BOOK REVIEW: MRS PARGETER'S PUBLIC RELATIONS BY SIMON BRETT

Simon Brett is the prolific and much-loved author of numerous novels, including The Charles Paris Theatrical series (wonderfully dramatised on Radio 4 and frequently available on BBC Sounds, with Bill Nighy perfect as the dissolute waster Charles), The Fethering Mysteries, in which two unlikely friends solve crimes in a seaside town, and - new to me - The Mrs Pargeter Mysteries. I'm delighted to have found more of Simon's work to enjoy.

Mrs Melita Pargeter lives very comfortably in a mansion in Chigwell. She's the widow of a professional criminal, but she'll never hear a word about her late husband's nefarious activities; it was all 'just business' and anyone who says otherwise is subjected to a very steely silence;

'The froideur which had taken over Mrs Pargeter's expression made his words dry up to a trickle...'

Mr Pargeter has left his widow very wealthy, but what she prizes most is the little black book he passed on to her before he died. It contains the contact details of everyone who ever worked for him, and Mrs P finds that book very useful indeed. It's full of names like Parvez the Peterman (first class degree in engineering from Cambridge - now 'one of the country's most skilled experts in the world of safes and surveillance' - ie a safemaker and a safebreaker....), Truffler Mason (Mr P's right hand man, now a private investigator) and Gary (getaway driver/private chauffeur.) The little black book is so important that she keeps it in a special safe behind her own portrait; a safe designed, of course, by Parvez himself, and only pregnable by the daddy of all safebreakers, "Tumblers" Tate. And Tumblers is long gone. Or is he?

As a rich single woman, Mrs Pargeter is frequently tapped for donations, which is how she ends up at a charity auction for Philipusses with her friend Jasmine Angold, widow of one of Mr P's employees and substantially less moneyed that Mrs P. 

Philipusses rescues feral cats (who may or may not wish to be rescued) from the Greek island of Atmos and rehomes them in Chigwell. It's run by Mendy Farstairs, a woman with more money than sense, but Mrs P, generous though she is to people and causes of which she approves, is not easily impressed. And Philipusses fails at the first fence; Mrs Pargeter is simply not a cat (or dog) person. She's only paid for the tickets to please poor Jasmine. But if she thinks an evening of being persuaded to buy crocheted cats and bid for designer leather cat baskets is bad enough, things soon get worse. 

A woman called Rochelle Brighouse appears and alleges that she is Mr P's long lost sister. Mrs P has absolutely no knowledge of any such sibling, but,

'the late Mrs Pargeter had always been economical with how much he told her of his background, of his life before they met. That was the way he always played things. He issued information on a 'need to know' basis, and he had never reckoned that his wife needed to know anything about his former life.'

Rochelle wants something from Mrs P. And she's going to get it. 

Shortly after that the lights go out and a valuable silver necklace disappears from the auction table. But a necklace is definitely not what Rochelle is after.

The next day, the body of a woman who helped to run the charity is found in the standard criminals' burial ground of Epping Forest. Mrs P's curiosity is further aroused. She wants to know more about Philipusses. She also wants to know more about Rochelle Brighouse - but every time she asks one of Mr P's trusted associates about her, they clam up. What are they hiding?

As Mrs P pursues her investigations - aided at all times by Truffler and co - she travels to Atmos, where everything is run by the Philippoussis family. What are they up to? And how much can Melita find out before she puts herself in danger (a danger ultimately averted by a very clever piece of Parvez's engineering)?  Why is Bailey Dalrymple, the vet who works for Philipusses, so smalmy and shady? And just why are the cats being microchipped before they leave the island?

Mrs Pargeter's Public Relations is a well written, easy read, with lots of wit and humour, great characters (including plenty of strong women), and a fast moving plot. Melita Pargeter herself is priceless - she does, of course, know everything about her late husband's career, and she's every bit as smart as he was in getting her own way, but she's also skilled in presenting the innocent demeanour of a comfortable middle-aged widow. And by using that, coupled with nerves of steel, she not only solves the mystery, but manages to help Jasmine too. 

Simon Brett is on top form as ever here, and I now plan to read the rest of this series. 

Simon Brett: image The British Council

Mrs Pargeter's Public Relations by Simon Brett is published by Creme de la Crime, an imprint of Severn House Pubishers Ltd. Simon Brett's novels are widely stocked in public libraries.