Corpse on the Court

By Simon Brett

'Brett performs his magic on the traditional cozy,making the frame rock with laughter at human foibles and quake with well-placed surprises' - Booklist Starred Review

The genteel game of Real Tennis takes a murderous twist in Simon Brett's witty and entertaining new Fethering mystery

Jude's life has been turned upside-down thanks her new man, Piers Targett, who's keen to get her involved in his hobby - or obsession - of Real Tennis. But when one of Piers' friends dies on the court in suspicious circumstances, Jude finds herself caught up in the police investigation. Meanwhile, Jude's neighbour Carole is trying to identify the human remains known locally as the 'Lady in the Lake.' As the two investigations become intertwined, Carole and Jude's efforts to find the truth look set to lead to more murders.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Severn House Publishers
• Release date: Dec 15, 2012
• ISBN: 9781780103419

Simon Brett

Simon Brett worked as a producer in radio and television before taking up writing full time. As well as the much-loved Fethering series, the Mrs Pargeter novels and the Charles Paris detective series, he has written a number of radio and television scripts. Married with three children, he lives in an Agatha Christie-style village on the South Downs. You can find out more about Simon at his website: www.simonbrett.com

Reviews for Corpse on the Court

[smik_3 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Reading THE CORPSE ON THE COURT brings my reading of the Fethering series up to date. This was always on the cards after my recent completion and enjoyment of GUNS IN THE GALLERY.Following the pattern of recent titles in this series the two sleuths Jude and Carole undertake independent investigations at the same time as occasionally collaborating and comparing notes.The story is narrated largely from Jude's point of view. The main action of the story, the death of an elderly man on a real (royal) tennis court, is connected to her. She has recently become involved with a real tennis player whose past provokes the actions leading to the death. The dead man's wife requests Jude to find out why her husband was on the tennis court at the time of his death.Once again this is substantially a cozy, no blood in evidence. A relatively quick read and underlying the story are again Simon Brett's astute observations of society. And you even learn a little about real tennis. For the first time that I remember in this series, both Jude and Carole have to make decisions about what to do with their knowledge about the mysteries they solve.

[newsieq · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Carole Seddon and her neighbor Jude, amateur sleuthing partners, go their separate way on two different “cases.” The prickly Carole, a retired British bureaucrat, has her nose out of joint when Jude goes off without telling her where she’s going and when she’ll be back. To fill her hours, she decides to look into a local mystery -- of unidentified remains dubbed “the lady in the lake.” That investigation leads her to a woman who believes the remains might belong to her missing daughter, who disappeared years ago at age 16. Carole is not so sure. Jude, in the meantime, is falling in love with Piers Targett, a mysterious fellow who’s obsessed with court tennis (different from lawn tennis and called “real tennis” by its advocates). When one of Piers’ fellow tennis players dies on the court Jude winds up helping the widow figure out how her husband came to die, of an apparent heart attack, at the indoor tennis court during off hours. Simon Brett’s series, set in the fictional English village of Fethering, provides readers lighthearted fun … and they’re easy reads. Learning about “real tennis” is a plus.

[smithfieldjones · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The current genius of English Murder Mysteries, "old fashioned" and wonderful, still gets the job done with this 2012 presentation in The Fethering Mysteries.