This is one of Simon Brett’s popular Fethering mysteries, so named because of the small English town in which his protagonists reside. This is a relatively light mystery, a shortish novel, but containing a twisty mystery and some sharp insights into human nature.

I always enjoy the Fethering books, as they’re just plain fun to read, even as they also provoke a little thought. Jude and Carole, the slightly mismatched friends who investigate murder and mayhem, are a delight to follow around.

A local theatre is hosting the last night of a touring play. A revival of a successful 80s television show, the play has had reasonable success. After the show, some actors went on to great success while others slipped into obscurity. This tour has raised hopes for some of them of a revival of the TV show (and thus their careers), while for others it was more of a kind gesture to their less successful castmates.

Jude’s long ago theatre career means she’s worked with some of the cast, and she seizes the opportunity to catch up with one she remains friendly with. But when she goes backstage, she finds him dead in his dressing room. Although dismissed as an accident, Jude and Carole think it’s murder – and they set out to prove it. Before long, all sorts of long held secrets are tumbling out.

Although Brett has some acerbic things to say about actors, and television and theatre people in general, this is a murder mystery that tends towards the cosy. There’s not a lot of gore or explicit violence. Carole and Jude are older women, and although I’d never call Jude sedate, they’re certainly not sprinting around like twenty year olds. They bring a different kind of experience to bear on the problem.

Carole and Jude are delightful characters. Carole, retired after a long career as a bureaucrat, is buttoned down, reserved, and disapproves of a remarkable range of things. Jude has led a far more unstructured life, and remains very tolerant and open to new people and experiences.

Both are vividly brought to life. Although Carole could easily become a dislikable character, Jude views her prickliness with such affection, and Brett writes of her with such understanding, that most readers will instead empathise with her. Jude’s more casual approach to life will spark envy in some readers, and most will find her checkered past of great interest.

The mystery is interesting and credible, and just tricky enough that most readers will find it a challenge. The resolution is both believable and satisfying.

I really enjoyed this book. It was fun to read, and offered just enough challenge to be absorbing. I’m very fond of Carole and Jude, and look forward to reading more of their adventures. Highly recommended for crime readers who want something at the gentler end of the spectrum.

This was a strong twenty-second entry in the Fethering Mystery series, it had that element that I was looking for and enjoyed in this series. I enjoyed how good Simon Brett wrote this and was invested in what was happening. I hope there is more in this series as this was a strong mystery.

Just Delicious..
What an absolute joy it is to return to the delights Fethering and to characters Jude and Carole in this, the twenty second outing in this long running and superlative series. Nothing much has changed in Fethering itself although much drama is to ensue when a leading star of the theatre is discovered very dead by Jude. Carole cannot help but become involved and another joint investigation soon begins. A solid mystery stepped in theatre dramatics and laced with authors usual huge dollops of humour, affection and dry wit. Just delicious.

I am a longtime Simon Brett fan and have followed several of his series including this Fethering series from the beginning. Basic British village cozy with the setup being the two amateur sleuths are poles apart. Jude is somewhat Bohemian. She is a healer, with a background of all kinds of occupations and friends, open-minded and New Agey. Her neighbor Carole is retired Home Office and suitably buttoned up. She is rigid, judgmental and socially conservative. But they both are incurably nosy when it comes to solving murders (of which there are an astonishing number for one little village).

After 22 of these mysteries, Carole and Jude seem to be running out of steam. The series has become not particularly compelling, although Brett's writing is sometimes deliciously snarky.

One of Jude's past lives included a stint as an actress and she is at a community theater offering to say hi to some old friends when she discovers a dead body and she thinks the circumstances are suspicious. Since the local police don't agree, it's up to Jude and Carole to solve the crime. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Not a fan of this. The description of one of the main characters, got very repetitive. I began to feel sorry for her. The wine drinking also was very repetitive. I was surprised there wasn’t a brand associated with it. And the writing style, this off hand objective was and the lack of police interaction seemed false. Not one of the better books I’ve read lately.

This is a new genre for me and I am so glad I was able to read this book. I love it he characters, mystery’. For me it was predictable but I still enjoyed very much.

I received a copy of this book fir my honest opinion
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*Many thanks to Simon Brett, Severn House, and NetGalley for arc in exchange for my honest review.*
I have read most of the books in the Fethering series, and by now I know what to expect regarding Carole and Jude. Their dynamics has not changed although Carole does try to leave her comfort zone occasionally. I am used to their ways and interactions, and the fact that there is always a murder behind the corner. This time readers are taken behind the soap opera which used to be a hit decades ago, and whose characters are asked to play it again. The reason for the demise of one of the actors is hidden in the past, and the cold case is interestingly solved by the two protagonists.

✒️📖ARC REVIEW📖🖋️

3.5

I haven’t read anything by Simon Brett before, and it didn’t seem to be too much of an issue that this mystery was part of a series. There is enough context provided throughout the book about the nature of our two amateur sleuths Carole and Jude relationships.

Once I realized the dialogue and setting was in Britain, I was curious to see if compared to the winding, engaging investigations of DCI Barnaby and his rotating apprentices (or other British mystery series). This story did have a solid storyline that was easy to follow, it was filled with roundabout relationships typically of murders decades apart, and had a satisfying conclusion.

However, the prose was a bit dry at times. The dryness definitely caused a delay in picking the book back up again. (This rounded the 3.5 down to a 3 for me instead of up to a 4) The conclusion, while satisfying, seemed a bit rushed and could have been drawn out a bit more.

No sure if this is how all of Simon’s book go or end, but I’m quite tempted to read a few other books in this series since the two main characters have good chemistry despite their differences.

I was provided a free advanced reader copy courtesy of Severn House and Simon Brett via NetGalley. I am leaving this honest review voluntarily.

#arc #advancedreadercopy #NetGalley #DeathintheDressingRoom #SimonBrett #SevernHouse

Thank you NetGalley and Severn House for the eARC.
This was the first time I didn't like a book by Simon Brett.
Carol irritated me, she's so negative and uptight. I'm surprised Jude is still friends with her. The mystery itself was ok, but not one I cared about.
Generally I love Mr. Brett's books (especially the decluttering ones), so I feel bad about this rating. I'm sure it's an anomaly and look forward to his next one.

Carole and Jude can't go anywhere without getting embroiled in murder.

This time, they've gone to the theatre, to see one of Jude's old friends in the play version of an old sitcom.

Predictably, it doesn't end well...

And it brings Carole into a whole new world to be nosy in, that of the theatre

Another excellent Fethering adventure

A lovely light cosy mystery. Amateur sleuths Jude and Carole are polar opposites Jude is a healer and ex-actress Carole is very precise Likes to be on time and regards anything spiritual as mumbo jumbo but together they make a good team. I enjoyed reading something lighter for a change without the emphasis on blood and gore

Carole and Jude are back for a whirlwind visit in this brief and breezy installment in the long-running Fethering series. Carole is as Carole as ever, while also slightly extending the perimeter of her comfort zone, only in service to sleuthing, of course. We also learn a bit more about Jude’s vague past, when she stumbles on the corpse of a former colleague at the closing night of a play based on an earlier vacuous sitcom. There is much to enjoy in this visit with old friends, including Brett’s usual commentary on various matters, such as the decline and fall of theater. To be honest, the mystery itself is secondary to the Jude and Carole show, and that is just fine. It’s always a good show.

Rating: 2.4/5

If you have read any of Simon Brett's work previously then you will have a pretty good idea what you are going to get. There is nothing pretentious about his cosy mysteries. They are easy to read, entertaining and don't take themselves too seriously - but there is always a sound mystery structure at the heart of things.

This latest offering from the Fethering series is no exception. It is a predominantly character-driven story set in and around the world of acting. As you would expect from Simon Brett, there some nice examples of light-hearted humour as the mystery is investigated by Fethering residents, Carole & Jude. There are also a number of social observations along the way too, including in-jokes relating to the acting and writing professions.

This is unlikely to win - or even be nominated for - any literary prizes, but it is a reasonably entertaining comedic cosy mystery that does what it says on the tin. That said, I don't think it is the author's most engaging offering. At just under 200 pages I would have expected to fly through this in a couple of reading sessions, but as a result of finding myself drifting and losing interest at certain points, it actually took me a few days to finish it. Perhaps it should come as no surprise that the 22nd book in a series is going to lack a degree of freshness, but I am sure the stalwarts will thoroughly enjoy it, nonetheless.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for supplying an ARC in return for an honest review.

Oh how I look forward to the next mystery by Simon Brett! Death In The Dressing Room is a solid addition to the Fethering series. I have read this series from the start and this book, his 22nd entry, was as enjoyable as the first. Our two amateur sleuths, Carole and Jude, work to solve the mysterious death of an actor in a local playhouse. From the start of the series the two sleuths are portrayed as very different personalities and the oft times difficulties this affords has remained. Jude is a go with the flow woman with a hazy, intriguing background who works as a healer. Her next door neighbor could not be more different. Carole, a retired government servant, lives a rigid life and has a difficult time understanding Jude's lifestyle. Carole has such a prickly nature and, honestly, so many issues a good therapist could help with, I think that is what I have come to enjoy so much in this cozy series. The enduring friendship between these women and the fact that their foibles remain even while the reader wishes that Carole could loosen up a bit. I look forward to the next installment to this series.

I was annoyed by so many aspects of this book that I skipped the middle portion and went right to the end. The writing was poky and its attitude old-fashioned. There were constant detours into providing additional information about uninteresting characters. One of the two lead sleuths—Carole—is an unhappy and unpleasant character. The mystery was dull and the solution even duller. And unconvincing. All in all a tired and perfunctory mystery.

What a treat to read the 22nd novel in Simon Brett’s great series featuring bohemian healer Jude and her strait-laced neighbor Carole Seddon! With many other mysteries, the series gets tired long before the 22nd book, but Brett makes readers long to be reunited with Jude and Carole.

Drake Purslow, a onetime castmate of Jude’s from her previous life as an actor, is appearing at a nearby theater, starring in a play based on a 40-year-old hit TV sitcom. Jude attends the play’s closing, only to discover Purslow dead in his dressing room nearly immediately after the curtain falls. In the ensuing chaos, a bloody footprint next to Purslow’s body is obliterated. Does that mean Purslow was murdered? Jude and Carole fully intend to find out, and readers are lucky to come along for the ride. Highly recommended, as usual.

In the interest of full disclosure, I received this book from NetGalley and Severn House in exchange for an honest review.

Carole Seddon, a very respectable retired woman living in the English seaside village of Fethering, doesn’t care for the theatre. But her neighbour Jude counts the job of actress among her many and varied past careers. So when Jude attends the closing night of a new play based on a classic TV sitcom, Carole is interested – but only because she suspects the leading man, Drake Purslow, is one of her scandalous friend’s ex-lovers.

The night turns out to be more dramatic than either Carole or Jude could have ever predicted. After the performance, Jude makes her way to Drake’s dressing room, only to find him dead – in what, to Jude’s experienced sleuthing eye, seem very suspicious circumstances.

Did one of the play’s cast – made up almost entirely of the original sitcom’s actors – have a long-held grudge against the show’s star? Or are more recent hatreds to blame? Jude is determined to find out – and Carole, who despite protestations is almost pathologically nosy, is right there to investigate alongside her.

loved it. WIll recommend to others.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this book!!

What a great book! I really enjoyed this book. I couldn’t put it down. The author has such a good writing style. This was a first for me by this author but will not be my last! I enjoyed the characters. They had good chemistry.