Tag: Simon Brett

bingeable series

Binge-able series: Fetherings

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We’re in binge reading territory this Friday, because it’s that time of year where people are starting to think about what to read on the sunlounger – and what is better than a series to binge read. And to be fair, basically anything Simon Brett writes is totally bingeable. They’re fun and moreish and won’t make your head explode.

This is a cozy crime series with a sense of humour and at its centre are Jude and Carole, next door neighbours in the seaside town of Fetherings who just keep stumbling across bodies. The two women are unlikely friends – Jude is bohemian and free spirited. Carole is not and more to the fact, Carole doesn’t really know how to be friends with anyone, so as well as trying to solve the mystery the reader has the fun of watching the two of them – Carole desperate to ask questions about her new friend but never quite managing it and Jude, who knows Carole is desperate to know more about her but not volunteering anything unless asked. It’s a hoot.

I’ve written about another Simon Brett series here before, the Charles Paris books, which are great – but written across a large span of time and so if you do binge them then you’ll notice that we’ve gone from the 70s to the now and Charles has not really aged! Fetherings doesn’t have that problem!

There are 20 books in the series – with a 21st due out in the summer. I’ve only read 9 so far, but I have a few more ready to read when I’ve got the NetGalley pile a bit more under control and finished rereading Sookie Stackhouse. Yes I know, I’m easily distracted. Too many books, not enough time – my perennial problem. Still it’s nearly hammock season – so that will help won’t it! Anyway the first one – so probably the best place to start – is The Body on the Beach. In fact the first two are in Kindle Unlimited at time of writing, so if you’re a subscriber to that you can have a read for free.

Book of the Week, cozy crime, detective

Book of the Week: The Body on the Beach

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Despite all the books I really ought to be finishing, I started a new series last week and it was fun so that made my choice today easier – because the other option was V for Vengeance and not only have I written about Kinsey Milhone before, I’m nearing the end of the series and I feel a series I love post on that in my future!

Carole Sedden is sensible. She makes sensible decisions about what to do with her sensible retirement from her sensible house in the desirable but slightly insular village of Fethering on the south coast. She doesn’t want to get drawn into the petty rivalries of her neighbours or draw too much attention to herself. Her new neighbour Jude is clearly not a sensible person. She wears clothes that waft and encourages visits to the pub and day drinking. Carole isn’t going to encourage her. Except that Carole found a body on the beach while she took her dog on it’s morning walk, the police can’t find the body and don’t believe her and a woman has turned up at her house and waved a gun at her. She’s not quite sure why she told Jude about it, but soon the two of them are investigating the (potential) murder and Carole is doing some very un-sensible things indeed!

So I was recommended this as a “if you like Richard Osman try this” series* and I would say that that’s not a bad call. They predate the Thursday Murder Club series by about twenty years and the protagonists are not quite as old, but this is a fun and clever mystery with two interesting central characters and a cast of eccentric secondary characters. I love Simon Brett’s Charles Paris series, and they have a similar sense of humour in the writing style, although Carole is nothing like the probably alcoholic, grass is always greener, not as successful as he would like Charles. But if you like Charles, definitely try these.

The Body on the Beach is in Kindle Unlimited at the moment and also available on Kobo. If you want a paperback, you’ll probably have to dig around a bit or go second hand (or both!

Happy Reading!

*yes I am aware of the irony of reading this start to finish whilst not having finished the new Richard Osman, but there are a lot of these in the series and I’ll have to wait another year for the next Osman.