Mystery Series - Fethering (Carole Seddon)

Simon Brett (photo by Nigel Cull)

Simon Brett is a British writer with five series to his credit. The Fethering series is set in the fictional town of Fethering in the south of Sussex, England. They are written in the style of the "Golden Age" mysteries. Anyone who enjoys classic Brit mysteries will enjoy this series. Brett has a strong grasp of the convoluted emotions of his characters. The primary sleuth in this series is Carole Seddon, a somewhat insecure middle-aged woman who is very good at seeing the weaknesses in others, but not so much in herself.

Recurring Characters
Carole Seddon, a middle-aged retired public servant
Jude (presumably Judith), her friend and fellow sleuth, a "healer."

#1 The Body on the Beach (2000)
#1 Death on the Downs (2001)
#3 The Torso in the Town (2002)
#4 Murder in the Museum (2003)
#5 The Hanging in the Hotel (2004)

#6 The Witness at the Wedding (2005)
Carole Seddon's son Stephen is getting married. His fiance is a young woman called Gaby, although her given name is Pascale. Carole immediately likes Gaby, but the girl's family is something else again.

The mother is practically unable to cope with life and faints at anything stressful. Her father is much older, a giant of a man, and deaf besides. Adding extra strain to the usual meetings and planning associated with weddings, Stephen wants to include his father David. Carole is not interested in resuming any sort of relationship with her ex-husband, but she is too formal to admit it.

Adding to this difficult situation is the hint of a thirty-year old murder. Then the current murders begin.

#7 The Stabbing in the Stables (2006)
#8 Death Under the Dryer (2007)
#9 Blood at the Bookies (2008)
#10 The Poisoning at the Pub (2009)
#10 The Shooting in the Shop (2010)
#12 Bones Under the Beach Hut (2011)
#13 Guns in the Gallery (2011)
#14 Corpse on the Court (2012)
#15 The Strangling on the Stage (2013)
#16 The Tomb in Turkey (2014)
#17 The Killing in the Cafe (2015)
#18 The Liar in the Library (2017)
#19 The Killer in the Choir (2019)
#20 Guilt at the Garage (2020)
#21 Death and the Decorator (2022)

Mystery Series - J.P. Beaumont

J.A. Jance (Creative Commons)

Judith Ann Jance, born 1944, is an author of three different mystery series, all written under her own name. The Beaumont series features Jonas Pierpont Beaumont, a police detective from Seattle.

Technically, these are police procedurals, although Beaumont evolves through the series through various crime-fighting roles.

The Beaumont and Joanna Brady series converge in Partner in Crime, Fire and Ice, and briefly in Proof of Life.

Recurring Characters of Note:
Jonas Pierpont (J.P.) Beaumont, variously a policman, retiree, and private eye
Jonas Pierpont, J.P.'s grandfather
Mel Soames, his third wife
Ron Peters, a fellow detective
Ron's family, wife Amy, Heather and Tracie his daughters
Detective Kramer
Lars Jennsen, his AA sponsor

#1 Until Proven Guilty (1985)
#2 Injustice for All (1986)
#3 Trial by Fury (1986)
#4 Taking the Fifth (1987)
#5 Improbable Cause (1987)
#6 A More Perfect Union (1988)
#7 Dismissed with Prejudice (1989)
#8 Minor in Possession (1990)
#9 Payment in Kind (1991)
J.P. is teamed with detective Kramer because his own partner is ill. Kramer is obnoxious and self-serving. They are called to the scene of a double murder at a school administration building. A security guard and one of the staff are found dead in a janitor's closet, partially nude.

The woman's husband Pete is grief-stricken, but Kramer thinks he's a good suspect because the marriage seems to have been strained. J.P. doesn't quite agree, but he does think the man is lying about something.

Kramer continues to take all the credit for their successes in the case and blames J.P. for anything that goes wrong.

When Kramer manages to get Pete's fingerprints they learn that his name is not Pete Kelsey, and he deserted from the Army twenty years prior. But how does this give him a reason to kill his wife.

J.P. is reuninted with his grandparents after being estranged from them all his life.

This is an exceptionally clever and believable plot.

#10 Without Due Process (1993)
#11 Failure to Appear (1994)

#12 Lying in Wait (1995)

J.P.'s grandfather, from whom he gets the Pierpont name, has recently died. He is attempting to pay more attention to his grandmother.

A horrific death in a fishing boat fire turns out to be a torture murder, and the widow is a woman J.P. attended school with. Else was a cheerleader when he was a basketball player. Also living at the fishing marina is a man named Alan Torvaldsen, who was also a classmate. The dead man is Guntar Gebhardt, whose father was an S.S. officer in World War II. Guntar quietly honored his father's memory with a secret collection of toy German soldiers.

But when a woman on a nearby island dies in a similar manner, all previous conclusions seem to be wrong.

This is a fast-paced book with twists and turns at every juncture.

#13 Name Withheld (1997)
#14 Breach of Duty (1999)
#15 Birds of Prey (2002)
#16 Partner in Crime (2003)
#17 Long Time Gone (2005)
#18 Justice Denied (2007)
A young man who has been released from prison as a result of DNA testing that proved he was not guilty of the crime for which he was convicted seems to be a model citizen. He is taking care of his grandmother who raised him when he is shot point blank and killed at her front door.

J.P. is living with Mel Soames, and they both work for a special task force created by the state Attorny General. Mel is looking at former sex offenders. A disproportionate number of them have died under various scenarios after being released. She's also on the board of SESAC, a group of women who are dedicated to tracking down rapists using DNA from old rape kits that have never been tested.

J.P. has been assigned to examine old missing persons files. One is particularly puzzling. A man went missing the same day Mount St. Helens exploded, but the claim that he was fishing in the area and was vaporized doesn't seem to hold up.

Mel is briefly on the hot seat as it is discovered that she was in Cancun at the same time as the man who abused her best friend as a child. That friend was the reason she had joined SESAC.

Suddenly, a mysterious connection between several of these cases materializes.

J.P.'s children are now grown and Kelly has two children of her own. They all come home for J.P.'s grandmother's funeral.

#29 Fire and Ice (2009)
#20 Betrayal of Trust (2011)
#21 Ring in the Dead (novella, 2013)
#22 Second Watch (2013)
#23 Stand Down (novella, 2015)
#24 Dance of the Bones (2015) (Brandon Walker crossover)

#25 Proof of Life (2017)
Beau has retired, had knee replacement surgery, and is living happily with his third wife, Mel Soames. She is Chief of Police in Bellingham, WA. While they are having dinner out, an acquaintance of theirs, Max, a journalist stops by the table and makes several cryptic statements. Since he and Beau were never on good terms, Beau doesn't pay much attention.

However, just hours later, Max is dead. A young woman, not a blood relative of Max's, but nevertheless one of his only friends and his heir asks Beau to look into the death. She suspects it is not an accident.

If you are a dog lover, this is a great book. Beau and Mel end up "temporarily" babysitting a black Irish Wolfhound. Not only is Lucy Rambo a loveable addition to the story, she plays a large role in the denouement.

#26 Still Dead (novella, 2017)

#27 Sins Of The Fathers (2019)
#28 Nothing to Lose (2022)
#29 Den of Iniquity (2024)

Mystery Series - Anna Pigeon by Nevada Barr

Nevada Barr (Creative Commons license)

Nevada Barr, born 1952, is best known for her Anna Pigeon series of mysteries set in various US National Parks and Historic Sites. The book series grew out of personal knowledge, as Barr worked as a ranger early in her life. With a background in theater, she pulled together the critical elements to write a best-selling series.

Anna Pigeon's character evolves throughout the series, but is always involved in rough-and-tumble, serious situations. The settings make the series. These are definitely not cozies, and in fact, beginning with Burn they really morph into thrillers.

#1 Track of the Cat (1993) set in Guadalupe Mountains National Park
Anna discovers the body of Ranger Sheila who has died from being mauled by a mountain lion. But there are too many things about the condition of the body that just don't add up. She can't get anyone else at the ranger station to listen to her concerns.

She finds pictures indicating that the dead ranger had been having an affair with Christina, another woman on staff. Would Christina have killed to cover up this relationship? Much to her surprise, Anna befriends Chris and comes to believe she is not the murderer. She begins to go through the list of other suspects she's compiled.

Then an freak accident sends her to the hospital. Soon after she comes back on duty, a researcher is killed from bites by his own snakes. Too many accidents!

#2 A Superior Death (1994) set in Isle Royale National Park
Anna is stationed on Isle Royale in Lake Superior where the staff is small and maybe too intimate. There are about 4 different plots going on in this story. One of the underwater shipwrecks that has several bodies yet in evidence (because the water is so cold they don't decompose) suddenly has one more body than it should.

Two people have disappeared from the staff and family of the NPS on the island. The young teen daughter of the Lodge manager is suddenly rebellious and sneaking around. The twins Hawk and Holly are the prime suspects in one of the disappearances. And an odd couple who seem to live more in a fantasy world than real life offer canibalistic solutions.

This is one of my favorite of the series, perhaps because the area is familiar to me, but it's also got great plot layering.

#3 Ill Wind (1995) set in Mesa Verde National Park
Anna is assigned to law enforcement in the area of the Anasazi Cliff Dwellers' caves. It's a busy tourist season, and due to a housing shortage, she is sharing dorm space with some of the youngest of the staff. Between beer parties and the annoyance of southern belle Jennifer who seems so unfit to be a ranger, and Jamie the interpreter who insists she is Native, but Anna suspects otherwise, Anna is having a difficult summer. There have been an unusual number of medical emergancies, attributed to the high altitude. After one young girl dies from a severe asthma attack, Anna decides to check current records with previous years to compare the frequecy of medical evacuations.

Not only does she confirm a much higher rate in the current season, but she discovers a pattern to the emergencies. Jamie attributes it to the displeased spirits of the Anasazi who have been appearing during the nights.

Then one of Anna's favorite rangers goes missing.

#4 Firestorm (1996) set in Lassen Volcanic National Park
This is among the best of the Anna Pigeon books.

Anna is deployed with a fire crew. Her job is to serve as a medic, and she mostly stays at the base camp tending to regularly occurring burns and blisters. However, a report of a man with a broken leg who must be evacuated, sends her to the fire line. As they are attempting to carry out the injured man, a firestorm flares up the valley, forcing them over the ridge, and to take cover under their personal fire shelters.

After the burnover, they learn that not only has the injured man died, but one other person in their party is dead of a knife wound in his back. Snow and fog following the firestorm have put out the fire. Forced to stay in their bleak location in for two days as they await rescue, Anna tries to determine which of them is a killer.

This is a closed-suspect-pool mystery in a unique setting.

#5 Endangered Species (1997) set in Cumberland Island National Seashore

#6 Blind Descent (1998) set in Carlsbad Caverns National Park

#7 Liberty Falling (1999) set in Statue of Liberty National Monument

#8 Deep South (2000) set in Natchez Trace Parkway

#9 Blood Lure (2001) set in Glacier National Park

#10 Hunting Season (2002) set in Natchez Trace Parkway
The body of a fat, local man is found in a bed of an historic house, clad only in his underwear. There is no obvious cause of death, but there are marks on his body that suggest a sexual motive. Clues as to what happened are few. The brother of the deceased is the local funeral director who is also running for sheriff. He is not happy about the scandalous death, and his senile and angry mother adds her own brand of fireworks.

Anna continues to struggle with the disdainful attitude of fellow ranger, Randy Thigpen, who failed to back her up in Deep South. Randy does seem to be trying to overcome his feelings about female rangers, but he's not consistent.

Meanwhile, it's hunting season and the narrow Parkway property is off limits for public hunting, and rangers have to constantly be watchful that hunters aren't crossing the line and poacihng.

#11 Flashback (2003) set in Dry Tortugas National Park

#12 High Country (2004) set in Yosemite National Park

#13 Hard Truth (2005) set in Rocky Mountain National Park
#14 Winter Study (2008) set in Isle Royale National Park

#15 Borderline (2009) set in Big Bend National Park

#16 Burn (2010) set in New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park
A house fire is watched by a young mother, and she believes her two daughters have died in the blaze. Then she learns that they are not dead, but she is under suspicion for setting the fire. She goes on a mission to find the girls while remaining on the run.

Anna is on leave after the traumatic events of Borderline which was supposed to be a respite in itself. She's in New Orleans and living in the cottage of a friend. A young punk named Jordan turns out to be one of her neighbors. The boy seems to be involved in voodoo and other strange practices.

#17 The Rope (2012) set in Glen Canyon National Recreation Area

#18 Destroyer Angel (2014) set in Superior National Forest

#19 Boar Island (2016) set in Acadia National Park