Decluttering Mystery #5
I love series fiction. I’m sure I love it for the reasons many others love it – the deep and extended look at characters we grow to love as readers. Some we love so much they seem real, to the point where when a series character is occasionally killed off, readers revolt and grieve, as though the characters actually were real, not fictional. Simon Brett has written several series (Charles Paris, Mrs. Pargeter, Feathering) but I am hooked on this one.
This series follows Ellen and her family – she’s a widow with two twenty something children and an irritating and self-involved mother, Fleur. By book five they are now old friends I am happy to reunite with, though Brett writes in such a way that a reader could enjoy the books in any order. Ellen works as a home declutterer – often helping hoarders come to terms with their reasons for hoarding and letting go of some of their stuff.
In each book, Ellen also seems to function as a defacto social worker slash therapist as she gently takes people through their lives, as reflected in their accumulations. Of course, into this heaven, a little rain must fall, and as these are mystery novels, the rain comes in the form of murder.
There are two households Ellen works with in this novel. One is the home of a now deceased and retired pub owner whose death came after a fall down the stairs. His daughter and son in law have taken over (and fancied up) the comfortable old pub and want to live in the attached house. Ellen says repeatedly she doesn’t do house clearance, but when the daughter assures her she’s also looking for her father’s missing will, Ellen can’t resist the mystery and dives in.
The other household is directly above her daughter Jools’ flat. Jools lives in London with her boyfriend and has recently joined her mother’s company She’s started her work in her upstairs neighbor’s apartment but when she and Ellen go to take a look at her progress, with the assurances that the neighbor is in one of his other apartments for the night, they find him on his bed, smothered by the Amazon packages he ordered – so many that he had to hire Jools to deal with them.
Are either of these deaths accidents, or are they more deliberate? In each case there’s a missing or contested will and there’s some classic scenes in a solicitor’s office as well as some true detective work on Ellen’s part. These are gentle stories told in a seemingly casual manner, but like all golden age style writers, Brett includes no detail that is not relevant. You may be enjoying your read, but pay attention!
The not so gentle portion of the books lies in Ellen’s family life. Her husband died by suicide, and Ellen’s son, Ben, suffers from depression. He’s in a bad state at the moment, living in Ellen’s house in his old childhood bedroom. The depiction of Ben’s depression and his shifting moods are heartbreakingly authentic. It lends an undertone of sadness to the novels. In this particular novel, Ellen’s daughter is having some possible relationship issues which play into the plot. Her problems aren’t as serious as Ben’s, but Ellen is still dealing with two grown children in a believable way.
The mystery has a nice golden age style wrap up in a solicitor’s office, as well as a settling of some of Ellen’s personal issues. These books are so nicely written, so well plotted, and so full of characters I’m happy to revisit that my wait for the next book always seems like a long one. The 80-year-old Brett shows no signs of slowing down – he’s just begun another series. Write on! — Robin Agnew