature of the shopping parade for many years, but when its owner announces her retirement, the Fethering residents start to worry about the loss of this popular amenity. Alarmed by rumours that the cafe might become a Starbucks, a group clubs together to form the Save Polly's Cake Shop Action Committee.
The plan is that Polly's should become a community venture, managed and run by volunteers from the village. Roped in to help, Jude finds the committee meetings fraught with petty power struggles, clashing personalities and monstrous egos. Matters take a turn for the worse when she and Carole come across a badly-decomposed body on Fethering beach - and uncover a link to Polly's. Not only do the two neighbours have to find out whodunit, they are also faced with the thorny question: is it possible to run a business on that most volatile of commodities - goodwill? "
January 6, 2020
One of Jude's former clients, Sara, asks to see her. After the breakup of Sara's long time relationship, and resultant business failure, Sara had a breakdown and now is unsure whether she did, or did not, find a body. The body has disappeared, but, when Jude and Carole come across a body some months later, they suspect Sara was not hallucinating after all. Unable to disclose client information to the police, Carole and Jude once again set out to solve a crime that the police have written off as suicide.
January 15, 2019
This series is just fun! The two main characters are "chalk and cheese" to quote a Brit, and I enjoy their banter, and pairing as they investigate their latest murder.
May 23, 2016
I always look forward to the next instalment in this series. They are what I call "gentle" cozies. I love their alliterative titles as well as the way they gently explore the relationship between Carole and Jude.
I think over the development of the series there has been a subtle change. While they remain busybodies who poke their noses into local affairs, Jude and Carol are now unashamedly investigators, unpaid private eyes. It seems to go without saying, without official agreement, that they will investigate any "incident", particularly a murder. They don't hesitate to make phone calls to persons of interest, to follow through threads of suspicion, and to ask awkward questions. In general they don't contact the police of their own volition until they have finally solved the case. So I guess they could be charged by a zealous policeman with withholding evidence but that doesn't seem to happen.
What I like about the stories is the gentle humour, the perceptive descriptions of village life, in particular that of retirees.
I think I have remarked before about the strange way the author brings the novel to an end. There is a sort of crystal ball aspect to it all, a summary of what happens to each of the characters, apart from Jude and Carol, in the future. In THE KILLING IN THE CAFE the summary goes as far as 10 years into the future.
So if you are not a reader of this series consider starting at the beginning - I've included the full list below to get you started. You will have a lot of very enjoyable reading ahead.
I think over the development of the series there has been a subtle change. While they remain busybodies who poke their noses into local affairs, Jude and Carol are now unashamedly investigators, unpaid private eyes. It seems to go without saying, without official agreement, that they will investigate any "incident", particularly a murder. They don't hesitate to make phone calls to persons of interest, to follow through threads of suspicion, and to ask awkward questions. In general they don't contact the police of their own volition until they have finally solved the case. So I guess they could be charged by a zealous policeman with withholding evidence but that doesn't seem to happen.
What I like about the stories is the gentle humour, the perceptive descriptions of village life, in particular that of retirees.
I think I have remarked before about the strange way the author brings the novel to an end. There is a sort of crystal ball aspect to it all, a summary of what happens to each of the characters, apart from Jude and Carol, in the future. In THE KILLING IN THE CAFE the summary goes as far as 10 years into the future.
So if you are not a reader of this series consider starting at the beginning - I've included the full list below to get you started. You will have a lot of very enjoyable reading ahead.
December 3, 2017
The Killing in the Cafe is yet another entertaining episode of the Jude and Carol, a tandem of amateur sleuths: women of a certain age in a realistically paced investigation in a totally understandable setting.
There is little blood, no gore, no shockingly gruesome detail, no vicious beatings, no nasty reveal of the uglier underground life, no jolts per second of the now debased 'thriller' school of mystery.
There is also no banality, no poor sentence structure, no pedestrian descriptions, no formulaic plot arcs or predictable 'twists' to extend an already evaporating dramatic tension.
In other words, Brett knows what he is doing and seems to enjoy it and so we can as well.
Simon Brett is what is known as a Good Pair of Hands in the mystery genre and I mean that with no faint praise. He does it effortlessly and yet admirably. His highly skilled story telling is deceptively simple and means one can relax knowing the writing will be whimsically intelligent, the puzzle fair and the ensuing result very satisfying.
I invariably find myself saying even after a few pages into any of his works: thank God, someone who knows what he's doing. I can now enjoy. You should too. (less)
There is little blood, no gore, no shockingly gruesome detail, no vicious beatings, no nasty reveal of the uglier underground life, no jolts per second of the now debased 'thriller' school of mystery.
There is also no banality, no poor sentence structure, no pedestrian descriptions, no formulaic plot arcs or predictable 'twists' to extend an already evaporating dramatic tension.
In other words, Brett knows what he is doing and seems to enjoy it and so we can as well.
Simon Brett is what is known as a Good Pair of Hands in the mystery genre and I mean that with no faint praise. He does it effortlessly and yet admirably. His highly skilled story telling is deceptively simple and means one can relax knowing the writing will be whimsically intelligent, the puzzle fair and the ensuing result very satisfying.
I invariably find myself saying even after a few pages into any of his works: thank God, someone who knows what he's doing. I can now enjoy. You should too. (less)
April 9, 2016
While there were some interesting twists at the end of the book and the murderer was revealed to be one of those persons I did not suspect, it was, nonetheless, a story that seemed to move at a rather slow pace. To be honest, it probably reflected the setting of a small English village where the locals all knew one another and outsiders were tolerated only for the money they brought into the town.
August 11, 2021
My dislike of the book is focused on the lengthy and all too realistic descriptions of local committee meetings. It was too much like real life, which is to say frustratingly dull. I suppose that this book’s downfall could also be considered a success by the author…but as someone who reads to escape the vagaries of everyday life, I found this a difficult read. I’ve enjoyed many other Fethering books (and other series by Brett), but not this one.
April 1, 2016
The first Simon Brett I've read. He appears prolific and well liked. This book must not be up to standard because it does not seem worthy of that kind of following. Police are not the least interested in a murder in their village. The two women who initially saw the body did not notify the police. No forensic investigation. Was not cozy enough to make brew a cup.
December 25, 2023
This book is far below the usual witty level of the Fethering series. The end was slapped on as if the author had a deadline and no ideas. And what was the reason for pointing out that some characters were Jewish? What was the point of talking about antisemitism if there was no follow up and no connection to the rest of the book? Get a grip, Simon Brett.
April 25, 2016
Really splendid - the Fethering series is always reliable entertainment, but it's gotten just a little bit uneven over the past few years. This is a delightful return to form and one of the best titles in the series, full of nuanced characterization and genuinely really funny.
March 25, 2018
I thought it was supposed to be a mystery, but I made it over half-way through and nothing really happened. Boring! I downloaded this book because I listened to one of the Charles Paris mysteries on BBC radio and it was super funny, but alas - this was nothing like that.
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May 23, 2016Not up to Mr Brett's usually high standards, but still a mediocre Simon Brett mystery is better than most wannabe mystery writer's best.
September 28, 2020
Sped through this latest Fethering Mystery! Thoroughly enjoyed another trip to Fethering with Jude and Carole.
July 19, 2016
A committee is no way to run a business...
May 27, 2017
Plots aren't really that exciting or suspenseful but I do love these characters.
October 28, 2017
I feel like I'm still missing Simon Brett's best writing years. There is a healthy dose of cynicism in this book which I don't need when I am reading to escape the present political reality.
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