| Simon Brett, a former radio producer who was instrumental in
discovering The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, is one of British
crime's most assured craftsmen, with idiosyncratic characters proving
winning creations. His latest series, a classic set of English murder
mysteries, is set in the small Sussex town of Fethering and features a
hardy couple of involuntary sleuths, Jude and Carole Sleddon. For their
fourth outing, this pleasing and persistent duo are confronted by town
politics, a skeleton in a kitchen garden and another, still warm, body,
when the home of celebrated first world war poet Esmund Chadleigh is
turned into a museum in his memory. A feast of red herrings, broadly
drawn characters and gentle thrills and spills litter the witty plot.
Crime writing just like in the good old days, and perfect entertainment.
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