The Liar in the Library by Simon Brett is again a series novel, the 18th
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 18th 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.
