*NEW RELEASE SPECIAL* Review of NETGALLEY arc Mrs Pargeter’s Patio – Book 9 of the Mrs Pargeter Mystery series by Simon Brett #BrainfluffNETGALLEYbookreview #MrsPargetersPatiobookreview

I’m a fan of Brett’s twisty murder mysteries with a splash of humour and a sardonic commentary on modern British society. I’ve enjoyed reading Death on the Downs, The Liar in the Library, The Killer in the Choir and Guilt at the Garage in the Fethering Mysteries and my particular favourite is his more recent Decluttering Mysteries featuring Ellen in The Clutter Corpse and An Untidy Death and Waste of a Life. But I’ve also read a previous Mrs Pargeter story – Mrs Pargeter’s Public Relations, which encouraged me to get hold of this offering.

BLURB: When widow Mrs Pargeter decides to have her morning coffee on the patio of her mansion in Chigwell, her intention is to admire her beautiful garden in peace and quiet. Little does she expect one of the patio’s paving slabs to crack in two, depositing her on the ground – and revealing a human skull with a neat hole in the middle of its forehead!

Not wanting to bother the police just yet, Mrs Pargeter decides to save them some trouble and starts investigating the curious find herself. And who better to assist than her late husband’s ‘business associates’, private investigator Truffler Mason and chauffeur Gary?

The trio are soon certain that a murder has been committed and the body disposed of under some convenient building works. But who is the mysterious victim? And more importantly, who put the body under Mrs Pargeter’s patio?

Mrs Pargeter and her friends must find out the truth and soon, before the finger of suspicion points in an unthinkable towards the late, great Mr Pargeter, whose business dealings Mrs P remains – naturally! – in blissful ignorance of . . .

REVIEW: Having crashed midway into this series and only read the two – I don’t think it’s a dealbreaker if you haven’t read the previous instalments. Like many murder mysteries, each whodunit is wrapped up within the story and while I’m sure you’d gain further enjoyment and learn more about the characters if you’d read the previous eight books – you won’t flounder unduly if you don’t.

This series, compared to Brett’s Fethering and Decluttering Mysteries, is gentler and more escapist. Mrs Pargeter might be a widow, who adored her husband and has no intention of marrying anyone else – but there isn’t a sense that she’s burdened with unbearable bereavement. Neither is she afflicted with money worries, or real knowledge of her dead spouse’s criminal affairs. She isn’t the only one who regards her former husband with misty affection – it seems he spent quite a bit of his ill-gotten gains giving those around him a new start. And while these characters may or may not have gone straight, they are all falling over themselves to assist Mrs Pargeter in any way they can.

It goes without saying that Brett is a skilled writer – you don’t get to write and produce successful shows for the Beeb and Radio 4 if you don’t know your craft. But I was impressed that Mrs Pargeter doesn’t come across as an idiot, or unduly gullible, despite being blithely unaware of the late Mr Pargeter’s shady doings. As ever, I was sure I knew who’d dunnit – until it became clear that I didn’t. I always enjoy reading murder mysteries that can pull that rabbit out of the hat and frequently, they’re penned by Brett.

While this book is generally less acerbic in tone, compared to the Fethering Mysteries, for instance – I was amused to read Brett’s account of the popular gardening competition Dirt Under Your Fingernails. The author clearly loathes the type of shows that ritually humiliate and demean the competitors in front of a live audience encouraged join in the laughter against them. I read these scenes with relish, as I also hate this television sub-genre. As for Mrs Pargeter – while I’m not as fond of her as I am of Ellen from the Decluttering Mysteries, who I’d happily adopt as a member of the family – I enjoyed watching her determined to unravel the gordian knot around the discovery of the body buried in her garden.

All in all, another successful, twisty plot that had me reading far later than I should to discover what happened next. Recommended for those who like a bit of escapism with their murder mysteries, without resorting to treacly sentimentality. While I obtained an arc of Mrs Pargeter’s Patio from the publisher via Netgalley, the opinions I have expressed are unbiased and my own.
8/10