2011; thirteenth in Brett's Fethering Mysteries series (amateur
sleuthing). Jude and Carole go to a private viewing by a consciously
controversial artist at a local gallery, but the evening ends in
violent death. The police reckon it's suicide, but…
Something of a return to form after the disappointment of Bones
under the Beach Hut, though not quite as good as the early entries in
the series. There are some changes from the standard pattern: in
particular, the head of the police investigation shows some sign of
taking Jude seriously when she reckons the death might be murder (at
least until Jude has to admit to her lack of solid evidence). Not
seriously enough to have found out how many murders these two have
been involved in before, mind you. There's a significant inconsistency
with the previous book: not plot-breaking, but it seems odd to bring
it up when it was brought up in the opposite direction last time.
As an exercise in deduction it suffers rather from the need to stuff
everything with false leads: there's very little pointing to the
actual guilty party (or parties), to the extent that the clues become
obvious by their absence, and it's a pity to solve the mystery at a
plot-analytical rather than a diegetic level. The diegetic solution is
rather too full of coincidence for my taste too; it's as though Brett
is admitting that, while he's had fun pointing accusations at all the
horrible people most of whom aren't guilty, he's got to finish the
book now so n ahggre qvq vg.
But at least there are plenty of horrible people to have accusations
pointed at them, most particularly said controversial artist, his old
school friend the son of the gallery owner, and their respective
girlfriends. There are diversions into the philosophy of art, and less
welcome excursions along what turn out to be entirely irrelevant
trails. I do slightly wonder at how much people are prepared to talk
to these two middle-aged ladies: sometimes it seems plausible, but
here the suspects have mostly been keeping secrets for a while and
have no obvious reason to break down now.
Not the best in the series or a tempting starting point, but a step up
from some of the recent entries. Followed by Corpse on the Court.
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