The Killing in the Cafe: A Fethering Mystery by Simon Brett

The village is atwitter.  Polly's Cake Shop owner is retiring and is going to sell her shop.  They need to keep that shop open because it's a great tourist attraction.  What are they going to do?

Severn House and Net Galley allowed me to read this book for review (thank you).  It will be published March 1st.

Someone gets the idea of making the shop a community project and having folks volunteer their time.  That's not very likely but it could be doable if enough help.  But who's got the capital to buy the building?  And, God forbid, what if a Starbucks went in instead!

While all the fuss is going on about who will own the shop, one of Jude's clients tells her she thinks she's having a nervous breakdown again.  She thought she saw a body in the storeroom with a bullet hole in his head.  The gun was on the window sill, so it wasn't suicide.  But when she looks again, there's no body, no gun, and no blood.  Was it a hallucination?  Jude thinks not, but with no evidence there's not much she can do.  Then the body surfaces about three weeks later.  It sure looks like murder now.

The police seem to be getting nowhere, so Jude and Carole start doing some snooping of their own.  As always, there are a lot of secrets in the village, many of them not nice.

My favorite part of this story is where the newcomers to the village think that Jude and Carole are lesbians because they do so much together.  They even advise them to get married which made me smile.  Oh, people, haven't you heard of friends?  They weren't even that good at being friends sometimes.

I didn't suspect the killer.  It was a bit of an odd story with an even odder ending but all's well that ends well.  I've read Mr. Brett's work for some time and his stories are interesting, hold your attention and entertain you.  That's what this one did too.