This is a proper detective book. It’s well thought out and well written.
Great read.
Thank you to both NetGalley and Blackthorn for my eARC in exchange for my honest unbiased review

Thanks to Netgalley for an ARC of this book, in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Like Brett's previous books, this is a fun, enjoyable read. I always enjoyed his Charles Paris mysteries, and the Fethering books are equally enjoyable. I particularly liked the references to golden age mysteries, including the book within a book.

It's a fairly typical cozy mystery, in that the amateurs figure things out long before the police do. An added twist here is that Jude, one of our heroines, is the prime suspect in the case.

While this is #18 in the Fethering series, you don't need to have read the others to enjoy this one. I've read the first few, but not most of the others in the series, and this book can stand nicely on its own - although, I now plan to go back and read the ones I've missed.

It's an enjoyable, pleasurable read.

I put this book under the cozy mystery category. As such it was an easy and enjoyable read.
I liked the two main woman characters and how they interacted with each other. The police appeared to be arrogant and you might shake your head at some of the character portrayed.

One of the latest 'very enjoyable' detective books I've read in such a long time. Very good indeed and also full of the mysterious feeling of the detective world set in the British environment with the casual occasional murder. Very good indeed!

Such a cozy fun read. It was a bit easy to guess but that didn’t matter or make it any less good to me because of the characters the setting and the cozy quality of the writing. I love a book like this in between heavier books. Perfect to cozy up with on a rainy day! Loved it

Really well plotted mystery. I liked the village setting with all the gossiping, very Miss Marple. I found the unlikeable characters a bit too over the top.

I found this book to be very entertaining and thoroughly enjoyed reading it. I would recommend this book to those who enjoy this genre.

Boring! The description I read on NetGalley mentioned an inspector. I did not realize this was a late installment in a cozy series. A man allergic to walnuts meets his death from something laced with walnuts. For those new to the series, the characters are not well-enough developed in this book to make it enjoyable. I did not enjoy it and really wish it had been a police procedural instead of a cozy. I received an advance electronic book through NetGalley with the expectation of an honest review.

This was just not the book for me. It was obvious, boring, and a giant cliche. Sorry, I am not a fan of this book.

This is the 18th book in a series about Jude and Carole, two unlikely friends on the South coast.
As a reader of the first 17 this did exactly what I wanted it to - the characters don't change, the mystery is a decent mystery.

This is a light, easy read. I believe it is one from a series, though it holds up well as a standalone. I did find the description of one character seemed a bit dated , though overall I enjoyed this book.

Whilst this appears to be the 18th book in the series this is my first book I have read by Simon Brett.

It was a very easy and quick read and I enjoyed the different characters viewpoints however because I don't know the backstory I think they weren't that well developed. I also felt the murderer was too obvious.

Thank you to netgalley for giving me an ARC.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Blackthorn Books for this ARC of The Liar in the Library.

I have read all of the Fethering Mysteries published to date, 18 so far, and they are still witty and entertaining. The characters are still going strong and in this instalment Brett focuses more on Jude than Carol. A great read and looking forward to book 19.

Oh dear I made a big mistake with this one. I felt that it had every single cliche going and did not enjoy it at all. Sorry about that.

This is my first Simon Brett. It's an easy read and an obvious whodunnit from the start. Fethering could be Midsomer or any of the quaint southern English villages that Agatha Christie was fond of using as a setting. There are many references to the Golden Age of crime writing and because I'm not familiar with the author, I wondered if he was just having fun with this genre - he certainly enjoys poking fun at other authors and aspiring authors - but then I read other Goodreads reviews and discovered this is the 18th in a series. Although there was clearly a back story, I was really surprised as even the lead characters are fairly two dimensional. It was entertaining but I don't think I'll be reading any of the others.

I usually adore Simon Brett’s Feathering mysteries, happy to be reunited with odd couple Jude Nichols and Carole Sedding; however, The Liar in the Library, the 18th entry in the series, wasn’t up to Brett’s usual high standard.

A murder in the library leads police to suspect Jude of having killed an arrogant author who flirts — and worse — with every woman he encounters. That’s despite their being a number of more likely suspects. The ending at first threatens to be implausible, although readers will find that not to be the case. A so-so Brett novel is still pretty decent, but caveat emptor.

Jude (minus Carole) is at an author event at Fethering Library. She knows the author from a previous life, and when he's found dead, Jude is prime suspect. It falls to Carole to uncover the truth

3.5 stars

I think I continue with this series mostly out of habit. Jude and Carol are an odd couple of friends, brought together as neighbors but with very little in common except their enthusiasm for solving murders in their small English village. Carol is persnickety, prickly, judgmental and set in her ways. Jude is more free-spirited and counterculture.

In this outing, Jude runs into a man from her past who ends up being a murder victim. Jude is definitely out of character in this one so fans of the previous series entries will find a different balance than usual.

I am not sure how this would work as a standalone since it's not their normal interaction and personalities. Thanks to the publisher and to Net Galley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for this honest review.

Unwittingly, when I requested the title, I was not aware that it was the 18th book in the Feathering Mystery series. It didn’t make a huge impact – I could figure out who characters were and what was going on without having to dig up 17 previous titles. But really, who starts reading a new series at Book 18? Something about that bothers me… I have my issues.

It was a classic Whodunnit, throwing one of the key protagonists into the spotlight of suspicion. I wasn’t blown away by the mystery or the writing, but it was a cozy piece of crime fiction set in a quaint British seaside community with not entirely loveable characters.

Again… this novel was of those titles that’s just a midpoint rating from me. It was easy to read and a good little escape, but didn’t leave any particular strong feelings or impressions one way or another.

A copy of this book was provided to me by the publisher via Netgalley. All opinions expressed are my own.

A local library book talk event
The best-selling womanizing author gets killed
Several fans and readers attended the event
One with a hidden grudge against the author
The only suspect is the village’s amateur sleuth

This was my first book in the 18 series crime fiction. Jude and Carole were the novice detective of the Fethering village. Jude was a healer. Carole’s grandmother and slight uptight. The author described the village was with a pub (the gossip centre of the village), the houses nearby and the library where the murder took place.

What I loved in the book were the characters, the subtle humour throughout the storyline. Burton St Clair or Al Sinclair (as Jude knew him 20 years back) wrote the best-selling book “Stray leaves in Autumn”. It is for the same book he came to Fethering Library for the book talk. Jude knew him through his first wife Megan. But lost touch with both of them once they got divorced. Jude was in Fethering after being in several professions. She is in peace with her surroundings, which pushed her to become a healer. Carole did not get as much space in the book as Jude, given the focus was on Jude being the number 1 suspect of Police. However, in situations where Carole was investigating the case on her own, she turned out to witty and smart. The characters and the environment mingled well. I haven’t read the earlier books but that didn’t stop me from admiring Jude and Carole and their uncanny partnership. In fact, I feel I should read the previous books in the series. It can be cosy afternoon read.

The author narrates the story in 3rd person. The entire plot doesn’t slump even for a moment. There were many references to the golden age crime fiction, the smaller characters have this effect. There were few fine touches of contemporary issues like the general behaviour towards the foreigners, homeless and drug addicts, their difficult background and diminishing of the libraries and their funding (or lack thereof). This gave a pleasant twist to the plot. The story developed from chapter to chapter.

Someone who reads a crime fiction might figure out the suspect. The most appealing part was the motive of the crime. The other interesting part was indulging the reader in reading another book (within this book). I liked it as a clever try by the author which was successful.

The book is a delightful read with reminisces of the golden age and elements of contemporary crime fiction novels.

My rating for the book: 4.5 stars

Thank you NetGalley and Blackthorn books for giving this ARC in exchange for my honest review.