Simon Brett’s Bloodshed In The Bookshop Returns Carole and Jude to Fethering

Simon Brett’s Bloodshed In The Bookshop builds its latest Fethering mystery around a crime-fiction section whose name and decor announce that subtlety isn’t the point. At Shelf Determination, owner Roly has turned part of the bookshop into The Blood Shed, replacing a section that held children’s books, poetry and other supposedly less essential titles. The result is a knowingly overdone setting for the arrival of a body and two familiar amateur investigators.

The trouble starts after a cosy crime writer gives a talk at the shop. Her mysteries feature a woman police officer and a cat that helps solve crimes; now she’s preparing to try her hand at “murdantasy” with a dragon in the investigative role. Carole and Jude, Fethering’s mismatched crime-solving neighbours, leave for the pub after the event. Jude later goes back to retrieve her scarf and finds Roly dead, stabbed with one of the display weapons.

A familiar pair, with plenty of teasing

For the reviewer, the pleasure of returning to the series lies partly in spending time with Carole and Jude again. They’re not drawn as interchangeable sleuths: their differences give their conversations much of their charm. The reviewer particularly enjoys Carole, whose straight-laced manner can be a source of humour while still making her conclusions easy to sympathise with. That preference stands in contrast to the reviewer’s response to Brett’s Charles Paris books, whose leading character has never held the same appeal.

The novel also turns a wry eye on the cosy crime conventions surrounding it. Its visiting author, with a crime-solving cat and plans for a dragon, supplies an easy target for jokes about increasingly fanciful sleuths. The reviewer sees the genre teasing as a risk: a writer making fun of cosy mysteries can come across as dismissive of the very form he writes. Brett’s approach, in their view, works because the book makes clear that this particular fictional author is meant to be a poor practitioner. The reviewer hopes the character wasn’t modelled on anyone in the real publishing world.

That joke gives Bloodshed In The Bookshop a self-aware edge, while keeping its attention on the people and habits that make a series enjoyable. The extravagant shop display and the genre-conscious talk provide colour, but the central attraction remains Carole and Jude: their exchanges, their visits to the pub, and the way their partnership makes room for both bickering and curiosity.

A gentle mystery with a seasoned hand

Readers coming to this instalment can expect a reassuringly familiar shape. Carole and Jude question people around them, return to the pub, and persist with suspects until someone gives away what they know. The reviewer describes the resolution as non-perilous and says the mystery isn’t especially clued. That’s a useful distinction for readers choosing between a puzzle built around intricate clues and a lighter story whose pleasures are character, humour and company.

The reviewer’s larger point is that Brett’s experience makes a difference. They’ve recently encountered a number of mediocre cosy mysteries, and found it refreshing to return to a writer who handles the form well. In their assessment, the book won’t remake the genre, but it doesn’t need to: the jokes land, the familiar pair remain enjoyable, and the story offers an easy few hours in their company. It’s praise for solid craft and good temper, rather than a claim that the book will surprise every reader.

There is one series detail the reviewer notices: Carole’s brief romance with the pub landlord finally goes unmentioned, after she has often appeared to embark on some new, mildly sociable activity near the end of earlier books. Those changes, the reviewer suggests with a joke, don’t seem to stay with her for long. The observation captures a pleasure particular to a long-running series: readers notice not only what changes, but what the characters quietly leave behind between one mystery and the next.

For someone looking for a pleasant, low-stakes mystery, the reviewer’s recommendation is clear. Bloodshed In The Bookshop offers Carole and Jude’s familiar company, some pointed jokes about cosy crime, and a murder in a bookshop with a deliberately theatrical name. It was priced at 99p for a limited period at the time of the review, which calls it good value for a light, diverting read.

The reviewer thanks Joffe Books for the review e-copy, supplied via NetGalley. For returning readers, Brett’s latest Fethering case looks like a welcome catch-up with Carole and Jude; for newcomers, it offers a gentle mystery whose chief appeal is its seasoned writing and conversational wit.