2006 mystery; seventh in Brett's Fethering Mysteries series (amateur
sleuthing). Jude's been asked to extend her healing practice to a
horse; but she doesn't expect to find the co-owner of the stables
stabbed to death. Obviously it was the local "Horse Ripper", caught in
the act. Or was it a jealous husband?
In this series, this is the Book of Dysfunctional Marriages. The
victim has been sleeping with any woman who'll have him, Jude's client
is unhappy with her rich but domineering husband, there's a local
property developer and his trophy wife, and even the marriage of
Carole's son starts to look a bit rocky. (No, Brett was apparently not
going through a divorce while writing this.)
There's a fair bit of technical detail about horses, the accuracy of
which I'm unqualified to judge, but otherwise this is very much a
series entry: Jude and Carole go and talk to people, those people
spill all their secrets, and eventually they work out whodunnit. (And
who the Horse Ripper is, too.) This isn't entirely obvious, but the
alert reader will certainly solve the mysteries before the answers are
revealed.
This story doesn't try to go much outside the lines the previous books
have laid down. Carole continues to be conventional and spiky, though
she does take a more active role than usual; Jude continues to be
friendly to the downtrodden. What's new, as in each book, is the
supporting cast, mostly horrible, but in some cases sympathetic at the
same time, which is a tricky thing to pull off and I applaud Brett for
managing it. This is a decent continuation of the series but certainly
not worth seeking out on its own.
Followed by Death Under the Dryer.
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