Books by Simon Brett and Complete Book Reviews

Simon Brett. Five Star, $25.95 (272p) ISBN 978-1-4328-2568-3
In Brett’s delightful 12th Fethering mystery (after 2010’s The Shooting in the Shop), shy, retiring Carole Seddon is dismayed to find that someone has lit a fire under the beach hut that she’s rented from a friend, Philly Rose, in the West Sussex...
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Simon Brett, Author Holiday House $14.95 (196p) ISBN 978-0-684-18824-9
After tedious months of ""resting,'' Brett's endearing actor-sleuth Charlie Paris gladly accepts the offer to play multi-characters in a very economical Macbeth production. At the bar in the Pinero Theatre, in the English town of Warminster, Paris...
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Simon Brett, Author Scribner Book Company $16.95 (0p) ISBN 978-0-684-19096-9
Charles Paris's 13th appearance finds the bibulous, sorrowful, often unemployed actor/sleuth appearing in a British TV series based on mystery novels featuring a Lord Peter Wimsey-like detective. Paris takes his part as a police-sergeant foil to the
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Simon Brett, Author Scribner Book Company $20 (189p) ISBN 978-0-684-19700-5
In less skillful hands the premise for Brett's Charles Paris series might, by now (the 15th entry), be wearing dangerously thin. Each time out, Charles has posed as an unsuccessful actor, yet he seems always to have a paying gig of sorts. No matter.
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Simon Brett, Author Scribner Book Company $18.95 (0p) ISBN 978-0-684-19286-4
On a tour of Greece, the mature and spirited Melita Pargeter, last seen in Mrs . Presumed Dead , takes on a case more substantial than her earlier challenges. When she agreed to join recently widowed Joyce Dover on holiday, Melita knew she was apt...
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Simon Brett, Author Scribner Book Company $19 (0p) ISBN 978-0-684-19397-7
No sooner does London actor Charles Paris land the part of a forklift operator in a corporate video than a young woman employee named Dayna is found crushed under the same machine. Paris (last seen in Dead Giveaway ) is the prime suspect until the...
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Simon Brett, Author Scribner Book Company $20 (0p) ISBN 978-0-684-19565-0
The late Mr. Pargeter left his widow pots of money and his address book, ``a compendium of contacts which could procure a surprising range of unconventional services.'' When a young friend wants a slimmer self with which to welcome her husband (a...
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Simon Brett, Author Scribner Book Company $19.5 (250p) ISBN 978-0-684-80248-0
Psychological stereotyping and unconvincing plotting undermine this tale of sexual abuse, incest and murder from prolific British novelist Brett (A Shock to the System; the Charles Paris novels). Attractive, willful London TV producer Laura Fisher...
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Simon Brett, Author Simon & Schuster $23 (272p) ISBN 978-0-684-86295-8
Art theft in reverse is the subject of Brett's latest comic mystery starring Mrs. Melita Pargeter (Mrs. Pargeter's Plot, etc.), a charming Londoner whose genteel demeanor belies a keen intellect and steely determination. Elderly Veronica Chastaigne...
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Simon Brett, Felony & Mayhem (www.felonyandmayhem.com), $14.95 trade paper (224p) ISBN 978-1-934609-69-9
P.G. Wodehouse fans will welcome Brett's zany first in a new series set between the wars among the English aristocracy. When Blotto (aka Devereux Lyminster), the impossibly handsome but slow-witted son of the duchess of Tawcester (pronounced "Taster"
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Simon Brett, Author Gale Cengage $13.95 (179p) ISBN 978-0-684-18708-2
In British writer Brett's first mystery for young readers, three teenagers turn detective when Dazzleman, star of the number one rock group, Reddimixx, disappears. Emma (energetic and intuitive), Stewart (an amateur scientist and inventor) and...
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Simon Brett. Severn/Crème de la Crime, $28.95 (208p) ISBN 978-1-78029-015-7
Louise Penny fans will enjoy Brett’s 13th cozy set in the West Sussex town of Fethering (after 2011’s Under the Beach Hut), even if the plot and depth of characterization don’t approach the high standard of Penny’s Inspector Gamache novels. Series...
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Simon Brett. Felony & Mayhem (www.felonyandmayhem.com), $14.95 trade paper (224p) ISBN 978-1-934609-92-7
Brett's second mystery set in 1920s England (after 2011's Blotto, Twinks and the Ex-King's Daughter) starts off as a passable Wodehouse imitation, but soon grows tiresome with its relentless wordplay, banter, and speech mannerisms evocative of...
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Simon Brett. Severn/Creme de la Crime, $28.95 (224p) ISBN 978-1-78029-032-4
Court tennis—the ancestral form of lawn tennis played by Henry VIII—provides the backdrop for Brett’s absorbing 14th Fethering mystery (after 2011’s Guns in the Gallery). Court tennis enthusiast Piers Targett introduces his new lover, amateur sleuth
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Simon Brett. Severn/Creme de la Crime, $28.95 (224p) ISBN 978-1-78029-044-7
Brett’s actor-sleuth, Charles Paris, makes a long-overdue comeback in his droll 18th outing (after 1998’s Dead Room Farce). Paris, a has-been, is delighted to get steady work in a new, offbeat English production of Hamlet, featuring reality-show...
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Simon Brett. Severn/Creme de la Crime, $27.95 (192p) ISBN 978-1-78029-056-0
The world of amateur dramatics provides the backdrop for British author Brett’s witty and intelligent 15th Fethering mystery (after 2012’s The Corpse on the Court). During a rehearsal of George Bernard Shaw’s The Devil’s Disciple, the body of actor...
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Simon Brett. Severn/Creme de la Crime, $28.95 (192p) ISBN 978-1-78029-064-5
Charles Paris lands a role in a traditional English Christmas pantomime of Cinderella in Brett’s masterful 19th mystery featuring the middle-aged actor (after 2013’s A Decent Interval). Not everyone cares about doing a traditional pantomime, as the...
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Simon Brett. Severn/Creme de la Crime, $28.95 (192p) ISBN 978-1-78029-069-0
Brett’s lighthearted, fast-moving 16th Fethering whodunit (after 2014’s The Strangling on the Stage) takes Carole Seddon and her free-spirited friend, Jude Nichol, to Turkey, where an old flame of Jude’s, property developer Barney Willingdon, has...
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Simon Brett. Severn/Creme de la Crime, $28.95 (192p) ISBN 978-1-78029-074-4
Last seen in 1999’s Mrs. Pargeter’s Point of Honour, Mrs. Melita Pargeter is in top form in her long-overdue seventh outing. The late Mr. Pargeter, a thief, left his wealthy widow a little black book containing the names of the “Old Boys,” the...
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Simon Brett. Severn/Crème de la Crime, $28.95 (192p) ISBN 978-1-78029-081-2
Early in British author Brett’s witty 17th mystery featuring Jude Nichol and Carole Seddon (after 2014’s The Tomb in Turkey), the reader learns that Carole is secretly addicted to a TV show featuring nuns and midwives, so she settles down “for an...
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Simon Brett, Author Scribner Book Company $17.95 (0p) ISBN 978-0-684-18851-5
British author Brett introduced Mrs. Melita Pargeter in A Nice Class of Corpse . With her ``armoury'' of mink coats, an oenophile's palate and her weakness for an occasional weekend at the Savoy, the widow Pargeter brings a distinct touch of class...
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Simon Brett, Author . Berkley Prime Crime $22.95 (340p) ISBN 978-0-425-18502-5
British veteran Brett demonstrates that his mordant wit has not lost its power to amuse in this third Fethering mystery (after 2001's Death on the Downs). Standoffish Carole Seddon is nursing her wounds over the failure of her love affair with...
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Simon Brett, Author . Berkley Prime Crime $22.95 (341p) ISBN 978-0-425-19043-2
In Brett's fourth chatty, genteel Fethering mystery (after 2002's The Torso in the Town), Carole Seddon finds herself a member of the Bracketts Trust, which is responsible for the upkeep of Bracketts, former home of West Sussex litterateur...
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Simon Brett, Author . Berkley Prime Crime $23.95 (352p) ISBN 978-0-425-19651-9
Prolific British author Brett's fifth Fethering mystery (after 2003's Murder in the Museum ) featuring Carole Seddon offers comfortable pacing and plenty of plot twists. Carole's pal Jude Nichols bails out an old friend by waiting tables
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Simon Brett, Author . Toby $14.95 (225p) ISBN 978-1-59264-162-8
In this comedy of sexual manners from prolific British author Brett (the Charles Paris mystery series, etc.), a man closing in on 60 experiences a "second adolescence" after he unwillingly agrees to divorce his wife of 40 years. Bill...
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Simon Brett, Author . Five Star $25.95 (309p) ISBN 978-1-59414-631-2
The popular and prolific Brett takes us into the world of cut, color and curl in his witty eighth Fethering cozy (after 2006's The Stabbing in the Stables ). Carole Seddon needs a haircut: exactly the same, just shorter. She risks going to a...
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Simon Brett, Author . Five Star $25.95 (295p) ISBN 978-1-59414-758-6
In Brett's charming ninth Fethering mystery (after 2007's Death Under the Dryer ), retiree Carole Seddon must solve a murder at the local betting shop. Jude, Carole's West Sussex neighbor and friend, discovers the body of recent...
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Simon Brett, Author . Five Star $25.95 (297p) ISBN 978-1-59414-890-3
Business at the venerable Crown and Anchor pub is flagging—and with good reason—in Brett's droll 10th mystery set in the West Sussex town of Fethering (after 2008's Blood at the Bookies ). An outbreak of food poisoning, with...
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Simon Brett, Five Star, $25.95 (302p) ISBN 978-1-59414-924-5
A murder provides series heroine Carole Seddon a welcome distraction from Christmas, a holiday she's tried to ignore for years, in Brett's delightful 11th cozy set in the English seaside village of Fethering (after 2009's The Poisoning in the Pub)....
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Simon Brett, Author . Berkley Prime Crime $21.95 (304p) ISBN 978-0-425-17953-6
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...
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Simon Brett, Author Warner Books $4.99 (0p) ISBN 978-0-446-36204-7
A Mystery Guild selection in cloth, this proves more substantial than the previous adventures of the eponymous Mrs. P. Here, the sleuth smuggles a mysterious package through customs for a bereaved widow. (May)
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Simon Brett, Author Scribner Book Company $20.5 (0p) ISBN 978-0-684-82459-8
For actor Charles Paris, life is wonderful for a change: Frances, his wife, has let him back into her apartment (and bed), and he has landed the splendid role of Sir Toby Belch in Twelfth Night. Of course, none of this can last. At a publicity party,
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Simon Brett, Author Scribner Book Company $22 (256p) ISBN 978-0-684-83714-7
Welcome to the zany world of Melita Pargeter, a slightly surreal orbit populated by Runyonesque characters like Concrete Jacket, Fossilface O'Donahue and Keyhole Crabbe--all mildly disreputable, all owing debts of gratitude to the late Mr. Pargeter.
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Simon Brett, Author Minotaur Books $20.95 (208p) ISBN 978-0-312-19251-8
Not On Your Wife! is a poor excuse for a stage comedy, all dropped trousers and double entendres. But then Charles Paris (Sicken and So Die, 1997) is a poor excuse for an actor--and husband, father and lover. Yet he's proved to be an enduring...
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Simon Brett, Author Berkley Prime Crime $21.95 (312p) ISBN 978-0-425-17500-2
Fans of Brett's witty Mrs. Pargeter and Charles Paris mysteries will cheer this buoyant launch of a series set in the English seaside town of Fethering (mischievously situated ""not far from Tarring""). It's here that Carole Seddon, a fiftyish...
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Simon Brett, Author Scribner Book Company $13.95 (176p) ISBN 978-0-684-18517-0
Charles Paris, Brett's endearing though none-too-successful actor and amateur sleuth, finds himself caught yet again in murder and mayhem, this time in the gaudy world of British TV quiz shows. Charles hasn't had an acting assignment in months, but...
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Simon Brett, Author Scribner Book Company $13.95 (192p) ISBN 978-0-684-18466-1
In a departure from the acclaimed stories about actor-sleuth Charles Paris, the British author presents a dazzlingly tricky mystery, sure to fool the sharpest clue trackers among his readers. Brett's chief characters in a titillating cast are...
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Simon Brett, Author Scribner Book Company $14.95 (221p) ISBN 978-0-684-18685-6
The British author's new mystery features Mrs. Pargeter, an amiable and rich widow who rivals Brett's Charles Paris as an appealing amateur sleuth. This continually surprising, witty story starts with Mrs. Pargeter moving into a ""nice'' hotel for ``
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Mark Billingham, Author, Carla Banks, Author, Simon Brett, Author . Crme de la Crime $14.95 (321p) ISBN 978-0-9557078-5-8
Divided equally between reprints and original entries, this fine anthology showcases many of today's top British crime writers, from seasoned veterans like Peter Lovesey and Reginald Hill to newer names like Zoë Sharp and Roz Southey. The creepy...
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Simon Brett. Crème de la Crime, $28.99 (176p) ISBN 978-1-78029-092-8
In Brett’s sprightly eighth outing for Mrs. Pargeter (after 2015’s Mrs. Pargeter’s Principle), the shrewd but always ladylike Melita Pargeter professes to know little of what the late Mr. Lionel Pargeter did to earn his money (“He was always a great
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Simon Brett. Crème de la Crime, $28.99 (192p) ISBN 978-1-78029-101-7
Brett’s entertaining 18th mystery set in the West Sussex seaside town of Fethering (after 2015’s Killer in the Cafe) opens at an author evening at the Fethering public library. The speaker is Burton St. Clair, who has finally achieved bestseller...
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Simon Brett. Crème de la Crime, $28.99 (192p) ISBN 978-1-78029-105-5
Things are looking up for Charles Paris in British author Brett’s clever, well-paced 20th outing for the alcoholic, middle-aged actor (after 2014’s The Cinderella Killer). Frances, his estranged wife, has hinted that she will take him back if he...
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Simon Brett. Crème de la Crime, $28.99 (192p) ISBN 978-1-78029-118-5
Brett’s pleasing 19th Fethering mystery (after 2018’s The Liar in the Library) finds the small West Sussex seaside town—the home of strident and upright Carole Seddon, a retired civil servant, and the more morally elastic Jude Nichols, who, after a...
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Simon Brett. Crème de la Crime, $28.99 (192p) ISBN 978-1-78029-124-6
Set in Chichester, England, this gentle series launch from Brett (the Fethering mysteries) introduces Ellen Curtis, a widow with two grown children who runs her own business called SpaceWoman, which offers decluttering and interior restyling. As...
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Simon Brett. Crème de la Crime, $28.99 (192p) ISBN 978-1-78029-132-1
Brett takes a shrewd look at the nasty side of village life in his slyly witty 20th Fethering mystery (after 2019’s The Killer in the Choir). When garage owner Bill Shefford, a longtime widower, returns home to Fethering, “a village of unimpeachable
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Simon Brett. Severn, $28.99 (192p) ISBN 978-1-78029-128-4
Edgar finalist Brett’s diverting sequel to 2020’s The Clutter Corpse opens with Alexandra Richards asking Ellen Curtis, the kind, empathetic owner of a decluttering company called SpaceWoman in Chichester, England, to visit her mother, Ingrid...
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Simon Brett. Severn, $28.99 (192p) ISBN 978-0-7278-5067-6
Early in Edgar finalist Brett’s lively 21st mystery set in the West Sussex town of Fethering (after 2021’s Guilt at the Garage), Jude Nichols, who works as a healer, drops by Footscrow House, a large Victorian mansion known locally as Fiasco House...
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Simon Brett. Severn, $29.99 (192p) ISBN 978-0-7278-5069-0
In Edgar finalist Brett’s gentle third Decluttering mystery (after 2021’s An Untidy Death), kind and empathetic Ellen Curtis, the owner and sole employee of SpaceWoman, a company in Chichester, England, offering decluttering assistance, is asked by...
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  • Master of Paris: PW Talks with Simon Brett
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