Book info

• Title The Clutter Corpse
• Author Simon Brett
• Year 2020
• Genre Mystery

Ellen Curtis runs her own business helping people who are running out of space. As a declutterer, she is used to encountering all sorts of weird and wonderful objects in the course of her work. What she has never before encountered is a dead body. When Ellen stumbles across the corpse of a young woman in an over-cluttered flat, suspicion immediately falls on the deceased homeowner's son, who has recently absconded from prison. No doubt Nate Ogden is guilty of many things – but is he really the killer? Discovering a link between the victim and her own past, Ellen sets out to uncover the truth. But where has her best friend disappeared to? And is Ellen really prepared for the shocking revelations to follow?

Thoughts

I love Simon Brett’s writing and found this first in a new series book enjoyable… but maybe not as good as I was hoping. The main character wasn’t very gripping, and reminded me in places of Molly the Maid without the oddities that made Molly interesting. The mystery was good, although it feels a bit of a stretch that someone who declutters and deals with these challenging situations would also then solve a murder or two. Odd, not my favourite, but maybe I’ll give the second book a go just to see if it comes into its own.

Rating: 3 / 5