Monday, 19 August 2019

Simon Brett - The Killer In The Choir


Rating: 3/5

Review:
Not one of Brett's best

Simon Brett is always reliable and you know pretty much what you’re going to get in the Fethering series; a well written, fairly light-hearted mystery with some rather shrewd characterisation and comments on village life. The Killer In The Choir is firmly in this mould, although I didn’t think it was one of his best.

This time, Carole and Jude look into the death of a local businessman, whose wife is a stalwart of the church choir. There is the usual nice contrast between Carole’s prim, direct manner and Jude’s more easygoing understanding of people and the enjoyable characters of Fethering. I did have some reservations, though. The story touches on some quite dark themes of sexual abuse and PTSD, which didn’t sit quite comfortably with the generally light tone of the book. I also thought the red herrings were a little overdone and the denouement a bit silly, to say the least.

This is a light, easy read and fine for a couple of hours distraction, but perhaps not quite as enjoyable as some of Simon Brett’s work.

(My thanks to Severn House for an ARC via NetGalley.)

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