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Mrs Pargeter #2
Mrs, Presumed Dead
An absolutely gripping mystery full of twists.
248 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1988
546 people are currently reading
484 people want to read
About the author
Simon Brett
330 books537 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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May 26, 2025
Hats off to Mrs. Pargeter: shrewd, spunky, classy … but not quite a lady, she always “gets her man”. I found her thoroughly engaging when I was a third the age I am now, and still do:
“Sixty-something Melita Pargeter is a woman in her prime — classy, earthy and sharp as a tack. Don’t believe the rumours about her late husband. The perfect gent, he left Mrs P. wanting for nothing. On his advice, she never leaves home without binoculars, gloves and a skeleton key. And these trusty essentials have always served her well. But murder seems to follow her to every new address …”
And it looks as if this is no exception.
With a wince-worthy pun like Mrs. Presumed Dead, we can assume from the start that this will be a light, cosy mystery rather than anything intense. Indeed it is by an English author noted for his entertaining and undemanding crime novels (with a touch of humour), Simon Brett, who has several crime series under his belt as well as a past in broadcasting, writing and editing with the BBC.
Mrs. Presumed Dead is the second in his light-hearted murder mystery series about the widow Mrs. Pargeter.
The story begins with a cracker of an opening:
“The murderer looked down at the body lying neatly in the middle of its polythene sheet, and indulged in a moment of self-congratulation.”
What an attention-grabber! And quite a surprising start for a cosy mystery. Could this be Mrs. Pargeter herself meeting an early demise? Surely not. The last we heard of her she was ensconced in an “exclusive” (i.e. pretentiously wanna-be upmarket) small seaside hotel for retired gentlefolk in Littlehampton. It seemed an ideal spot for a stylish widow called “Melita”, who routinely hires a limousine driven by her favourite chauffeur, and even has a second best mink coat. But Mrs. Pargeter is not a woman who fits easily into any mould, and the other residents quickly recognised that fact. Surely she would not still be at such an hotel?
We do not have to wait long before we realise thankfully that the unfortunate corpse is not our amateur sleuth.
And here is Mrs. Pargeter herself, approaching a car and waving to a new neighbour:
“An ample white-haired woman …She must have been in her sixties, but was carefully and expensively preserved. Bright silk print dress, fur coat draped over shoulders, gleams of substantial jewellery, surprisingly high heels accentuating fine legs. There was about her a quality which, while not extreme enough to be dubbed ‘flashy’ or ‘vulgar’, would still have disqualified her from being called ‘self-effacing’.”
We soon discover that Mrs. Pargeter is in the process of moving to a lovely new home rather ostentatiously called “Acapulco”, on a very desirable estate in leafy Surrey. Her neighbours are smart young couples, all fairly prosperous and clearly upwardly mobile, exemplifying the defining social aspirations of the 1980s. The small “close” (as they determinedly try not to call it) consists of six detached, individually designed executive homes, in which the females of the species choose to stay, primping, plumping, polishing and presiding over. There is just one working woman with an au pair and a couple of children. Most of the female residents in this circle of houses have husbands who appear late at night and at weekends:
“All the husbands remained shadowy figures in the life of Smithy’s Loam …
All were of the aspirant classes, all worked long, ambitious hours to maintain the acquisitive executive standards of Smithy’s Loam.”
Mrs. Pargeter was curious to find out “how [the females] spent their gender-segregated hours of daylight”
and I admit I began to suspect a Stepford wives scenario, as this seemed to be typical more of a 1950s set-up than a later 1980s one. But it was indicative of a narrow band of “executive English wives” of the time. Mrs. Presumed Dead turns out to be a clever social satire, with some nice sharp wit. It perfectly captures the smallest details about English life, such as:
“the gas repairman, obedient to the long tradition of his calling, had not got the relevant replacement part with him, but managed in direct contradiction to his calling, to locate and fit it within 24 hours.”
Anyone who has spent a while living here in England will recognise this, especially in Nationalised Industries - which are sadly now very thin on the ground - and give a rueful smile. (Even, I suspect, gas repairmen and women.)
The tasteful development has an appropriately tasteful fake “antiquey”-feeling name: “Smithy’s Loam”, conjuring up a randomly selected, traditional country trade. In this case it is a blacksmith, although apparently the developer did not know that “loam” means a fertile soil of silt, clay and sand …
So what undesirable shoots might be propagating in Smithy’s Loam? As Mrs. Pargeter gets to know the residents better, we learn that there are quite a few skeletons in their perfectly built closets. This estate is perfect for social climbing, and we can see by the pointedly respectful privacy that each resident affords the others - (no peeping at the neighbours’ doings as they add more shine to their already gleaming windows and paintwork) - that it is also perfect for concealing a murder.
Mrs. Pargeter reminds herself when she arrives that she has allowed 6 months to try out this new place, before making it her permanent home. She misses her old home in Chigwell … which makes readers who know Essex well smile to themselves. The old village of Chigwell is certainly a desirable area, but it is quite notorious; not only because of its wealthy residents, but also because quite a few self-made Cockney millionaires who made their millions by - let us say - mysterious means, are reputed to live there. And much of the book’s humour lies in the multiple and varied examples to us of how Mrs. Pargeter belongs to this latter category.
Simon Brett drops clues into the narrative about what her husband did for a living, simply mentioning them as asides. For example, when waiting for her favourite pieces to arrive from storage, she reminisces about how well provided for her husband left her. She has collected such nice quality furniture over the years, but it always tended to arrive about 3 am. She regrets that they had no children, but muses that it wasn’t really feasible, as he would be away unexpectedly for long stretches of time. And he told her that she must always tell the truth to the police - but added the stricture that she should say no more than they asked.
“She remembered her late husband’s precepts about the police. What they did not know, generally speaking, they did not need to know. Ignorance in the Police Force, he had always maintained, was a natural state, and who are we, he would ask with a disarming shrug of his shoulders, to interfere with nature?”
So we know full well that Mr. Pargeter must have been a crook, but it is all described with such pitch-perfect humour and grace. Plus it is left ambiguous as to whether Mrs. Pargeter really knew what her husband was, though she is remarkably astute in other ways … to be conveniently ignorant about such matters is probably a long-assumed habit of hers. Certainly when one of her husband’s “contacts” is so naff as to ask her whether what she has asked him to find out is “for a job”, Mrs. P becomes extremely frosty, and maintains that she does not know what he is talking about. The blundering oaf is apologetic to the point of obsequiousness in response. Curiously, none of her husband’s old colleagues can do enough to help Mr. Pargeter’s widow, invariably adding that he made them promise to do this. Not that they mind, they insist, saying that he always looked after them so well in former times.
The little black address book her husband left her proves invaluable in all Mrs. Pargeter’s sleuthing. It has a list of the late Mr. Pargeter’s underworld buddies, who are qualified in all sort of things from breaking in without leaving any signs, to tracing the whereabouts of anyone who has disappeared. There are plenty of people who are at Mrs. P’s beck and call. And they are delighted to help out: every single one remembering their sworn promise to look out for Mr. Pargeter’s widow. After all, Mr. Pargeter always saw them right, when he was alive. He was a true gent, they always assure her.
Mrs. Pargeter potters around her new abode, and cooks herself a delicious meal (happily plump, she is confident and attractive without bothering about silly things like calories). Soon that first evening though, her boiler breaks down, so she decides to contact the former occupants, the Cottons, for advice. But when she tries to phone the number the former owner of Acapulco - Theresa Cotton - had left for her, directory enquiries tell her that no such number exists.
This is a perfect pretext for Mrs. Pargeter to get to know her new neighbours, which proves surprisingly easy, despite their reserved facade:
“Why was it, Mrs. Pargeter mused, that the only people who said they were the last ones to spread gossip were always such arrant gossip-mongers?”
She quickly discovers that not only does that number not exist, but
Of course the house she has moved into must be the one where a murder has been done and hidden, but the satisfying thing about this for the reader is that so far Mrs. Pargeter does not know this. She does begin to suspect though, and around chapter 7 we begin to be . It takes until about half way through the novel for one of Mrs. Pargeter’s husband’s associates to , which seems quite late on really, but it is all very entertaining. And for our part, we remain in ignorance of who the victim must have been for quite a long time. When the ladies find out, their reactions are unsurprisingly insular:
“But, goodness me, poor ! What a dreadful thing to happen in Smithy’s Loam!’ ‘Or anywhere,’ Mrs Pargeter observed mildly. She knew that its residents tended to see Smithy’s Loam as the centre of the universe, but murder did remain a relatively offensive crime even in other parts of the world.”
Mrs. Pargeter is naturally curious, not to mention incorrigibly nosy, and since she has little faith in the police as they have so much to do, and all without having the expert contacts she herself does (and are moreover bound by rules she pays scant attention to) she sets to work finding out all she can.
She has soon given all her neighbours secret nicknames such as Mrs Nervy the Neurotic (Hibiscus), Mrs Snoop the Spy (High Beeches), Mrs Busy the Businesswoman and her au pair Miss Bored the Belgian’s daughter (Perigord), Vivvi Sprake whom she had already met (Haymakers) and her immediate neighbour at number 5 Mrs Huffy the Houseproud (Cromarty) … which also helps us to sort them out!
But as the author comments, little does Mrs. Pargeter suspect that one of these “happy families” characters (an old English card game) might also be Mrs Merciless the Murderess.
Mrs. Pargeter gradually finds out that all these connubial (or perhaps their state is more accurately described as concubinal) females of the species have something to hide. Theresa Cotton was a pleasant young woman though, or so her neighbours said, and probing does not seem to reveal much more. But then she discovers an unposted letter which has dropped down behind a radiator. It is addressed to confirms her belief that nice, naive Theresa Cotton was mixed up with some very shady characters indeed.
Mrs. Pargeter now knows that there is something very odd about her new neighbours, and is determined to piece together the mystery. But she still has no idea who is behind it all, or why, and her snooping has not gone unnoticed.
One of her expert contacts, Truffler Mason, has discovered that
Mrs. P is now in real danger. But she is not fazed; far from it. She is thoroughly enjoying herself:
“She had encountered so much distressing defeatism among the old, too many of whom seemed to regard their remaining years as a spiralling down process. This was not Mrs Pargeter’s approach to any part of her life. Though she could not possibly know how many more years she would be allotted, she was determined to enjoy every one of them to the full.”
The denouement is perhaps predictable to those aficionados of whodunits, but satisfying nonetheless. It revolves around The humour is consistent, and I appreciated the unexpected ironic social critique of the snobbishness and materialism of those in Smithy’s Loam. For instance, such a prosperous housing estate as Smithy’s Loam is the epitome of upper middle-class respectability, and of course none of them is prejudiced against different cultures … yet still they have a meeting to decide how to prevent an Indian restaurant from opening nearby. Would they have been so vociferous about an Italian restaurant, Mrs. Pargeter wonders. Also, the depiction of the targeting of gullible people by a made-up sect, so fashionable in the 1970s and 80s, to swindle people out of their money, is nicely done with plenty of acerbic wit.
I enjoy reading and rereading the cases featuring the intrepid Mrs. Pargeter, the vivacious widow with a talent for solving mysteries. How strange that so far nobody has decided to dramatise any of these stories.
Simon Brett introduced the Mrs. Pargeter character in 1986 with the novel “A Nice Class of Corpse”. Mrs. Presumed Dead was first published in 1988. Newly widowed, she had decided to spend a few months in a private hotel at the seaside town of Littlehampton, “The Devereux”, which not only had a nice class of residents but also the “Nice Class of Corpse” referred to (which she was sure was not a natural death). The series originally concluded in 1998 with the novel “Mrs. Pargeter’s Point of Honour”. Simon Brett had published 5 books in chronological order in the series - one book every 2 years - which was far fewer than his other series, such as the one about the jobbing dissolute actor who had a habit of becoming embroiled in murder cases despite himself, Charles Paris. Simon Brett then revived his Mrs. Pargeter series 17 years later, in 2015. There have been three more books about Mrs. Pargeter since, and the series is currently ongoing.
In this Joffe edition there is a careful “Note to the Reader” at the beginning:
“Please note that this novel is set in the 1980s in England, a time before mobile phones and ubiquitous CCTV, and when social attitudes were very different”.
This is perhaps helpful to those who usually read contemporary murder mysteries. There is also an English dictionary of terms at the back, explaining slang terms for American or other readers. (It seems odd to an English reader to see colloquialisms written down and defined, but I’m guessing that it is quite useful to some!)
Here are some critical opinions about Mrs. Pargeter:
“A new Simon Brett novel is an event for mystery fans!” - P.D. James
“Murder most enjoyable” - Colin Dexter
“Few crime writers are so enchantingly gifted” - The Sunday Times
“Like a little malice in your mysteries? Some cynicism in your cozies? Simon Brett is happy to oblige” - New York Times
“Continually surprising, witty” - Publishers Weekly
This one has won the Crime Writers’ Association Diamond Dagger Award
And here is my review of the first in the series:
A Nice Class of Corpse
“Sixty-something Melita Pargeter is a woman in her prime — classy, earthy and sharp as a tack. Don’t believe the rumours about her late husband. The perfect gent, he left Mrs P. wanting for nothing. On his advice, she never leaves home without binoculars, gloves and a skeleton key. And these trusty essentials have always served her well. But murder seems to follow her to every new address …”
And it looks as if this is no exception.
With a wince-worthy pun like Mrs. Presumed Dead, we can assume from the start that this will be a light, cosy mystery rather than anything intense. Indeed it is by an English author noted for his entertaining and undemanding crime novels (with a touch of humour), Simon Brett, who has several crime series under his belt as well as a past in broadcasting, writing and editing with the BBC.
Mrs. Presumed Dead is the second in his light-hearted murder mystery series about the widow Mrs. Pargeter.
The story begins with a cracker of an opening:
“The murderer looked down at the body lying neatly in the middle of its polythene sheet, and indulged in a moment of self-congratulation.”
What an attention-grabber! And quite a surprising start for a cosy mystery. Could this be Mrs. Pargeter herself meeting an early demise? Surely not. The last we heard of her she was ensconced in an “exclusive” (i.e. pretentiously wanna-be upmarket) small seaside hotel for retired gentlefolk in Littlehampton. It seemed an ideal spot for a stylish widow called “Melita”, who routinely hires a limousine driven by her favourite chauffeur, and even has a second best mink coat. But Mrs. Pargeter is not a woman who fits easily into any mould, and the other residents quickly recognised that fact. Surely she would not still be at such an hotel?
We do not have to wait long before we realise thankfully that the unfortunate corpse is not our amateur sleuth.
And here is Mrs. Pargeter herself, approaching a car and waving to a new neighbour:
“An ample white-haired woman …She must have been in her sixties, but was carefully and expensively preserved. Bright silk print dress, fur coat draped over shoulders, gleams of substantial jewellery, surprisingly high heels accentuating fine legs. There was about her a quality which, while not extreme enough to be dubbed ‘flashy’ or ‘vulgar’, would still have disqualified her from being called ‘self-effacing’.”
We soon discover that Mrs. Pargeter is in the process of moving to a lovely new home rather ostentatiously called “Acapulco”, on a very desirable estate in leafy Surrey. Her neighbours are smart young couples, all fairly prosperous and clearly upwardly mobile, exemplifying the defining social aspirations of the 1980s. The small “close” (as they determinedly try not to call it) consists of six detached, individually designed executive homes, in which the females of the species choose to stay, primping, plumping, polishing and presiding over. There is just one working woman with an au pair and a couple of children. Most of the female residents in this circle of houses have husbands who appear late at night and at weekends:
“All the husbands remained shadowy figures in the life of Smithy’s Loam …
All were of the aspirant classes, all worked long, ambitious hours to maintain the acquisitive executive standards of Smithy’s Loam.”
Mrs. Pargeter was curious to find out “how [the females] spent their gender-segregated hours of daylight”
and I admit I began to suspect a Stepford wives scenario, as this seemed to be typical more of a 1950s set-up than a later 1980s one. But it was indicative of a narrow band of “executive English wives” of the time. Mrs. Presumed Dead turns out to be a clever social satire, with some nice sharp wit. It perfectly captures the smallest details about English life, such as:
“the gas repairman, obedient to the long tradition of his calling, had not got the relevant replacement part with him, but managed in direct contradiction to his calling, to locate and fit it within 24 hours.”
Anyone who has spent a while living here in England will recognise this, especially in Nationalised Industries - which are sadly now very thin on the ground - and give a rueful smile. (Even, I suspect, gas repairmen and women.)
The tasteful development has an appropriately tasteful fake “antiquey”-feeling name: “Smithy’s Loam”, conjuring up a randomly selected, traditional country trade. In this case it is a blacksmith, although apparently the developer did not know that “loam” means a fertile soil of silt, clay and sand …
So what undesirable shoots might be propagating in Smithy’s Loam? As Mrs. Pargeter gets to know the residents better, we learn that there are quite a few skeletons in their perfectly built closets. This estate is perfect for social climbing, and we can see by the pointedly respectful privacy that each resident affords the others - (no peeping at the neighbours’ doings as they add more shine to their already gleaming windows and paintwork) - that it is also perfect for concealing a murder.
Mrs. Pargeter reminds herself when she arrives that she has allowed 6 months to try out this new place, before making it her permanent home. She misses her old home in Chigwell … which makes readers who know Essex well smile to themselves. The old village of Chigwell is certainly a desirable area, but it is quite notorious; not only because of its wealthy residents, but also because quite a few self-made Cockney millionaires who made their millions by - let us say - mysterious means, are reputed to live there. And much of the book’s humour lies in the multiple and varied examples to us of how Mrs. Pargeter belongs to this latter category.
Simon Brett drops clues into the narrative about what her husband did for a living, simply mentioning them as asides. For example, when waiting for her favourite pieces to arrive from storage, she reminisces about how well provided for her husband left her. She has collected such nice quality furniture over the years, but it always tended to arrive about 3 am. She regrets that they had no children, but muses that it wasn’t really feasible, as he would be away unexpectedly for long stretches of time. And he told her that she must always tell the truth to the police - but added the stricture that she should say no more than they asked.
“She remembered her late husband’s precepts about the police. What they did not know, generally speaking, they did not need to know. Ignorance in the Police Force, he had always maintained, was a natural state, and who are we, he would ask with a disarming shrug of his shoulders, to interfere with nature?”
So we know full well that Mr. Pargeter must have been a crook, but it is all described with such pitch-perfect humour and grace. Plus it is left ambiguous as to whether Mrs. Pargeter really knew what her husband was, though she is remarkably astute in other ways … to be conveniently ignorant about such matters is probably a long-assumed habit of hers. Certainly when one of her husband’s “contacts” is so naff as to ask her whether what she has asked him to find out is “for a job”, Mrs. P becomes extremely frosty, and maintains that she does not know what he is talking about. The blundering oaf is apologetic to the point of obsequiousness in response. Curiously, none of her husband’s old colleagues can do enough to help Mr. Pargeter’s widow, invariably adding that he made them promise to do this. Not that they mind, they insist, saying that he always looked after them so well in former times.
The little black address book her husband left her proves invaluable in all Mrs. Pargeter’s sleuthing. It has a list of the late Mr. Pargeter’s underworld buddies, who are qualified in all sort of things from breaking in without leaving any signs, to tracing the whereabouts of anyone who has disappeared. There are plenty of people who are at Mrs. P’s beck and call. And they are delighted to help out: every single one remembering their sworn promise to look out for Mr. Pargeter’s widow. After all, Mr. Pargeter always saw them right, when he was alive. He was a true gent, they always assure her.
Mrs. Pargeter potters around her new abode, and cooks herself a delicious meal (happily plump, she is confident and attractive without bothering about silly things like calories). Soon that first evening though, her boiler breaks down, so she decides to contact the former occupants, the Cottons, for advice. But when she tries to phone the number the former owner of Acapulco - Theresa Cotton - had left for her, directory enquiries tell her that no such number exists.
This is a perfect pretext for Mrs. Pargeter to get to know her new neighbours, which proves surprisingly easy, despite their reserved facade:
“Why was it, Mrs. Pargeter mused, that the only people who said they were the last ones to spread gossip were always such arrant gossip-mongers?”
She quickly discovers that not only does that number not exist, but
Of course the house she has moved into must be the one where a murder has been done and hidden, but the satisfying thing about this for the reader is that so far Mrs. Pargeter does not know this. She does begin to suspect though, and around chapter 7 we begin to be . It takes until about half way through the novel for one of Mrs. Pargeter’s husband’s associates to , which seems quite late on really, but it is all very entertaining. And for our part, we remain in ignorance of who the victim must have been for quite a long time. When the ladies find out, their reactions are unsurprisingly insular:
“But, goodness me, poor ! What a dreadful thing to happen in Smithy’s Loam!’ ‘Or anywhere,’ Mrs Pargeter observed mildly. She knew that its residents tended to see Smithy’s Loam as the centre of the universe, but murder did remain a relatively offensive crime even in other parts of the world.”
Mrs. Pargeter is naturally curious, not to mention incorrigibly nosy, and since she has little faith in the police as they have so much to do, and all without having the expert contacts she herself does (and are moreover bound by rules she pays scant attention to) she sets to work finding out all she can.
She has soon given all her neighbours secret nicknames such as Mrs Nervy the Neurotic (Hibiscus), Mrs Snoop the Spy (High Beeches), Mrs Busy the Businesswoman and her au pair Miss Bored the Belgian’s daughter (Perigord), Vivvi Sprake whom she had already met (Haymakers) and her immediate neighbour at number 5 Mrs Huffy the Houseproud (Cromarty) … which also helps us to sort them out!
But as the author comments, little does Mrs. Pargeter suspect that one of these “happy families” characters (an old English card game) might also be Mrs Merciless the Murderess.
Mrs. Pargeter gradually finds out that all these connubial (or perhaps their state is more accurately described as concubinal) females of the species have something to hide. Theresa Cotton was a pleasant young woman though, or so her neighbours said, and probing does not seem to reveal much more. But then she discovers an unposted letter which has dropped down behind a radiator. It is addressed to confirms her belief that nice, naive Theresa Cotton was mixed up with some very shady characters indeed.
Mrs. Pargeter now knows that there is something very odd about her new neighbours, and is determined to piece together the mystery. But she still has no idea who is behind it all, or why, and her snooping has not gone unnoticed.
One of her expert contacts, Truffler Mason, has discovered that
Mrs. P is now in real danger. But she is not fazed; far from it. She is thoroughly enjoying herself:
“She had encountered so much distressing defeatism among the old, too many of whom seemed to regard their remaining years as a spiralling down process. This was not Mrs Pargeter’s approach to any part of her life. Though she could not possibly know how many more years she would be allotted, she was determined to enjoy every one of them to the full.”
The denouement is perhaps predictable to those aficionados of whodunits, but satisfying nonetheless. It revolves around The humour is consistent, and I appreciated the unexpected ironic social critique of the snobbishness and materialism of those in Smithy’s Loam. For instance, such a prosperous housing estate as Smithy’s Loam is the epitome of upper middle-class respectability, and of course none of them is prejudiced against different cultures … yet still they have a meeting to decide how to prevent an Indian restaurant from opening nearby. Would they have been so vociferous about an Italian restaurant, Mrs. Pargeter wonders. Also, the depiction of the targeting of gullible people by a made-up sect, so fashionable in the 1970s and 80s, to swindle people out of their money, is nicely done with plenty of acerbic wit.
I enjoy reading and rereading the cases featuring the intrepid Mrs. Pargeter, the vivacious widow with a talent for solving mysteries. How strange that so far nobody has decided to dramatise any of these stories.
Simon Brett introduced the Mrs. Pargeter character in 1986 with the novel “A Nice Class of Corpse”. Mrs. Presumed Dead was first published in 1988. Newly widowed, she had decided to spend a few months in a private hotel at the seaside town of Littlehampton, “The Devereux”, which not only had a nice class of residents but also the “Nice Class of Corpse” referred to (which she was sure was not a natural death). The series originally concluded in 1998 with the novel “Mrs. Pargeter’s Point of Honour”. Simon Brett had published 5 books in chronological order in the series - one book every 2 years - which was far fewer than his other series, such as the one about the jobbing dissolute actor who had a habit of becoming embroiled in murder cases despite himself, Charles Paris. Simon Brett then revived his Mrs. Pargeter series 17 years later, in 2015. There have been three more books about Mrs. Pargeter since, and the series is currently ongoing.
In this Joffe edition there is a careful “Note to the Reader” at the beginning:
“Please note that this novel is set in the 1980s in England, a time before mobile phones and ubiquitous CCTV, and when social attitudes were very different”.
This is perhaps helpful to those who usually read contemporary murder mysteries. There is also an English dictionary of terms at the back, explaining slang terms for American or other readers. (It seems odd to an English reader to see colloquialisms written down and defined, but I’m guessing that it is quite useful to some!)
Here are some critical opinions about Mrs. Pargeter:
“A new Simon Brett novel is an event for mystery fans!” - P.D. James
“Murder most enjoyable” - Colin Dexter
“Few crime writers are so enchantingly gifted” - The Sunday Times
“Like a little malice in your mysteries? Some cynicism in your cozies? Simon Brett is happy to oblige” - New York Times
“Continually surprising, witty” - Publishers Weekly
This one has won the Crime Writers’ Association Diamond Dagger Award
And here is my review of the first in the series:
A Nice Class of Corpse
February 27, 2021
There's enough here to continue liking Mrs. Pargeter, but it was not as amusing as the first book. I do like the character and will look forward to the next adventure as this lady moves from murder to murder, most likely. A housing estate is where she lands this time, though an unlikely permanent home for her. Of course the house she moves into is one where a murder had been done and hidden. The small neighborhood, or "close" as some try not to call it, is really not ideal for this lady of experience, but she again calls on friends of her late husband to assist in her deadly game.
first published, 1988
Loan from Friend - Thank You!
first published, 1988
Loan from Friend - Thank You!
August 8, 2016
I do hope the Pargeter cycle picks up. On the surface it looks like so much fun, but Volume Two misses the mark as much as Volume One did, in a different way. From Miss Marple we move to a Jessica Fletcher vibe as Mrs Pargeter buys a house. But a woman who rents limosines, routinely dresses in mink and has underworld buddies looking out for her like some aging Modesty Blaise surely wouldn't choose to live in one of the new "tasteful" developments? I could see her living in a converted barn, in the bottom floor flat of a stately home turned bijou apartments, or even a London penthouse...but Smithy's Loam (apparently the developer--or perhaps Mr Brett?--doesn't know what "loam" means) just doesn't ring true. Again.
Neither does the plot. How many people worry about what became of the person they bought the house from once the deal's out of escrow? Or think of calling the previous owner because the boiler's playing up? Call me independent, but I would just get it fixed; and I certainly wouldn't obsess about the previous owner's whereabouts to this degree, particularly if it was a done deal with no money or services owing.
The "happy families" game with the neighbour ladies is kind of fun, as is the revealing of oh so many skeletons in family closets...although perhaps there are a few too many? And the ending is simply too convenient and unconvincing. Again it reads patched-on.
I can imagine Simon Brett's school reports: "Brett is a clever lad, but refuses to apply himself. He is not working to his full potential, confusing style with content."
Having been gifted with several of Brett's books, I will save them for sleepless nights. They certainly won't keep me awake!
Neither does the plot. How many people worry about what became of the person they bought the house from once the deal's out of escrow? Or think of calling the previous owner because the boiler's playing up? Call me independent, but I would just get it fixed; and I certainly wouldn't obsess about the previous owner's whereabouts to this degree, particularly if it was a done deal with no money or services owing.
The "happy families" game with the neighbour ladies is kind of fun, as is the revealing of oh so many skeletons in family closets...although perhaps there are a few too many? And the ending is simply too convenient and unconvincing. Again it reads patched-on.
I can imagine Simon Brett's school reports: "Brett is a clever lad, but refuses to apply himself. He is not working to his full potential, confusing style with content."
Having been gifted with several of Brett's books, I will save them for sleepless nights. They certainly won't keep me awake!
April 13, 2025
3.5 stars I do enjoy Mrs. Pargeter -and her late husbands handy contacts that help in her sleuthing! I will continue on to book three sometime.
July 18, 2021
Journey into my past... Read these a long, long time ago, and they still haven't lost anything of their ingenuity, and the hallmarks of a classic (not so) old lady detective. I will just keep reading them again and again.
January 22, 2022
I am really enjoying this series. They are cozies without being cloying, kitchy or thinly veiled romance novels. The characters are engaging and the plots tight enough to keep me reading (although the resolution to this one was a bit of a stretch). A great light read to relax with.
March 27, 2023
These are the potato chips of cozy mysteries. You can’t read just one.
Having found communal living not to her liking Mrs Pargeter decides to try a new fancy exburb development
Now since this book is set sometime in the mid to late 1980s few of the words I used as descriptions existed
Her happy little community of 6 houses features a working woman, several housewives and a couple of kiddies
Mrs Pargeter is already planning her escape when she arrives giving herself 6 months to acclimate
Almost immediately she becomes aware that there is something suspicious about the previous resident. Namely that her forwarding address is utterly fictional.
There is a great deal of intrigue in this small section of the world. Luckily the late Mr Pargeter has plenty of people who are at the Mrs beck and call and soon it is revealed that the previous resident was murdered but by whom??
And what secrets are the other residents hiding ?
Having found communal living not to her liking Mrs Pargeter decides to try a new fancy exburb development
Now since this book is set sometime in the mid to late 1980s few of the words I used as descriptions existed
Her happy little community of 6 houses features a working woman, several housewives and a couple of kiddies
Mrs Pargeter is already planning her escape when she arrives giving herself 6 months to acclimate
Almost immediately she becomes aware that there is something suspicious about the previous resident. Namely that her forwarding address is utterly fictional.
There is a great deal of intrigue in this small section of the world. Luckily the late Mr Pargeter has plenty of people who are at the Mrs beck and call and soon it is revealed that the previous resident was murdered but by whom??
And what secrets are the other residents hiding ?
March 30, 2022
2022 bk 76. Not my favorite of the Melita Pargeter, but still a decent read. Mrs. Pargeter has left the 'old folks' hotel and moved into an upper middle class home in a suburb of London. Mystery follows her as the 'dead end' circle of homes houses women and children during the day - husbands appearing late at night and on weekends. The previous owners of Mrs. Pargeter's home have seemingly disappeared and Melita's curiousity 'antenna' go to work, using her husband's associates contacts to track down what happened. It is slightly more complex than the beginning leads the reader to think - but the air of depression in this book got to me.
October 10, 2023
I enjoy Mrs. Pargeter and her late husband's network of nefarious but nice cronies. The process of solving the mystery is good fun, but the mystery itself fell a bit flat, though this one had the justice that the previous installment lacked. Good for a quick palate cleanser between heavier reads.
December 29, 2017
A few years ago, I read the first book in this series, and when I came across this one, I couldn't remember why I hadn't continued the series. Now I remember. I would not say this is a bad book necessarily, but it did have some features that contributed to the low rating. First, the late Mr. Pargeter (having been deceased for a while and leaving his widow, our protagonist, well off) was mentioned on nearly every page. To be fair, there was a stretch of two whole pages where he wasn't mentioned. At that point, why not just make him a living character? Second, the premise for Mrs. Pargeter investigating into the murder was flimsy to say the least. She must have a spidey-sense for detecting foul play. Third, during the reveal, the author tries to hold the audience in suspense by repeatedly referring to that person as "the murderer" rather than by name. This is similar to movies/TV using forced perspective so we can't see who the killer is, except it doesn't work in books. Lastly, the amount of coincidence that leads to the reveal makes one wonder how much of Mrs. Pargeter's successful deduction is down to luck rather than any abilities she possesses.
To be honest, a few years from now I'll come across the third book in this series, and, my memory having been dulled by time, will probably pick it up and read it, not remembering why I didn't before.
To be honest, a few years from now I'll come across the third book in this series, and, my memory having been dulled by time, will probably pick it up and read it, not remembering why I didn't before.
June 30, 2023
these aren't super deep but they are enjoyable may we all live fairy tale lives with husbands leaving us loads of money and a wide variety of helpful contacts as well as an unshakeable sense of body positivity amen
March 29, 2024
Mrs, Presumed Dead is the 2nd book in English author Simon Brett's Mrs. Pargeter cozy mystery series. Melita Pargeter is a well-to-do widow who gets involved in mysteries. Simple as that. She has newly arrived in the housing estate of Smithy's Loam, an estate of six houses.
The story starts just before her arrival of a murder, presumably of the previous owner of Mrs. Pargeter's new home. Melita begins to discover something is amiss when on her first night, the heating system doesn't seem to be working. She calls the number of the previous owner, Mrs. Cotton and can find no record of either of the Cottons. As Melita begins to investigate where the Cottons have gone, she also begins to get to know her neighbours and gradually comes to think they all have something to hide.
Mrs. Pargeter does not rely on the police to help her sort out what's going on. Her husband was a bit of a schemer, a successful one, and didn't rely on the police. He had many friends to help him with his 'shady' businesses / activities and he left them all instructions to help Melita should she ever need it. And they, being loyal, are only too glad to assist.
So with the help of this crew, especially one Truffler Mason, she begins to search for the Cottons and discovers the murder, the body and then turns her attentions on who might have committed the act(s). Mrs. Pargeter is a wonderful character, smart, unruffled, imaginative and gains the loyalty of her husband's compatriots easily. It's an entertaining story with fun characters. I had some of it figured out but there was still enough twists to keep the pages turning. Most enjoyable. (3.5 stars)
The story starts just before her arrival of a murder, presumably of the previous owner of Mrs. Pargeter's new home. Melita begins to discover something is amiss when on her first night, the heating system doesn't seem to be working. She calls the number of the previous owner, Mrs. Cotton and can find no record of either of the Cottons. As Melita begins to investigate where the Cottons have gone, she also begins to get to know her neighbours and gradually comes to think they all have something to hide.
Mrs. Pargeter does not rely on the police to help her sort out what's going on. Her husband was a bit of a schemer, a successful one, and didn't rely on the police. He had many friends to help him with his 'shady' businesses / activities and he left them all instructions to help Melita should she ever need it. And they, being loyal, are only too glad to assist.
So with the help of this crew, especially one Truffler Mason, she begins to search for the Cottons and discovers the murder, the body and then turns her attentions on who might have committed the act(s). Mrs. Pargeter is a wonderful character, smart, unruffled, imaginative and gains the loyalty of her husband's compatriots easily. It's an entertaining story with fun characters. I had some of it figured out but there was still enough twists to keep the pages turning. Most enjoyable. (3.5 stars)
September 26, 2024
Mrs Pargeter has moved from the hotel of the first book to a smart house on a small housing estate. She notices the men are out all day and the women appear rather unfriendly, and gives herself six months to see how she likes it there. Before long, she begins to worry about the previous owner of her house, Theresa Cotton, who seems to have disappeared and Mrs Pargeter suspects foul play. To get to the bottom of it, she will have to talk her way into the confidence of her standoffish neighbours and use her famous address book to call on assistants in her investigation.
These books are great fun and I really enjoy their lighthearted look at crime. There is often a dark undercurrent, and this book is no exception with a rather poignant episode involving one of Mrs P’s suspects and some unpleasant hidden secrets, but her good humour and tolerance of human foibles keeps the overall tone upbeat. The atmosphere of Smithy’s Loam with its bored wives, gossip and snobbish nimbyism (a campaign to stop an Indian restaurant coming nearby) is very accurate and wryly amusing.
I love Mrs Pargeter with her joyful pursuit of the truth, and enjoy meeting her late husband’s band of ‘associates’ who will do anything for her and have all the dubious skills she needs. A series I am beginning to like very much.
These books are great fun and I really enjoy their lighthearted look at crime. There is often a dark undercurrent, and this book is no exception with a rather poignant episode involving one of Mrs P’s suspects and some unpleasant hidden secrets, but her good humour and tolerance of human foibles keeps the overall tone upbeat. The atmosphere of Smithy’s Loam with its bored wives, gossip and snobbish nimbyism (a campaign to stop an Indian restaurant coming nearby) is very accurate and wryly amusing.
I love Mrs Pargeter with her joyful pursuit of the truth, and enjoy meeting her late husband’s band of ‘associates’ who will do anything for her and have all the dubious skills she needs. A series I am beginning to like very much.
May 15, 2024
The second book in this series, and was as enjoyable as the first. It would seem that in moving to a small very quiet estate, Mrs Pargeter, when her heating breaks down, finds that the people she bought the house from are impossible to contact. Their forwarding address would seem not exist. Their belongings have been put into storage. this strikes Mrs Pargeter as something of a mystery, plus she has had a man phoned twice trying to find the same information as she is seeking. She becomes acquainted with the other women on the estate, but none of them are willing to talk about this past neighbour. As Mrs Pargeter is not one to give up on a mystery, she enlists the help of some of her late husbands friends, who are only too willing to help her out.
I am really liking following this series, and being in the company of a very easy to like protagonist.
I am really liking following this series, and being in the company of a very easy to like protagonist.
June 25, 2025
Mrs Pargeter has unaccountably decided to buy a house in a rather dull close in a Surrey town. Her neighbours are mainly bored housewives with no children and no jobs (rather unlikely in the 1980s). And Mrs Pargeter discovers that something untoward may have happened to the couple who sold her her house. She starts to investigate, with the help of some of those interesting former colleagues or her husband’s.
I didn’t like this one as much as the first one. None of their murder suspects were very interesting, they were all rather dull women, and I had difficulty remembering who was who. And there were none of the rather enjoyable surprises as in the first book. But I will probably go on to read the next one and see if it is any better.
I didn’t like this one as much as the first one. None of their murder suspects were very interesting, they were all rather dull women, and I had difficulty remembering who was who. And there were none of the rather enjoyable surprises as in the first book. But I will probably go on to read the next one and see if it is any better.
June 23, 2022
Discounted | Still enjoying this series, even though the late Mr Pargeter's address book is a dues ex machina. | These are calm cozies, and Mrs Pargeter is a cheerful and peaceful character to spend my reading time with, so I'm happy to continue with the series.
May 14, 2024
This is turning out to be a fun series with Mrs. Pargeter able to call on a variety of shady characters as she moves around looking for her perfect home. Good plot with suspects in a close(d) community.
January 1, 2026
I wasn't sure if I would like another book in this series, but I did. It's a fun read, a bit like a Miss Julia in England instead of the U.S. I look forward to book 3 of the series, and was pleased to see that this author is still writing, this series is still being added to. How fun!
January 7, 2022
This is the second Mrs. Pargeter novel - I have read the first one and after reading this one it is likely I'll read the next. I think there are only eight novels in the series.
These are cozy mysteries, I guess, but not so cozy that you become sick over the cozy sweetness. I enjoyed the first novel in the series more than I enjoyed this one. Mainly, the author was not as smooth and engaging with his main character's conversations this time. Mrs. Pargeter in this novel was nearly KGB-interrogator at times. I know she is a shrewd and witty old bird, but I think she would also be a bit more subtle than a sledgehammer.
I liked never knowing who exactly the criminal was, I never ever guess correctly. Horrible at solving mysteries. I totally am surprised nearly every novel! But this one all worked out quite sensibly and logically and like Melita says, "No, I've worked it out now. I should have realised before."
A perfectly acceptable easy-reader with a relatively interesting main character/amateur sleuth. I recommend for all general readers and mystery fans. Easy day read that doesn't require much of the reader. I will, of course, read the next.
These are cozy mysteries, I guess, but not so cozy that you become sick over the cozy sweetness. I enjoyed the first novel in the series more than I enjoyed this one. Mainly, the author was not as smooth and engaging with his main character's conversations this time. Mrs. Pargeter in this novel was nearly KGB-interrogator at times. I know she is a shrewd and witty old bird, but I think she would also be a bit more subtle than a sledgehammer.
I liked never knowing who exactly the criminal was, I never ever guess correctly. Horrible at solving mysteries. I totally am surprised nearly every novel! But this one all worked out quite sensibly and logically and like Melita says, "No, I've worked it out now. I should have realised before."
A perfectly acceptable easy-reader with a relatively interesting main character/amateur sleuth. I recommend for all general readers and mystery fans. Easy day read that doesn't require much of the reader. I will, of course, read the next.
December 5, 2021
Brett, Simon. Mrs., Presumed Dead. 1988. Mrs. Pargeter No. 2. Thorndike Press, 1990.
Mrs. Pargeter is the widow of a successful man whose business trips would not all have been approved by the local constabulary. He willed her a pistol, a sword cane, and a set of burglar’s tools. He also bequeathed to her an address book filled with experts of various criminal skills. She herself never participated in her husband’s adventures, but all his accomplices promised to look after her. So, when she sets out to solve a murder in a stuffy, racist middle-class neighborhood, she knows just who to call to get the research help she needs. Brett is a master of the form and is a writer who can make the objects of satire suffer bleeding wounds before they know they have been cut. 4 stars.
Mrs. Pargeter is the widow of a successful man whose business trips would not all have been approved by the local constabulary. He willed her a pistol, a sword cane, and a set of burglar’s tools. He also bequeathed to her an address book filled with experts of various criminal skills. She herself never participated in her husband’s adventures, but all his accomplices promised to look after her. So, when she sets out to solve a murder in a stuffy, racist middle-class neighborhood, she knows just who to call to get the research help she needs. Brett is a master of the form and is a writer who can make the objects of satire suffer bleeding wounds before they know they have been cut. 4 stars.
March 26, 2022
Charm is wearing thin
I like the character of Mrs. Pargeter, but this simply isn't a good mystery. It is actually dull with uninteresting characters, references to "the late Mr. Pargeter" on almost every page, how well he provided for her on almost every page, boring visits with boring characters, flimsy motivation for her investigation, etc.
Instead of suspenseful, it is repetitive and ponderous. I read all four in a couple of days, and the hackneyed aspects just pile up more and more. This doesn't come close to Agatha Christie's writing - and I am also shocked that P.D. James ( A superb writer and intellectual) called these books an "event". Of coursee, she didn't specify a GOOD event...
I like the character of Mrs. Pargeter, but this simply isn't a good mystery. It is actually dull with uninteresting characters, references to "the late Mr. Pargeter" on almost every page, how well he provided for her on almost every page, boring visits with boring characters, flimsy motivation for her investigation, etc.
Instead of suspenseful, it is repetitive and ponderous. I read all four in a couple of days, and the hackneyed aspects just pile up more and more. This doesn't come close to Agatha Christie's writing - and I am also shocked that P.D. James ( A superb writer and intellectual) called these books an "event". Of coursee, she didn't specify a GOOD event...
October 18, 2016
Love these Mrs Pargeter's mysteries.
Mrs. Pargeter moves into her new home and walks into a mystery immediately. The couple who owned the house have a mystery surrounding them. The husband is not who he purports to be. The job up north does not exist and the address and telephone number he has given also does not exist. The wife seems to have disappeared completely, after saying she would give all her worldly goods to a certain church. Mrs. Pargeter, with help from the late husband's friends is on the case but questioning the local ladies is proving to be quite difficult. Do they know something or are they like this all the time?
Mrs. Pargeter moves into her new home and walks into a mystery immediately. The couple who owned the house have a mystery surrounding them. The husband is not who he purports to be. The job up north does not exist and the address and telephone number he has given also does not exist. The wife seems to have disappeared completely, after saying she would give all her worldly goods to a certain church. Mrs. Pargeter, with help from the late husband's friends is on the case but questioning the local ladies is proving to be quite difficult. Do they know something or are they like this all the time?
April 25, 2021
Nicely done. Ngaio Marsh writing style meets Heron Carvic acerbic descriptions of people, set in 1980s England: it has an old fashioned feel to it even though it was written in the 80s (although perhaps that is now considered old fashioned given that that was 40+ years ago). Unfortunately I guessed who did it early on due to a very Murder She Wrote type of clue but that did not diminish how much I enjoyed the book in large part because the main character is so interesting. I will definitely be combing the online used bookstores (via Abe) and the library (virtually) for other (now out of print) books in the Mrs Pargeter series to help pass the time this lockdown-summer.
February 5, 2017
A light-as-air mystery that relies on the charm of its sleuth and central character, the 60 +-a-little-more Mrs. Pargeter, more than meandering plot and kind of out of left field ending. I did find Mrs. Pargeter fun to be with, though I kept thinking, why does this woman have no friends, no one she spends any time with? What sort of person is she? I may read another in this series sometime but I think her charms would wear thin if I read another too soon.
October 1, 2025
After reading one of Brett's books I decided to steer away from his writings.They were too grim and miserable for my taste.
I made an exception for Mrs. Pargeter's series.The first book was very promising. Apparently, old habits die hard. Even in this presumably lighter and funnier series, there had to be grim and misery. Too bad.2.5 stars
I made an exception for Mrs. Pargeter's series.The first book was very promising. Apparently, old habits die hard. Even in this presumably lighter and funnier series, there had to be grim and misery. Too bad.2.5 stars
October 7, 2023
I enjoyed this. Another peak at Mrs P's history as she unravels a mystery in the street (and infact the house) where she has moved to. I think I like the Charles Paris mysteries better - so far at least - but these are still fun.
March 1, 2023
No settling comfortably into her sixties for this lady!
I really like Mrs.Pargeter. She’s self-aware and very comfortable with who she is. I like too that she is intelligent and still very interested in living a full life. The murder mysteries are also engaging.
I really like Mrs.Pargeter. She’s self-aware and very comfortable with who she is. I like too that she is intelligent and still very interested in living a full life. The murder mysteries are also engaging.
March 6, 2014
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 13, 2012
Read this years ago. Vaguely recall the plot. Loved the heroine and her unique network of associates. Stopped reading the series because I had read all volumes available at the time.
November 16, 2016
One of my favourite authors. His characters are so real .
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