Simon Brett - Page 1
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First British Edition Macmillan (2002) |
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The Torso in the Town
Grant and Kim Roxby had hoped that their first dinner party at Pelting House would make an impression with their new neighbours. And the next day it’s certainly the talk of the town of Fedborough. For their guests - including the couple’s old friend Jude - had been enjoying a pleasant meal before they were rudely interrupted by a gruesome discovery. A human torso hidden in the cellar.
Jude races home to Fethering with the news. In particular she hopes a little bit of amateur detective work will help her friend Carole Seddon recover from a broken love affair.
And sure enough the pair are soon back in Fedborough, questioning the locals, including divorcee Debbie Carlton, town guide Jimmy Lister and failed businessman Roddy Hargreaves, a former owner of Pelting House.
As the duo accumulate suspects, they come to realise that Fedborough works to its own rules. But why is a town so notoriously distrustful of outsiders proving so helpful to their enquiries . . . ?
`One of the wittiest crime writers around’ Antonia Fraser
Praise for Simon Brett and The Feathering Mysteries
'This is the first of a new series of whodunnits by Brett - the best of news for readers who like their crime told elegantly and light-heartedly, with a wit which bubbles throughout plot and narrative… pure pleasure from beginning to end' Birmingham Post
‘Fan’s of Brett’s witty Mrs Pargeter and Charles Paris mysteries will cheer this series’ Publishers Weekly
‘Aficionados of the elegant, well-turned out mystery novel will find much cause for delight in the inauguration of this series’ Crime Time
‘Brett is a master at subtle characterisation, superb setting, and plotting in which his characters solve themselves in the process of solving murders’ Booklist
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First British Edition Macmillan (2001) |
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| Paperback - Pan (2002) |
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Death on the Downs
It wasn't the rain that upset Carole Seddon during her walk on the West Sussex Downs.. It wasn’t 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 . . .
So begins the second investigation for strait-laced Carole and her more laid-back neighbour Jude. This time their enquiries take them away from their seaside village of Fethering to the small downland 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? Why is village elder statesman Graham Forties suddenly taking an interest in Carole? And why is the decidedly 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.
‘Beautifully plotted, with a sharp eye for the social comedy of middle-class middle England, this book follows the amateur lady detectives as they ingeniously piece together what really happened in the shadow of the South Downs’ Daily Mail
‘Simon Brett has got into his stride with his second book in the Fethering Mysteries series… his light touch produces an enjoyable mystery’ Susanna Yager, Sunday Telegraph
‘Welcome return for Brett’s lady sleuths… As crime gets a harder edge, it’s refreshing to have an amiable light-hearted tale, which makes the most of wit and atmosphere. A gentle stroll down mystery lane.’ Yorkshire Post
‘I stayed up until three in the morning and chewed off two fingernails finishing this delightful, thoroughly English whodunnit . . . And the good news, for those of us longing for the next instalment of gossip, is that this is only the first of an entire series of Fethering mysteries.’ Daily Mail
‘Simon Brett comes up trumps yet again . . . an excellent thriller but also a well-observed social commentary’ Irish News
‘One of the exceptional detective-story writers around’ Daily Telegraph
‘[Brett is] highly commended for atmosphere and wit.’ Evening Standard
‘Simon Brett writes stunning detective stories . . . I would recommend them to anyone’ Jilly Cooper
‘Simon Brett is a man of many talents.., totally engrossing and unusually funny.’ London Life Magazine
‘A new Simon Brett is an event for mystery fans’ P .D. James
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First British Edition Macmillan (2000) |
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The Body on the Beach
The first novel in The Fethering Mysteries series
Very little disturbs the ordered calm of Fethering, a pleasingly self-contained retirement settlement on England's less than sun-kissed 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.
A mature woman of intensely regulated habit, the last thing Carole expects to encounter in Fethering is a new neighbour - a female neighbour at that - 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.
But investigating murder means facing up to dangers they never even knew existed…
'[Brett is] highly commended for atmosphere and wit' Evening Standard
'Simon Brett writes stunning detective stories… I would recommend them to anyone' Jilly Cooper
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First British Edition Macmillan (1999) |
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| Paperback - Pan (2000) |
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Mrs Pargeter's Point of Honour
The irrepressible widow Mrs Pargeter is forced to find out more that she would wish about her husband's 'business activities', when she recreates one of his most famous scams…
When Mrs Pargeter is asked by an elderly widow to return a large number of stolen paintings to their rightful owners, she doesn't hesitate for it's a point of honour to complete any of her late husband's unfinished business. So she contacts Truffler Mason, Hedgeclipper Glinton and others of the late Mr Pargeter's associates to sort out the operation. But all does not run smoothly.
For a start, Detective Inspector Craig Wilkinson, still embittered by his failure to arrest Mr Pargeter while he was alive, starts to show an unhealthy interest in the man's widow ...
'Fans of the genteel and gorgeously vulgar Mrs Pargeter, whose bright silk frocks put spring flowers to shame, will welcome this new addition to her life history' Frances Fyfield, Mail on Sunday
'Unquestionably the wittiest crime writer currently operating. His series about Mrs Pargeter is ingenious, outrageous in some ways, but remarkably appealing' Birmingham Post
'This is a witty and delightful caper that cries out to be filmed in the style of The Italian Job' James Melville, Ham & High
| Paperback - Vista (1998) |
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First British Edition Gollancz (1997) |
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Dead Room Farce
It's not Beckett exactly, but a three-month run of Not on Your Wife!, a new farce by the prolific British farceur Bill Blunden, is not to be sniffed at by a jobbing actor. Especially when the presence in the cast of the much-loved comedy actor Bernard Walton makes a West End run a distinct possibility.
Which is why Charles Paris is standing on stage with his trousers round his ankles, playing Aubrey, the older lover of Gilly, wife of Bob, whose young mistress Nicky he is passing off as the property of his neighbour Ted. Rehearsals have gone well, the laughs are coming, and if his marriage is on the skids again there's always the consolation of Bell's - and the uncertain attractions of ageing ingénue Cookie Stone.
But by the time the troupe reaches Bath a darker mood has set in. Cookie Stone seems to think she and Charles are practically married (if only he could remember what happened!), and Charles' old friend Mark, who runs a recording studio in Bath where Charles is making a talking book, has a drink problem that amounts to a death wish.
But it's not the drink that kills Mark. It's somebody in the cast who has a dirty little secret that Mark must not be allowed to reveal ...
In Charles Paris, the ever-popular Simon Brett has created the most enduring actor-sleuth in crime fiction, and Dead Room Farce will delight all his fans.
A President of OUDS, Simon Brett spent nine years as a producer with BBC Radio Light Entertainment, before leaving to become Entertainment Producer with LWT. He now writes full time and is the creator of After Henry and Dear Diary, as well as the bestselling Little Sod books and the Mrs. Pargeter mysteries. Dead Room Farce is his seventeenth Charles Paris story.
Simon Brett lives in Arundel, Sussex with his wife and three children.
Praise for Simon BrettBR>
'Brett's cocktail of whodunit and send-up of luvvydom is consistently enjoyable' Tribune
'Brett's highly refined sense of the ridiculous keeps you hooked from first to last' Mail on Sunday
'Charles Paris, the most endearing character in crime fiction today, as usual comes into his own' Guardian
About The Author
Simon Brett worked as a light entertainment producer in radio and TV before taking up writing full time in 1979. As well as the Charles Paris and Mrs Pargeter detective series, he is also the author of the radio and television series After Henry, the radio series No Commitments and the best-selling How to be a Little Sod . His novel A Shock to the System was filmed starring Michael Caine. Married with three children, he lives in an Agatha Christie-style village on the South Downs. Two television companies are currently considering the novels for adaptation.
Bibliography
N.B. dates and publishers in dark red indicate British First Editions. Dates and publishers in black indicate recent reprints.
The Torso in the Town
(Macmillan,
2002)
Death on the Downs
(Macmillan,
2001)
Pan Pbk Feb 02
(Carole Seddon)
The Body on the Beach
(Macmillan,
2000)
Pan Pbk Jan 01
(Carole Seddon)
Mrs Pargeter's Point of Honour
(Macmillan,
1999)
Pan Pbk Feb 00
( Mrs. Pargeter)
Crime Writers and Other Animals
(Gollancz,
1998)
Orion Pbk Oct 99
Dead Room Farce
(Gollancz,
1997)
Vista Pbk 1998
( Charles Paris)
Sicken and so Die
(Gollancz,
1995)
Vista Pbk 1996
( Charles Paris)
A Reconstructed Corpse
(Gollancz,
1994)
( Charles Paris)
Mrs. Pargeter's Pound of Flesh
(Macmillan,
1992)
( Mrs. Pargeter)
Christmas Crimes at Puzzel Manor
(Hodder & Stoughton,
1991)
Corporate Bodies
(Gollancz,
1991)
( Charles Paris)
Mrs. Pargeter's Package
(Macmillan,
1990)
( Mrs. Pargeter)
A Series of Murders
(Gollancz,
1989)
( Paris)
Mrs. Presumed Dead
(Macmillan,
1988)
( Pargeter)
What Bloody Man Is That?
(Gollancz,
1987)
( Paris)
A Shock to the System (Am)
(Dell,
1987)
A Nice Class of Corpse
(Macmillan,
1986)
( Pargeter)
A Box of Tricks
Short Stories
(Gollancz,
1985)
Dead Romantic
(Macmillan,
1985)
Dead Giveaway
(Gollancz,
1985)
( Paris)
A Shock to the System
(Macmillan,
1984)
Not Dead, Only Resting
(Gollancz,
1984)
( Paris)
Murder in the Title
(Gollancz,
1983)
( Paris)
Murder Unprompted
(Gollancz,
1982)
( Paris)
Situation Tragedy
(Gollancz,
1981)
( Paris)
The Dead Side of the Mike
(Gollancz,
1980)
( Paris)
A Comedian Dies
(Gollancz,
1979)
( Paris)
An Amateur Corpse
(Gollancz,
1978)
( Paris)
Star Trap
(Gollancz,
1977)
( Paris)
So Much Blood
(Gollancz,
1976)
( Paris)
Cast In Order of Disappearance
(Gollancz,
1975)
( Paris)
Box of Tricks
Singled Out
The Torso in the Town
by Simon Brett
