Product Description

From Simon Brett, "one of today's most literate and witty mystery writers," (Booklist) comes this second mystery featuring the practical Carole Seddon and her bohemian neighbor Jude.

While out exploring the South Downs of a wealthy town, Carole discovers the bones of a human skeleton. Jude fears it may be the remains of a young woman who once practiced her alternative therapy. It turns out the woman is alive-and living with a charismatic New Age healer. Now Jude and Carole have two mysteries to solve. Why is the woman hiding out? And if the skeleton wasn't hers...whose was it?

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #280478 in Books
• Published on: 2001-08-01
• Released on: 2001-08-07
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 304 pages

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.

From Booklist
*Starred Review* The second installment of Brett's new Fethering series returns to the village of Fethering on the South Downs of West Sussex and the semirepressed, resolutely independent Carole Seddon, a woman forced into a life alone by divorce and an involuntary early retirement from the Home Office at age 50. In the first Fethering mystery, The Body on the Beach [BKL Jl 00], a horrific discovery while out for a walk catapulted Seddon into sleuthing. This time another walk has Seddon seeking shelter in a derelict barn during a downpour; she stumbles over a fertilizer bag from which protrudes the ball-joint of a human femur. Body in place, sleuth with time to detect, and Brett is off again on a marvelous send-up of contemporary British society (pub decor, town planning based on greed, and class pretensions are some of his targets), mixed with the kind of writing that makes you want both to savor the prose slowly and to turn the page quickly to find out what twist lies ahead. In addition, Seddon is a fascinating psychological study who gains confidence from one novel to the next; the back-up characters are sometimes uproarious; and the portrayal of evil in an idyllic English village is thoroughbred British cozy. Connie Fletcher
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review
An impressive debut, marked by the usual attention to wit and detail." -- Library Journal

Customer Reviews

I miss Brett's usual wit
I'm a huge fan of Simon Brett's "Charles Paris" series, a moderate fan of his "Mrs.Pargeter" series. In his mysteries I always enjoy his wit and sense of irony particularly as regards his characters' (both principal and minor) lack of self-knowledge. In "Death on the Downs" Carol Seddons inadvertantly discovers a dismembered skeleton in a village near her town. Carol, a button-down (or at least a Burberry raincoat) type teams up with her free-spirited neighbor Jude to solve the case. What ensues is an exploration of the village's history and the interdynamics of its residents. Brett describes the gentrifying of the village, including the takeover of the local pub by a countrywide hospitality chain. Humble cottages become yuppie showplaces and skyrocketing property values make living in the village out of reach for working class people who were born and raised there. This class distinction is one of the causes of the action that follows and makes for amusing moments. Of one of the new homes Brett wonders whether it really needed both a turret and a belltower.

The situation is ripe for satire and yet Brett's storyline is grim, quite possibly due to the focus on Carol who really is quite dour. My sense is that Brett relishes characters with quirks and neither Jude nor Carol have many. I found the mystery itself dissatisfying and can only recommend it for Brett's talent for description of the village and some of the peripheral characters.

As always, a "good read"
I have read 26 of Mr. Brett's books. This book, the second in his new series, is not up to his usual standards. Previousely his lead characters were well presented, warts and all. Carole is not as colorful a character as Charles Paris or Mrs. Pargeter although she is improving. I could do without Jude, she's rather boring, in fact the dog is more engaging. Ted has real possibilities and the addition of other villagers would help. With this said, I did enjoy the book although I'll probably wait for the paperback next time.

A good mystery
With her friend Jude away for an indefinite time and her dog with an injured foot, divorcee Carole Seddon forgoes her usual walk on the Feathering beach. Instead, she drives to the West Sussex town of Weldisham to walk on the Downs for her morning constitution. Just as she's about to head back to the car, it starts pouring and she takes refuge in an abandoned barn.

While waiting for the rain to abate, Carole, sitting on some wooden planks, slips, jarring her seat into revealing fertilizer bags filled with human bones. She calls the police who realize they have a criminal case on their hands. Much to Carole's surprise she wants to find the identity of the remains and how they got in the barn. When Jude returns, she's as eager as Carole is to solve the case. The two friends, in their own way, begin to investigate.

Carole and Jude are as different as two people can be yet their friendship is so real and dynamic it is electrifying. Their thought processes are very different yet they always end up agreeing with one another on a point of contention. The atmosphere of an English village gives DEATH ON THE DOWNS a delightful ambiance that the armchair traveler will enjoy.

Harriet Klausner