Product Description

"A pair of sleuths who are winning enough to make the reader invite them back for more....Holmes and Watson with a dash of Laurel and Hardy." (Toronto Star)

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

"The characters are wonderful, and their silliness quite engrossing." (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

Sensible Carole Seddon doesn't have the tolerance to deal with her new bohemian neighbor, Jude. But Jude doesn't seem so bad when Carole discovers another addition to the neighborhood-a dead body on the beach bearing two wounds on its neck.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #339259 in Books
• Published on: 2001-09-01
• Released on: 2001-09-05
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

From Publishers Weekly
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 divorcee late of the Home Office, has settled, content to live a sensible, orderly retirement. But two events conspire to disrupt Carole's rigid routine: the arrival of an alarmingly casual new neighbor who insists on being called, merely, "Jude"; and the discovery of a dead middle-aged male on the Fethering beach. When Carole informs the police about the body, they dismiss her as a menopausal hysteric; after all, their subsequent search of the area yielded no trace of evidence. But when a haggard, drug-deranged woman appears at Carole's door with a gun, demanding to know if Carole located a knife on the body, Carole realizes that the corpse had been moved just before the police search. When a local teenage boy is found washed up on the beach, it's Jude who convinces Carole that the two deaths are somehow connectedAand deserving of the two neighbors' full attention. Carole and Jude have surprising depth as characters, even though Brett overplays his hand in refusing to reveal any details of Jude's former life, including her surname. But the yin/yang relationship of the women is both mysterious and wholly believable, and the seacoast setting is so vivid you can taste the salty air. For late-summer beach reading, this is a cracking good choice. (Aug.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Brett, known for his Charles Paris and Mrs. Pargeter series, begins a new set featuring the recently retired Carole Seddon and new neighbor Jude. The two live in the beachside village of Fetherington, where Carole discovers a corpse. An impressive debut, marked by the usual attention to wit and detail.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Brett spikes the cozy British mystery with wry humor, as seen in his two previous series: the first starring Charles Paris, a mostly sauced actor who solves backstage murders; the second revolving around Mrs. Pargeter, a widow who inherits her husband's criminal empire. Here he launches a new series, The Fethering Mysteries, starring Carole Seddon, who wants nothing more to happen in her life and who lives in a town that seems perfectly suited to her needs. After taking early retirement, the divorced Carol moves to the seaside village of Fethering on England's southern coast, where the strict zoning laws prohibit all but the most constrained living arrangements. Even so, Carole's resolve "to exclude the unexpected" is soon washed up, along with the body of a middle-aged man she discovers on her daily constitutional. By the time Carole reports the body, it has disappeared, and police dismiss her as hysterical, forcing Carole into sleuthing to prove her sanity . Carole's life is further disrupted by a pesky new neighbor who insists on joining her in detective work and by two more suspicious deaths--all in the course of a single week in "safe" Fethering. Brett is a master at subtle characterization, superb setting, and plotting in which his characters solve themselves in the process of solving murders. Connie Fletcher
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Customer Reviews

A body on the beach you'll be glad you stumbled over.
Simon Brett is one of the most skilled and satisfying practitioners in the detective fiction field. All I ask of such writers he provides: interesting amateur sleuths, shrewd characterisation, fluent but stylish prose, some gentle thrills at the end, and an opportunity to "escape" to somewhere I am happy to be for six or seven hours.

In this novel, he introduces a pair of new sleuths: Carole and Jude. He also introduces a new locale: a coastal resort on the south coast of England, near Worthing. It is called Fethering, and it is fully described in the first chapter.

Simon Brett not only writes, but he also reads his works, using a narrator's voice that resembles that of the current British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, while also providing convincing and distinguishable portrayals for all his cast of characters.

A body on the beach you'll be glad you stumbled over.

A talented writer that has a universal appeal
Fethering is located on the South Coast near Tarring. Only the locales believe the posh place is large enough to be considered a village. Resident Carole Seddon feels Fethering is perfect for her personal values. The fifty-three year old divorcee recently retired form the Home Office. The prim woman's only companion is her Labrador Retriever Gulliver.

Carole's proper environs is shaken to its core when she finds a man's body on the nearby beach. She goes home, washes her dog and her kitchen floor before calling the police, who find nothing on the beach. The police believe Carole is a bit daffy with her loneliness leading to her imagination running wild. An outraged Carole reacts to their condescending nature by ignoring her inhibitions to go to a pub with her neighbor, Jude. Carole tells Jude about the events of the day. Jude not only believes Carole, but also insists they investigate THE BODY OF THE BEACH. Thus, a new fearless crime fighting team has formed.

The interaction between the two female protagonists turn THE BODY ON THE EBACH into a fascinating amateur sleuth tale. Jude's mellow attitude contrasts with Carole's up tight demeanor, but their interplay forces Jude to take a step back while loosening Carole a bit. The who-done-it is fun supplemented in part by the official position of the local police. Simon Brett provides his audience with an insightful look at small village life in an insular British hamlet. The opening gamut in the Carole-Jude mysteries seems to forecast a long running series to the delight of sub-genre fans.

Harriet KLausner

Another winner for Simon Brett
I was hoping for another Charles Paris story however I started reading and realized that Carol and Jude are as interesting as old Charles. I can't wait to find out more about this pair.

Mr. Brett's strength lies in his ability to make his characters human and interesting; his plots believable. You want them to be safe and happy.