Murder In The Museum

Rating:
Summary: Where's Charles?
Review: Boo! These Fethering mysteries are way below par. What makes Brett's other work so great is the wit and polish of writing and the great characterization. Neither quality is apparent in this series. The two main characters are shallow stereotypes of the middle-class civil servant and the free spirit who have somehow come together over an interminable glass of white wine. To compare these to a Miss Marple is ludicrous. This one is particularly inane...the deep, dark family secret, the weak nephew, the vicious do-gooder, the ambitious administrator, the self-important bureaucrat, the unprincipled American academic (by the way, Americans do not pronounce "God" as "Gard"), the escaped convict and even the handicapped child! Please. Can we have more Charles Paris? Less white wine and more Bell's??

Rating:
Summary: traditional whodunit
Review: Simon Brett is the author of the Charles Paris series, the Mrs. Pargeter series and the Fethering mysteries. This is the fourth Fethering mystery that features Home Office retiree Carole Seddon. Fethering is a West Sussex seaside village. Most villages are quaint and quiet without much going on there. Fethering seems to get more than its share of murder. This time the action revolves around Brackett House which is the historical home of writer and poet Edmond Chadleigh. Carole has taken on the role of a trustee for Brackett House (the museum in the title). Tensions are high while trustees decide how to bring in some money to keep the museum afloat and also what to do about a proposed biography of Edmond Chadleigh. Before long a 90 year old skeleton is found in the garden, and shortly thereafter a murder takes place.

The Fethering series are very traditional cozy mysteries. Simon Brett has written a conventional, but entertaining whodunit. Broadly drawn quirky characters abound. It reminded me very much of the Agatha Christie Miss Marple books. Readers who want a light, witty, traditional mystery won?t go wrong with this one.

Rating:
Summary: A skillful blend of the historic and the contemporary
Review: This is a classic English country house whodunnit. In this case it's a country house owned by the family of an English poet and a house that will soon be expanded into a museum. Except that a body is unearthed on the potential site of the new building. Not to worry - the body's been there almost a century, but of course its discovery is followed by other, highly contemporary murders.

Into this blend of family secrets, academic jealousies and the out-and-out bitchiness of the board of trustees there is woven a central plot that reflects the history of the house and a number of sub-plots that are purely contemporary and carry the story forward at a cracking pace.

But it is the strongly drawn characters that make this mystery a winner. All the characters are three dimensional and true to life, especially the women who are prominent in the story. (I couldn't believe the writer was male until I saw his photo on the back jacket.) The female characters, especially Carole the sleuth-in-chief, appear real right down to the working of their minds and the emotional spin they give to seemingly unimportant events. Linked to that the dialogue is sharp and edgy and the personal interactions are articulate and witty.

From the first dreadful meeting of the museum trustees to the climax where the final victim has a crumb of ginger cake at the corner of his mouth the characters in this story will carry you delightfully along.