Fethering Mysteries Books In Order

Publication Order of Fethering Mystery Books

The Fethering Mysteries is a series of mystery novels written by noteworthy English author Simon Brett. The series consist of 15 different novels published from 2000 to 2014. Author Simon Brett is still working on the series and the sixteenth novel of the series is about to be published soon in 2015. The series revolves around the life of Carole Seddon, who is a retiree living in Fethering, England. Just like the other famous novel series’ written by Simon, the Fethering Mysteries also contain some intense plot full of suspense. As said earlier, the series is set in Fethering, which is a coastal town in England. The main characters of the series include Carole Seddon and Jude. Both of them are amateur sleuths. Carole is an ex-Home Office and is slightly introverted. Her new neighbor Jude has lived her life to its fullest. The first plot of the series opens up when Carole finds a corpse on the beach while walking her dog on one morning. But, when she goes to inform the police about it and as the police arrive at the location. The dead body gets vanished from its spot. However, the police finds a dead body on the beach on the next morning, but this time it is not the same dead boy but a new one. All the other plots of the series are based on similar situations as mysteries go on piling one over the other throughout the series.

Simon has written the series in an interesting manner with jigsaw plots and none of the elements of the series seem to go wasted. It feels like every scene of the series is justified with a reason. Although, Simon has not described the villains of the series as a massive surprise, the interesting turn of events and eventful plots of the series make it a must read mystery series. There is do doubt that the series is written very well. The unique description of the characters makes it even more interesting. Simon has not emphasized on just the two main characters, but he has characterized all the other characters in a justified way. Even the characters who feature in just one or two scenes stand out distinctively. The town of Fethering is described as a calm and quiet place with very little to disturb its peace and order before the mysterious events start turning up and fill the peaceful town of Fethering with panic. The town is situated in the southern coast of England and is full of retired people similar to Carole Seddon. She has outlived her husband as well as her career at the Home Office and has chosen to live in Fethering alone. She encounters an unexpected new neighbor in the form of Jude, who is a satisfied lady with a colorful past. No one believes Carole about the disappeared body, she saw on the beach one morning, but Jude. From this point, the two women decide to take the matters in their own hands and become detectives to bring back the calmness of Fethering and solve the mysteries of the dead bodies. The characters of Carole Seddon and Jude have surprising depths in them. Their relationship is described in a somewhat mysterious manner as the past life of Jude is not depicted by the author. The seacoast setting of the novel series is quite vivid and serves as a good choice for the readers to have it as a late-summer beach reading.

The first novel of the Fethering Mysteries was published under the title ‘The Body On The Beach’ in the year 2000 by the Berkley publishing house. The novel introduces the characters of Carole Seddon and her new Neighbor Jude. Carole is described as a sensible woman aged in her mid fifties. She is a divorcee and has retired recently from the Home Office and is grateful for her happy life so far. After her retirement, Carole moves to Fethering with a hope of living a low profile life. However, her hopes are shattered when she discovers a dead body on the beach while walking her dog one morning. She gets further disturbed when the body disappears on the arrival of police and the continuous interviewing by the police. She is left befuddled when a stranger points a gun at her in relation to the case of the dead body. Her new neighbor Jude is the only one who believes her. When another body is found at the same place on the next morning, the two women decide to investigate the murders privately. Jude is of a complete opposite personality than Carole. She has no set rules for living her life as she is quite satisfied with her colorful past. She loves to live life to its fullest and has a belief in Carole. The two women embark on their friendship and set out to investigate the mystery of the dead bodies. At first, Carole did not like to tolerate the behavior of Jude but grows close to her as the plot of the novel progresses. Author Simon Brett has described the setting of the novel in great detail with a great build up of suspense. He has also done a great job in depicting the town of Fethering as well as the characters. He received wide appreciation from the readers as well as the critics all over the world.

The second novel of the series was published under the title ‘Death on the Downs’ in the year 2001 by the Berkley Hardcover publishing house. The novel continues to showcase the life of Carole who discovers a human skeleton while exploring the South Downs of the town. She believes the skeleton to be of a young lady who used to practice some sort of therapy. However, Jude and Carole come to know that the woman is still alive and living with a charismatic New Age healer. They set out to solve the two mysteries and find out why the woman played a foul death and the actual woman whose skeleton they found. Carole had found the skeleton inside two bags when she took refuge in an old barn to avoid getting stuck in the rainstorm while exploring the South Downs. On investigating with the local people, she comes to know that the skeleton was of a girl named Tamsin Lutteridge, who had gone missing a few months before. Tamsin was believed to be involved in practicing alternative medicine. When Carole and Jude find out that she is alive and living with a New Age healer, they try to investigate the reason for deliberately hiding by cheating death. Interestingly, Tamsin’s mother turns out to be a friend of Jude, who was certain that her daughter had not died. This novel tries to give more explanation about the relationship between Carole and Jude as Carole tries to learn about Jude’s past. The plot of a small town full of secrets is very well blended with the characters. Simon has done a great job in bringing out this novel series in his own unique style. The readers all over the world have enjoyed reading his mysteries and this has helped him a great deal in establishing himself as a well known mystery writer.