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Carole Seddon's friend and neighbor, Jude, is away. Carole's dog, Gulliver, has a sore foot so she decides to take her daily walk on the West Sussex Downs rather than the shore for a change. The weather turns nasty and she shelters in a disused barn near the village of Weldisham, where she finds two fertilizer sacks full of neatly stacked human bones. As soon as possible, Carole goes back to her car, finds a phone, and calls the police, one of whom, D. S. Bayliss, takes her into the local pub to warm up. Carole finally gets home to Fethering, but her find haunts her. She returns to Weldisham, a village where things are seldom what they seem. It seems an Agatha Christie perfect village, but many of the cottages are owned by rich Londoners who don't understand the traditions and odd rules and rituals of village life. The pub is a recreation of an old-looking one by a large brewery. In fact, the placid surface of the village is an imposture which the 50-something sleuths, Carole and Jude, find out. Simon Brett is a great favorite of mine. His Charles Paris series is full of one-liners and unforgettable characters (who can forget the constant stream of Swedish au-pairs who share his grotty Bayswater bed-sit) and his thoughtful asides on various pop culture trends. But Charles' Bayswater not longer exists. Brett's Mrs. Pargeter series also is full of wonderfully drawn droll characters. But this series, although well written, just misses the mark. From a lesser writer, it could be passed off as a modern village mystery with overtones of the golden age, but from this author, it is merely a disappointment.
Reviewed by Barbara and Rudy Franchi, May 2002
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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