Always a joy and a pleasure to spend some time in the imagined world of Carole and Jude as depicted in the Fethering Mysteries.

Guilt at the Garage is the twentieth book Simon Brett has released in this series of cosy crime stories. What draws me to them is the contrast between the two protagonists who in each instalment begin to investigate a suspicious death in or around their small seaside community. They are cleverly drawn characters and the author overlays their fictional setting with an element of danger, slick plotting and a colourful but routine life.

Crime is at the heart of each episode but the background set of characters are restricted to the victim’s occupation, place of death, hobby or club affiliation. So as readers we have over time built up quite an understanding of Fethering and it’s neighbouring towns and villages. From the titles you will quickly get the idea and why each new novel is similar but a fresh and engaging puzzle.

Carole was actually at the old fashioned family run business having her car fixed, when tragedy overtook the proprietor. So she is almost obliged to start asking questions.

Character driven, clever dialogue and the interweaving of everything that makes Carole and Jude so familiar but unique as ‘detectives’ the pages quickly pass with a sense of comfort and a smile on your face.

There is a sense of pause at the end of the book; I am amazed the series has lasted so many variations of this simple premise. I would hate to think there is a change of direction for these two colourful well-meaning, inquisitive neighbours. However, Brett is a prolific writer and an accomplished story teller. I note his latest book is a “Decluttering” mystery. I shall read it with interest but I doubt it will fill the void left, if he has called time on Carole and Jude.

Another delightful adventure with Carole and Jude on the West Sussex coast. I look forward to these every year (although the wait is usually longer) and they never disappoint. In this instalment, Carole takes more of a lead role in the mystery and I'm happy to note that her character has really grown in confidence in the past few books. Please don't stop writing them... I love reading about that part of the UK and two strong, independent women and their sleuthing ways.

As always a great read from Simon Brett in the Fethering series. In this book one of our investigators finds herself the victim of a crime, there is also the death of the garage owner Bill Shefford. This book promulgates the Middle Englander views of Carole and the more liberal leanings of Jude as they continue their unlikely partnership and crime fighting escapades. We look at the English treatment of outsiders, the prejudices of people and the caring nature of others.

Believable characters and a good story. I managed this book in two sittings, which had I not had other things to do been a sole sitting as the writing is easy to read and enjoyable.

The latest in the Fethering mysteries is a real treat and perfect escapism for the current times.
The two main characters Jude and Carole are like an unholy mix of Hyacinth Bouquet and Miss Marple. Great fun to be had as the author outlines some more of Fethering's residents plus a few familiar faces return.
If you've not read any of these give them a try, cosy crime done well.

These books come under the heading of ‘cosy mysteries’ but I’m not convinced that ‘cosy’ is a suitable adjective for the dynamic that Brett has set up here. Carole Sedden has to be one of the most prickly protagonists I’ve encountered. Unsociable, snobbish, judgemental and narrow-minded, I find her difficult to like. But she is also desperately insecure, horribly lonely and rather vulnerable. I also find it appealing that when her car is vandalised, she doesn’t immediately set to and try to discover the perpetrator – but rushes to get it repaired and cover up the event, because she is obscurely ashamed that such a thing has happened to her…

As ever, I was glad when Jude made an appearance. She is the opposite of Carole in so many ways and far more agreeable – they make an ideal Holmes and Watson pairing. Jude needs Carole’s obsessive tenaciousness and Carole needs Jude’s people skills. The garage murder worked well. I enjoyed the dynamic and learning more about a kindly man who took pride in his work. Brett’s take on the way the social fabric of this country is being strained, with everyone decamping to their own political and class echo chamber, is well depicted without becoming a rant.

Any niggles? Well, the trouble with setting up a hook, like the attack of a protagonist’s car, for instance – is that the denouement has to pay off. And in this case, I felt it was rather contrived and didn’t really satisfy. But because the main action was so well handled and crafted, this didn’t turn out to be a dealbreaker – more of a minor disappointment. I’ll certainly be getting hold of the next book, given there seems to be a major change in the air… Recommended for fans who like their murder mysteries with intelligent and sharp-edged observations on modern society, along with the dead bodies. While I obtained an arc of Guilt at the Garage from the publishers via Netgalley, the opinions I have expressed are unbiased and my own.
8/10

Guilt at the Garage is not going to win an Edgar but it is an enjoyable book to read on a cold Winter afternoon.

Old friends Carole and Jude decide to walk home from their favorite pub leaving Carole’s car parked in town. When Carole returns the next morning, she finds her car vandalized with a broken rear windshield. She drops the car off at Bill’s garage. She then finds a note warning her that the shattered window won’t be the last of it. A few days later, Bill is killed suspiciously while fixing another car. Carole and Jude decide to investigate!

Once again, Guilt at the Garage is a pleasant enough mystery. However, I miss the challenge of the author’s Charlie Paris series. 3 stars.

Thanks to Severn House and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

My thanks to Severn House for a digital edition via NetGalley of Simon Brett’s ‘Guilt at the Garage’ in exchange for an honest review.

This is the twentieth in Brett’s popular Fethering series of cosy mysteries, featuring friends Carole and Jude, who are also amateur sleuths. I have read the previous two books in the series, though background on the main characters is provided for readers new to the series.

When Carole Seddon leaves her beloved Renault overnight in the pub car park, she is upset next morning to find that it has been vandalised. There’s only one person that she trusts to repair it. She takes it to Bill Shefford’s Garage. Bill has been servicing the vehicles of the citizens of Fethering for many years. Yet Carole wonders how something like this could happen in Fethering?

Then a note is shoved under Carole's kitchen door: ‘Watch out. The car window was just the start.’ So, it appears she has been deliberately targeted. Yet by who? And why?

Then matters take a more disturbing turn when there is a death at Shefford's Garage. A tragic accident or something more sinister? The gossip mill of Fethering is running at full tilt. Time for Carole and Jude to dust off their deerstalkers and do some sleuthing.

As always with Brett this was a clever mystery brimming with wit and quirky characters, including its two leads. It proved a quick, fun read though certain attitudes held by a few villagers did strike a darker note.

It’s a series that I wholeheartedly recommend and hope to read the earlier titles in the series.

Twenty years on from the first novel in the series Simon Brett's two Fethering lady sleuths - Carole and Jude - are as endearing as ever. And miraculously they don't seem to have aged at all. Perhaps there's even been a bit of a Benjamin Button effect going on?
This may be a whodunit but it's the rapport between the characters that makes it such a delight to read. This is the perfect book to take one's mind off all the worries of the real world. Fethering is a very special place.

3.75 stars

The latest Fethering mystery, featuring two female friends in a small British town who team up to solve murders, even though they are polar opposites. Jude is a healer, open, warm, non-judgmental and free-spirited. Carole is retired Home Office, uptight, sarcastic and snobbish.

The mysterious death occurs in an auto repair shop while Carole is waiting to get her vandalized car fixed. The owner of the shop is crushed under the gearbox of a car he was working on. Was it murder? an accident? His recent remarriage had estranged him from his family and friends so there are lots of suspects.

The small village of Fethering is honestly presented here, with provincial prejudices, gossip, judgments and nosiness. Brett, the author of several mystery series, is terrific at snide side commentary and at times the plot is almost a satire. Thanks to the publisher and to Net Galley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This is such an easy, cosy, murder mystery. It's the twentieth instalment of a series involving 2 amateur sleuths; Carole and Jude, both of whom live in a sleepy English village and it's got great characters and a solid murder mystery story.

Carole's car is vandalised and she then starts to receive threatening notes. Who would do such and thing in this idyllic setting? Then there's a death.
What follows is a decent read that I thoroughly enjoyed and I'd particularly recommend as an escape from the current climate.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers, Severn House, for the opportunity to preview in exchange for this honest review.

This was a comfortable read, which may be what some of us need these days. Familiar characters, acting as they usually do, a mystery that plays out as expected. So, it was a fine read, kept me occupied, wasn't challenging in any way.

Unfortunately, though, I wonder if this series isn't getting a bit old and tired, even for the author. The relationship between the two main characters, which used to be one of the most interesting parts of this series, seems to be deteriorating, and I wonder if that isn't an indication that maybe this series has run its course.

Simon Brett never disappoing and this excellent cozy mystery confirm my opinion.
It's a great mix of mystery, social satire and I loved how he described the dark side of Feathering and of the quirky characters.
Carol and Jude are at their best, each one with their different approach to life and people.
The mystery is solid, full of twists and turns, and the solution came as a surprise.
I loved how the author deals with the racial questions and the bias towards people from other country. The approach to racial differences is realist and it makes the difference featuring how bigot people can be.
It was a highly entertaining and gripping read, strongly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Guilt at the Garage is the twentieth instalment in the Fethering Village Mysteries series, featuring amateur sleuthing duo Carol Seddon and her next door neighbour Jude, set in Fethering, West Sussex. After a night drinking her usual dinner accompaniment, New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, at Fethering's only pub, The Crown and Anchor, with Jude, Carol decides to err on the side of caution and leave her beloved white Renault parked near the shops and walk the short distance back home to High Tor believing it'll be safe overnight. However, when she takes pooch Gulliver for a walk the following day she finds it has been vandalised and the back windscreen has been smashed in leaving granulated glass scattered over both the boot and the upholstery. This warrants a trip to Bill Shefford's garage, on the edge of the Downside Estate, as she knows he is the only one she trusts to fix it up and treat it with care as well as providing good old fashioned customer service. When she returns home she discovers a frightening message on a piece of paper on the kitchen floor stating "Watch out. The car window was just the start."

A couple of days later, she is once again back at Shefford's, this time for regular repairs, when inexplicably the gearbox of a Triumph TR6 falls on Bill killing him instantaneously. Carole and Jude are shocked by both the death and the vandalism and not forgetting the poisoned pen letters and decide to investigate. This is a richly detailed and atmospheric cosy that had me riveted from the outset. I love the descriptions of the village as it resembles the chocolate-box countryside location found in Midsomer Murders, complete with the same gossiping busybodies. It's compulsive and the mystery had me eating through the pages in record time. Told from the perspectives of both Carole and Jude, it works incredibly well as they each have totally different outlooks on life. There are plenty of twists and turns and a liberal use of misdirection, which successfully threw me off the scent, and I must admit that I love Carole who is a stickler for the rules and represents middle England rather well. An entertaining, enthralling piece of page-turning escapism, and a cosy I highly recommend.

Watch Out. The Car Window Was Just The Start.
When Carole Seddon’s car window is broken, it first seemed to be random vandalism, so a quick trip to the local garage, and Bill Shefford would sort it out. The idea of vandalism in Fethering would seem unlikely, but when it is clear that this was a targeted attack on Carole, things seem to be taking a sinister turn.
Of course, things get worse when Bill is found dead in the garage, crushed apparently by a falling gearbox. It could be an accident, but when Carole and her neighbour Jude begin to question a few things, it begins to look a lot like murder…
The twentieth Fethering Mystery, a regular stop in cosy-crime territory for me. Well, it’s not that cosy, as there are some distinctly nasty under-currents in this story, not least in what the villain of the piece is up to and in something else that would be a spoiler to mention. Oh, and a nasty over-current, if one can use that word, in a racist old woman. But we’ll come to her in a moment.
As a murder mystery, there’s an interesting plot idea here that isn’t that common in the genre. Obviously I can’t talk about it, but it did subvert my expectations of what was going on. I think the finale, once we realise the truth, is perhaps a little long without a final surprise – I’ve got a hunch there was something that Simon Brett was toying with that he decided not to do, as I was expecting a certain reveal in the final confrontation that never came. Admittedly, it would have been quite a silly reveal, but it never stopped Brian Flynn.
The primary subplot, concerning the campaign against Carole, did seem to be heading in an obvious direction. I think it still does, despite a sharp left-turn at the end, because I didn’t really buy the twist. I’m convinced it does happen – Simon wouldn’t have included it if it didn’t – but it still felt rather unreal.
And the racist character. Hmm – maybe it’s me being sensitive, and I have been accused of that before – but I wouldn’t expect to see the racial epithet for a person of Chinese descent being used in a cosy mystery, even to emphasise the unpleasantness of the character, especially when the person the word is directed to is from Thailand. I’m sure it’s a reflection of many people in our green and pleasant land, but seeing it in print is… well, there could have been other ways to express a character’s dislike for another character.
Overall, this is a clever mystery – not unguessable by any means, as a certain character’s importance to the plot seemed stand out to me, but again, I have read a lot of mystery novels. Fans of the series will enjoy this one – twenty books in and still going strong.
Guilt At The Garage is published by Severn House and will be released in hardback and ebook on the 30th November 2020. Many thanks to Severn House and NetGalley for the review copy.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Severn House Publishers for an advance copy of Guilt at the Garage, the twentieth novel in the Fethering series featuring Carole Seddon and her neighbour Jude.

A broken rear windscreen takes Carole to the local garage where Bill Shefford offers his customers old fashioned service. On her return Carole finds an anonymous letter implying that there was more to the damage to her car than simple vandalism. A few days later she is back at Shefford’s for regular repairs when a gearbox falls on Bill Shefford, killing him instantly. Rumours swirl in Fethering so Carole and Jude start investigating.

I enjoyed Guilt at the Garage which is a fun read with a good mystery attached. It is narrated from Carole and Jude’s points of view so the reader knows what they know and can try to guess along with them. In this case it is hard to get ahead of them as much of relevant information is withheld until close to the reveal, and even then it’s not so clear cut, being a case of morality and ethics versus legality. The novel offers a real conundrum in this. Otherwise the novel offers the standard procedure for the series, ask a lot of questions and stumble on the truth, to the background of fairly preposterous death scenes, as in this case, death by gearbox. It made me laugh.

The joy from this novel lies in its rather sharp barbs at middle England. I had forgotten what a pain the straight laced, uptight Carole Seddon is and how judgemental. In sharp contrast the freewheeling, laidback Jude offers support, not censure with her anything goes attitude. Guess who has the more satisfying life and cops less criticism from the author?

Guilt at the Garage is a good read that I have no hesitation in recommending.

Having listening to a number of his books on Audible, this is the first one in the Fethering series I’ve actually read. Carole Seddon’s car is vandalised and Bill Shefford is the only one she would trust with her repairs (if you knew Carole, you’d understand why). When she’s almost gotten over the incident, the likes of which rarely happen in Fethering, she receives a threatening note that implies she was deliberately targeted. When a body is discovered in the garage, Carole and friend/neighbour Jude must use every means possible to figure out what’s happening and who is responsible. These characters are so endearing; it’s such a pleasure to read this book and I’d thoroughly recommend.

Thanks Netgalley and the Publisher. I really enjoyed this sort of cosy mystery book. Great characters and a really good storyline. Would recommend.

I always look forward to a new sleuthing adventure with neighbours Jude and Carole, this one was as enjoyable as others in the series. Very entertaining and light hearted as always but having been a fan of the Fethering Mysteries since the beginning, Carole is starting to bore me a little with her reaction and attitude to certain things/situations. She needs to start learning to accept things for what they are even though she disapproves.

Carol's beloved Renault gets vandalised when she leaves it at a garage. She takes it to the local mechanic, who is subsequently killed by a falling gearbox. Jude, her neighbor, is still working as a healer and the both of them, of course, start their usual sleuthing trying to find out who or what caused this death.
This is the 20th in the series and even though I found it a pleasant read, I was getting irritated with Carole and her constant negativity. I guess I wanted her to change for the better as the series continued. Even though she should be pitied for her rigidity and lack of ease in company, she comes across as downright rude at times.
However, the ending hints at changes to come, which makes me eager for the next in the series!
Thank you NetGalley and Severn House for the eARC.

Having read all the previous books in this series I was looking forward to the latest installment. I do sometimes wonder in a series such as this, how much involvement the author has, and whether a ghost writer takes over, as sometimes you just get a different feel as to the style of the book. Having said that Carol and Jude are back to once again solve a mystery with a whole motley crew of suspects as well as the usual mix of locals. A good easy read, as part of the series, but perhaps not a great standalone read.