Death on the Downs (Fethering Mystery) - Hardcover

Brett, Simon

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0425179532 ISBN 13: 9780425179536

Publisher: Berkley Hardcover, 2001

Synopsis

While out walking around the town, sensible Carole Seddon comes across the bones of a human skeleton and joins forces with Jude, her bohemian neighbor, who believes that the remains may be those of a young woman who used to practice her alternative therapy, and soon the two women are faced with two mysteries when they discover that the young woman is still alive.

About this title

About the Author

Simon Brett, called by The Baltimore Sun "one of the wittiest mystery writers around", is the author of the Mrs. Pargeter Mystery series, and the creator of the Charles Paris mysteries. Death on the Downs is the second novel in the new Fethering Mystery series, following The Body on the Beach. A former president of Britain’s Crime Writers’ Association and Chair of the Society of Authors, he lives in the south of England with his family.

From Publishers Weekly

Carole Seddon, newest of veteran Brett's three series sleuths (actor Charlie Paris and widow Emily Pargeter are the others) gets a second turn following her debut in The Body on the Beach. Seddon, an early Home Office retiree, prides herself on her sensible approach to life a snug place in Fethering, a routine that involves mental exercises like the Times crossword puzzles and long walks along beaches or out on the Downs. On a walk on the South Downs near Weldisham (a village that "looked from the outside as though it hadn't changed much since the days when Agatha Christie might have set a murder there"), a driving rain forces Carole to seek shelter in an abandoned barn, where she discovers a bag of human bones. The local police are informed, and rumors spread to the effect that the bones might have belonged to a missing young woman named Tamsin. Soon Carole and her somewhat mysterious and exotic friend Jude are busily involved in sussing out information on their own partly for adventure, and partly because Tamsin had once turned to Jude for help. Carole's lack of self-confidence, really a lack of self-awareness, is meant to be endearing, but becomes irksome at times. All in all, Brett's more than competent plotting, a cast of characters that play against type to keep things sufficiently interesting and his take on village gentrification combine for fine entertainment. The author's core fans and those nostalgic for the traditional English cozy will snap this up.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Berkley Hardcover
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0425179532
• ISBN 13: 9780425179536
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 304