'Crime writing just like in the good old days, and perfect entertainment' Guardian
'Simon Brett writes stunning detective stories' JILLY COOPER
'King of the witty village mystery' Telegraph
Fethering resident Jude soon regrets helping out at an event at the Hopwicke Country House Hotel. The all-male society, The Pillars of Sussex, are visiting and keep Jude up until the small hours when the last of the rowdy men goes to bed.
When one guest doesn’t show up for breakfast the next morning, Jude presumes he’s feeling the effects of the night before and searches him out. Only to discover his body hanging from the beams of a four-poster bed. Unconvinced that this was suicide, Jude enlists the support of fellow amateur sleuth Carole to crack the case.
'A new Simon Brett is an event for mystery fans' P. D. JAMES
'Simon Brett writes stunning detective stories' JILLY COOPER
'King of the witty village mystery' Telegraph
Bracketts, an Elizabethan house near the town of Fethering, is about to be turned into a museum, but the transition is proving nightmarish. Carole regrets her decision to be on the museum’s Board when she witnesses bitter antagonism and rivalry amongst the other members.
The tensions climax when a human skeleton is found in the kitchen garden and then another body is discovered, not yet cold. These murders in the museum quickly turn into a case that tests the sleuthing powers of Carole, and her neighbour Jude, as never before . . .
‘King of the witty village mystery’ Daily Telegraph
‘Simon Brett writes stunning detective stories’ JILLY COOPER
‘A new Simon Brett is an event for mystery fans’ P. D. JAMES
It wasn’t the rain that upset Fethering resident Carole Seddon during her walk on the Downs, or the dilapidated barn in which she was forced to seek shelter. No, what upset her was the human skeleton she discovered there, neatly packed into two blue fertiliser bags . . .
Amateur sleuths Carole and Jude go to the small hamlet of Weldisham where gossips quickly identify the corpse as Tamsin Lutteridge, a young woman who disappeared from the village months before. But why is Tamsin’s mother so certain that her daughter is still alive? As Jude sets out to discover what really happened to Tamsin, Carole digs deeper into Weldisham’s history and the bitter relationships simmering beneath the village’s gentle facade.
'King of the witty village mystery' Telegraph
'Simon Brett writes stunning detective stories' JILLY COOPER
'Crime writing just like in the good old days, and perfect entertainment' Guardian
It's time to celebrate in Fethering Village, as Carole’s son is getting married to a wonderful girl, albeit one with rather odd parents. Not only do they have no interest in the wedding preparations, but the mere thought of talking about the event frightens them beyond words.
When the bride’s father is found murdered, Carole and Jude fear the bride-to-be is the killer’s next target. They must unravel the bride’s family’s past before the killer makes another deadly move . . . and before the wedding festivities become completely funereal.
Fethering has everything a sleepy coastal town should: snug English pubs, cosy cottages, a little local library – and the occasional murder . . .
Bestselling author Burton St Clair, complete with soaring ego and wandering hands, has come to town to give a talk. But after his corpse is found slumped in his car, he won’t be leaving. Jude is the prime suspect; she was, after all, the last person to see Burton St Clair alive. If she is to prove her innocence, she will have to dust off her detective skills and recruit her prim and proper neighbour (and partner-in-sleuthing) Carole to find the real culprit.