What have you been reading these days? The Liar in the Library

The Liar in the Library by Simon Brett is again a series novel, the 18^th in the Fethering Mysteries series.  This book too was released in 2017.  Simon Brett is one of the writers I discovered for myself while looking around for more crime fiction.  He has four series’ of detective novels going on currently, among other standalone novels and plays.  His Charles Paris series is the oldest, the first in the series apeparing in 1975.  The Fethering Series was born in 2000, but I stumbled upon them around five years ago, and as usual had a lot of catching up to do.  From 2012 onwards, I have been on the ball, waiting for the next novel in the series.  The Fethering Novels feature Carole Seddon and Jude, two elderly ladies playing amateur sleuths in Fethering, ‘a town of ordered calm’ and “a pleasingly self-contained retirement town on England's southern coast.”  Carole Seddon took (was forced to take, sort of) early retirement from the civil service and bought a house and settled down with her dog, in Fethering; divorced, stiff upper lip, reticent, fixed ideas and all that.  Jude has been many things earlier and is currently a healer; no last name, just Jude, which disturbs Carole, who also suspects that Jude has had a colourful past, Jude is vivacious, humourous, lots of friends.  They are polar opposites in terms of personalities, yeah, like chalk and cheese, you might say.  And they happen to find themselves as neighbours.  What brings them together is crime and solving of crime in Fethering.  

The Liar in the Library is the 18^th in the series, and Jude and Carole have come a long way together, and are tolerant of each other’s quirks and habits and temperaments, but care for each other deeply.  They also have solved a number of crimes and have helped each other come out of numerous tricky situations.  Here, it is Jude who is accused of murdering a famous author who had come to Fethering for a book promotion talk.  They had known each other earlier, but had lost touch over the years.  There are lots of other things too.  The interactions between Jude and Carole, which is the actual highlight of these novels, are as fascinating as in the earlier novels.  Anyway, Jude is initially angry at being accused of murder and as the questioning sessions by the police never seem to end she starts to panic.  Evidence is building up against her.  Jude confides to Carole, who has her own suspicions about Jude and the writer.  Carole then takes over the investigation as Jude is warned by the police against interfering in the case.  The police is unwilling to look beyond Jude as all evidence and information is clearly pointing towards her.  Jude has to find the murderer not only to solve the crime, but also to clear her name.  This is a different battle for Jude and Carole, and of course, they do find the murderer, and Jude heaves a sigh of relief, still very shaken.