Book info

• Title A Nice Class of Corpse
• Author Simon Brett
• Year 1986
• Genre Mystery

Meet Mrs Melita Pargeter, a vivacious widow whose mystery-solving talents come in handy when a murderer stalks a hotel for well-to-do retirees. She checks into the Devereux Hotel on England’s sunny south coast. Where secrets hide behind every door and the sea-views are to die for... Her arrival, in a fancy car and a flurry of silk, causes much excitement among the elderly residents. By next morning, they have something new to talk about — the discovery of a crumpled body at the foot of the stairs. The victim is old Mrs Selsby, timid occupant of the hotel’s most coveted sea-front room. Everyone says her death was a tragic accident, but Melita’s not so sure. Wealthy Mrs S. just happens to have left her fortune to her fellow Devereux residents. And then there’s the matter of her jewellery. A priceless collection that seems to be disappearing piece by piece... Melita may be pushing seventy, but she still has a trick or two left up her sleeve. Can she catch the killer before anyone else dies?

Thoughts

I like some of Simon Brett’s radio work so I was interested in what his novel writing was going to be like. The cosy little murder mystery genre is huge at the moment so this fit the mood perfectly. A widow heads to an old people’s hotel and solves quite a few crimes along the way, but mostly a murder. The characters were well done, gradually revealing themselves as the story unfolded, and the backstory to Mrs Pargeter is really intriguing and I hope in the subsequent books we get to learn more.

Rating: 4 / 5