The Body on the Beach (Fethering Mysteries)
£0.01
Thoroughly enjoyable! - I m currently reading this book and am so enjoying it! A real good old fashioned who dunnit .I m certainly going to buy the rest of the series!
Oh dear - I have to disagree with all the other reviewers!! - Wanted to enjoy this - and loved the premise of it. Loved the opening line about Fethering being next to the village of Tarring - but apart from that... dull. It was just so boring. I wish I could come up with a better description, but that word really sums it up. I couldn t get to grips with the unbelievably dull characters and I had to abandon it three quarters of the way through. In fact, I m wondering if I was reading another book to the one the others describe!If you like gentle whodunnits, give the Mitchell and Markby novels by Ann Granger a go. Altogether better.
Entertaining - My Mum bought this for my Dad in a charity shop. He read it. My husband read it so I gave it a go. Not my normal read, or theirs, so I was pleasantly surprised when I thoroughly enjoyed it. The two women remind me a bit of Rosemary and Thyme - accidental detectives. The plot is good, there wasn t any real gore and the charcters are lovable and real. You ll often find yourself chuckling as we see their secret thoughts. Brett has been very clever in planting seeds of curiosity in this first book. The unlikely duo know very little about each other and I expected to have their questions answered by the end of the book. Murder mystery all wrapped up yet you know you have to read on to have their questions answered, and no doubt I will with the rest of the series. It was an enjoyable few hours break from reality.
Eccentic female sleuths - Divine. These two are unlikely co-workers. Carole is traditional in her Burberry and Jude is avant-garde. At first Carole is reluctant to become involved with Jude whom she feels is not a Fethering type person. Jude draws her in and they begin their sleuthing in redoubtable style. Brett injects his own brand of dry wit to the proceedings and his no-nonsense approach to pc is totally refreshing. Apart from murder he threads social issues seamlessly throughout. He would make a delightful dinner guest. This whodunnit is pure pleasure and it s a super feeling to have the next in the series to read - and the next. Simon Brett should be in line for A Dagger Award with this series. Miss it at your peril.
A Strong Beginning to a Fine Series - Mix one up-tight newly retired ex-civil servant with a penchant for being reclusive, Carole Seddon, with a devil-may-care new female neighbor with a shadowy past, Jude (no last name), in class conscious Fethering, and you have plenty of room for good fun. Add to those mismatched characters mysterious events . . . and murder, and your plate will soon be overflowing with interesting reading.Unlike new writers who are often awkward with their first books in a new mystery series, the talented and experienced Simon Brett (author of Mrs. Pargeter and Charles Paris mysteries) is sure-handed from the first word. Here s part of the book s opening paragraph: Fethering is on the South Coast, not far from Tarring. Though calling itself a village, Fethering isn t what that word immediately brings to the minds of people nostalgic for the idealized, simpler England. Despite the presence of many components of a village -- . . . a whole bunch of people who reckon they re the squire - Fethering is in fact quite a large residential conurbation.This book presents great challenges event to a seasoned pro. Carole and Jude are amateur detectives and avoid involvement with the police. They have to get people to talk to them, reveal secrets, and track down clues on their own. It s difficult to do without creating serious mistakes in the plot. At the same time, this book requires a lot of character development. Mr. Brett pulls it off while making it all look ridiculously easy.Here s the story s beginning. Carole likes to walk her dog (one of the few activities she has other than cleaning her spotless house) for exercise. One morning, she heads for the beach and is disturbed while someone races past her without the customary village nod. Soon thereafter, Carole finds a dead body. But Carole s not easily flustered. She heads home, washes her dog, cleans the house, and eventually calls the police about the body some time later before the tide comes in again. They investigate and find no body. Carole feels pretty silly. Soon thereafter, Carole bumps into her new neighbor Jude, a little before she had planned to meet her. When Jude believes Carole about the body and suggests they do something, Carole is delighted . . . even though she isn t exactly sure that Jude is someone she wants to spend too much time with.The story is filled with such delightful class-conscious set-ups. Fethering seems to have been occupied with more than its share of people who think they are the squire.The mysteries deepen as other strange occurrences follow. What does it all mean? Mr. Brett does a fine job of making sense of out what seems pretty far-fetched . . . so stick around to the end.