BOOK REVIEW: MRS PARGETER'S PUBIC 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
