Very little disturbs the ordered calm of Fethering, a pleasingly self-contained retirement town on England's southern coast. Which is precisely why Carole Seddon, who has outlived both her husband and her career at the Home Office, has chosen to reside there. So the last thing Carole expects to encounter in Fethering is a new neighbour with but one name and an obviously colourful past.

'Jude' was not really Fethering ... but neither was the body Carole found on the beach. A body, it has to be said, that has disappeared by the time the police arrive. Only Jude is ready to believe what her neighbour says she saw - and from that moment on, the two women are resolved to turn detectives.

'I stayed up until three in the morning and chewed off two fingernails finishing this delightful, thoroughly English whodunnit.' Daily Mail

'Murder most enjoyable' Colin Dexter

Ex-Princess Etheline, daughter of the exiled king of Mitteleuropia, has been kidnapped during a visit to Tawcester Towers, ancestral seat of the Dukes of Tawcester, and ducal family honour demands that she should be rescued.

The Dowager Duchess entrusts the task to her son, the Right Hon. Devereux Lyminster, known universally as 'Blotto'. He is, of course, terribly handsome, honourable and brave, but as sadly deficient in the brains department as his sister 'Twinks' is gifted.

So the siblings set off, accompanied by trusty chauffeur, Corky Froggett. They drive across many countries to Mitteleuropia, a realm now ruled by a usurper, the ex-king's brother, where they suspect the princess has been taken.

Can brave Blotto and Twinks rescue Ethelinda, or will they meet their end in the evil clutches of King Vlatislav?

Praise for Simon Brett:

'A new Simon Brett is an event for mystery fans' P. D. James

'Perfect entertainment' Guardian

'Few crime writers are so enchantingly gifted' Sunday Times

'Simon Brett writes stunning detective stories. I would recommend them to anyone.' Jilly Cooper

Bracketts, an Elizabethan house near the town of Fethering, is about to be turned into a museum. Once the home of celebrated poet Esmund Chadleigh, it has been decided that it should now become a shrine to his life and poetry.

But the transition from house to museum is running far from smoothly, and Carole soon begins to regret her decision to be on the Board as she witnesses bitter antagonism and rivalry amongst the other members. Then a sudden discovery is made. Buried in the kitchen garden is a human skeleton. And before too long, there is a second body, not yet cold ...

It wasn't the rain that upset Carole Seddon during her walk on the Downs, or the dilapidated barn in which she was forced to seek shelter. No, what upset her was the human skeleton she discovered there, neatly packed into two Green fertiliser bags ...

Carole and Jude's enquiries take them to the small downland hamlet of Weldisham and there gossips quickly identify the corpse as Tamsin Lutteridge, a young woman who disappeared from the village months before. So why is Tamsin's mother, a friend of Jude's, so certain that her daughter is still alive? As Jude sets out to find Tamsin, Carole digs deeper into Weldisham's history and the bitter relationships simmering beneath the village's gentle façade.

'Welcome return for Brett's lady sleuths ... As crime gets a harder edge, it's refreshing to have an amiable light-hearted tale, which makes the most of wit and atmosphere' - Yorkshire Post