Fethering Village Mysteries
8 total works
Very little disturbs the ordered calm of Fethering, a pleasingly self-contained retirement on England's southern coast. Which is precisely why Carole Seddon, who has outlived both her husband and her career at the Home Office, has chosen to reside there.
So the last thing Carole expects to encounter in Fethering is a new neighbour with but one name and an obviously colourful past. 'Jude' was not really Fethering..... but neither was the body Carole found on the beach.
A body, it has to be said, that has disappeared by the time the police arrive. Only Jude is ready to believe what her neighbour says she saw - and from that moment on, the two women are resolved to turn detectives.
'Simon Brett comes up trumps yet again... an excellent thriller.' Irish News
'A new Simon Brett novel is an event for mystery fans.' P. D. James
'Pure pleasure from beginning to end.' Birmingham Post
'I stayed up until three in the morning finishing this delightful, thoroughly English whodunnit.' Daily Mail
It wasn't the rain that upset during Carole Seddon during her walk on the West Sussex Downs. It wasn't the dilapidated barn in which she took shelter. No, what upset her was the human skeleton she discovered there . . .
So begins the second investigation for strait-laced Carole and her laid-back neighbour Jude. This time their enquires take them away from Fethering to the small hamlet of Weldisham. There gossips quickly identify the corpse as Tamsin Lutteridge, a young woman who disappeared from the village months before. Detective Sergeant Baylis will confirm nothing. So why is Tamsin's mother, a friend of Jude's, so certain her daughter is still alive? And why is the unstable Brian Helling so keen to announce that there is a serial killer on the loose . . . ? As Jude sets out to find Tamsin - either dead or alive - Carole digs deeper into Weldisham's history and the bitter relationships simmering beneath the village's gentle facade.
The Hopwicke Country House Hotel, owned by Jude's glamorous friend Suzy Longthorne, is to host an event for the all-male society, The Pillars of Sussex. On the night, Jude helps Suzy serve dinner, and in the early hours of the morning they watch with relief as the guests drag themselves to their beds.
The next morning, one young solicitor does not come down for breakfast. Jude heads for Nigel Ackford's room, presuming he is feeling the effects of the night before. It soon becomes apparent, however, that Nigel has been spared his hangover. For Jude finds him hanging from the beams of his four-poster bed . . .
Convinced it was not suicide, Carole and Jude must now find out the truth behind an elaborate attempt to cover up a simple, cold-blooded murder . . .
`Simon Brett is one of British crime's most assured craftsmen' GUARDIAN
`Deftly contrived, light-hearted mysteries' THE TIMES
'A new Simon Brett is an event for mystery fans' P. D. JAMES
Bracketts, an Elizabethan house near the town of Fethering, is about to be turned into a museum. Once the home of celebrated poet Esmund Chadleigh, it has now been decided that it should become a shrine to his life and poetry.
But the transition from house to museum is running far from smoothly. For a sudden discovery is made: Buried in the kitchen garden is a human skeleton. And before too long, there is a second body, not yet cold. Murder is no longer just a dreadful possibility, but a certainty.It is a case that will test the sleuthing powers of Board member Carole Seddon and her friend Jude as never before . . .
Praise for Simon Brett and the Fethering Mysteries:
'A good, juicy, very English murder mystery' DAILY MAIL
'A crime novel in the traditional style, with delightful little touches of humour and vignettes of a small town and its bitchy inhabitants' SUNDAY TELEGRAPH
"Graced by ingeniously drawn characters, deft timing of twists, and a to-die-for climax. A stunner" - Booklist Starred Review
When Jude joins the Fethering community choir, she discovers that at least one of her fellow choristers is hiding a deadly secret.
Although she hadn't known Leonard Mallett very well, nor liked him particularly, Carole Seddon feels duty bound to attend her fellow committee member's funeral. As she suspected, the hymns, readings and sermon are all very predictable - not unlike Leonard himself. What she couldn't have predicted was that the deceased's daughter would use the occasion to publicly accuse her stepmother of murder.
Did Heather Mallett really kill her husband, as many Fethering residents believe? Deciding to get to the heart of the matter, Carole's neighbour Jude joins the new community choir - and discovers that amidst the clashing egos and petty resentments lurk some decidedly false notes. At least one chorister would appear to be hiding a deadly secret - and it's up to Carole and Jude to unearth the truth.