Ellen Curtis owns a company, SpaceWoman, that declutters and helps people organize their lives. Some of her clients are referred by social workers or government offices, and some are wealthy individuals. One day, the two groups begin to overlap when Ellen finds a dead body in a hoarder's home.
The police are on the job, and in fact they might be wondering whether Ellen might have something to do with the murder... or murders. But Ellen and her closest friends may know some things the police don't know. And the mystery seems to be closer to home than Ellen could have expected.
Ellen has a complicated family and friendships, as well as a complex interior life..No one writes that kind of thing better than Simon Brett. Most psychological mysteries focus on the interior lives of the victims or the perpetrator, but this one looks at a different set of people.
It's satisfying as a novel on its own, but I look forward to more books in the series.

I enjoyed this series debut. It features an offbeat heroine who is engaging and relatable, a decluttering professional who attempts to set right her clients' inner as well as their outer spaces.
"SpaceWoman" Ellen Curtis discovers a body amidst the detritus of new client's home. She later realizes that she knows the dead woman, and, in fact, was cheated by her in the course of one of Ellen's first decluttering jobs. When this history comes to the attention of the police, Ellen decides that she needs to discover the guilty party before the police set their sights on her.

Ellen's life has been punctuated with some tragic losses and many of those near and dear to her are have narcissistic tendencies, including the "best friend" who initiates Ellen's involvement in the case. Her most loyal supporters are her friend Dodge and her sweet, but depressive son Ben.

The denouement seems a tad rushed, but otherwise, I enjoyed this mystery and my time getting to know Ellen. I'm looking forward to her second adventure.

Full Disclosure--NetGalley and the publisher provided me with a digital ARC of this book. This is my honest review.

An enjoyable lighthearted read, the first of a new series by the wonderful Simon Brett. I'm a big fan of the Fethering mysteries so for me this was a must and I wasn't disappointed. Who would have thought a delclutterer would make such a likeable amateur 'detective ' . I loved it and can see this new series becoming just as popular as the others.

Thank you Netgalley and Severn House for giving me the opportunity to read this.

Ellen Curtis helps people who've run out of space. But she's never had to declutter a corpse...and when she realised that she knew the deceased, she needs to focus on uncovering the truth

Decluttering professional Ellen has seen her fair share of weird, surprising (and sometimes grotesque) things, but sometimes she comes across things that are truly unexpected.

As Ellen is visiting the home of an elderly hoarder, she stumbles across the corpse of a young woman hidden in the layers of mess. Suspicion immediately falls upon the woman’s son, Nate, who has recently absconded from prison and is nowhere to be found. Nate Ogden is a man guilty of many things, but is he truly the killer?

Shortly after finding the body, Ellen discovers a link between the victim and her own past and sets out to uncover the truth, but the shocking revelations that follow may prove too much for Ellen to handle.

—

A fresh take on the classic whodunit, this book was an absolute joy to read. The first thing I noticed was how inviting the writing style was, subtly pulling me in and keeping me happily reading on.

Ellen is a quirky and wonderful main character. She takes on a sort of “social worker” role with her decluttering clients, and early on you can tell she truly cares for each person she meets as she helps them organize their homes and get their lives back on track. As the story progresses, we get a glimpse into Ellen’s past, and it really solidifies her character and how strong of a person she really is. Aside from her job, she’s a relatively “normal” person who is just trying to get by like everyone else, and I really enjoyed that.

Though relatively short, this book is easy to read and very enjoyable. It has its serious and somber moments, but it’s mostly got a neutral/lighthearted tone to it, which was very refreshing for me after reading several emotionally-heavy reads in a row and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good mystery or adult fiction.

Thank you NetGalley and Severn House for the eARC.
In this start of a new series, professional declutterer Ellen Curtis, mother of a grown son and daughter, finds a murdered young woman in a home she's inspecting. The police are quite interested in her, especially when she realizes who the woman was. Ellen had done a large job for the woman's father, but was accused by the daughter of harassing them for money already paid...the money having been deposited into her the daughter's own account. A motive for the murder in the eyes of the police of course! And a good reason for Ellen to do some sleuthing.
This book is more than just a 'cosy'; Ellen is an absolute gem of a character, I love her and her points of view. The decluttering parts are interesting, but even more so are the different reasons why people become hoarders. The mental anguish is portrayed sensitively, as is the subject of mental disease.
Ellen is a strong, caring woman and as we learn of her past, she becomes more and more sympathetic. I really enjoyed this book, the most of any of Mr. Brett's previous books (all of which I enjoyed) and can't wait for the next in the series. Highly recommended.

Ellen Curtis runs a business de cluttering people’s space. Due to her caring nature she is also a part time social worker for some clients. When her best friend Hillary asks her to de clutter a flat for a soon to be released prisoner on her Gradewell program Ellen finds more than clutter with the body of a young woman. Ellen will find this body will bring back disturbing memories and when she also finds the prisoners body her life becomes very complicated. Ellen will find her true friends through her investigation and will put herself in great danger in order to find the truth.
I was given an ARC of this book by Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Severn House Publishers for an advance copy of The Clutter Corpse, the first novel in a projected series about professional declutterer Ellen Curtis.

Ellen is asked to go to a hoarder’s flat in Portsmouth to make it habitable for due to be released murderer Nate Ogden. What she doesn’t expect to find is the dead body of a young woman hidden under the junk. When she realises that she had met the woman before and may come under suspicion she starts to investigate.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Clutter Corpse which is an easy read that hides some twisted motives and personalities. It is told entirely from Ellen’s point of view so the reader can get to know her and identify with her telling of the story. She is an everyday woman with two adult children and a small business “Spacewoman” which seems as much about helping hoarders adjust their mentality as it is about physically decluttering. Only as the story progresses does the reader learn just what a strong woman she is and what she has had to overcome. As the novel is fairly cosy there is no violence in it, just a series of life setbacks. She is the kind of woman you would like as a friend, a beacon of sense surrounded by some decidedly flaky characters, like her mother, children and friends!

The novel has an inviting tone that just encourages the reader to read on. The plot isn’t particularly sophisticated, Ellen Curtis as suspected murderer investigates to clear her name, but the emotions involved are brutal and produce a couple of good twists. I liked the characterisation and thought it was quite acute at points.

The Clutter Corpse is a good read that I have no hesitation in recommending.

Ellen Curtis is a professional declutterer. She helps people get better organised and rid of junk but in the process she can get involved in their lives in unexpected ways. She’s helped to rehouse surplus cats, visits the confused elderly and tries to help a struggling single mother.

Ellen’s best friend is Hilary who works in offender rehabilitation. Hilary seeks her help in sorting out the house belonging to the deceased mother of Nate Ogden, one of her clients who has just been released from prison. This is when Ellen discovers a corpse of a young woman in the Ogden flat, who is vaguely familiar to her. Having served time for killing his girlfriend, suspicion immediately falls on Nate who has now gone missing. As Ellen trawls through her own past, she begins to find unexpected links to the murdered woman. When Hilary goes missing as well, there’s a race to discover the truth.

This is a most entertaining and easy read of the "cosy crime" variety, with twists and turns aplenty. Ellen is a refreshing female protagonist, with contemporary family issues her own that make her appealing.

Apparently this is the first of a new series, and no doubt Ellen will be making a few more grisly discoveries in other people’s hoards in the future. I look forward to reading about them.

(Many thanks to NetGalley for the ARC)

Everyone wants to pare down their possessions, to live a clutter free life and that’s where Ellen Curtis comes in. Ellen has come across some pretty bizarre and nasty stuff cleaning out her clients closets, but finding a dead body is a first. Suspicion for the woman’s death falls on her son, who’s recently been released from prison. Ellen isn’t so sure that Nate is the killer and begins looking into his mother’s past for someone else who may have had reasons to want her dead. Wow, if you’re house is so cluttered you can hide a dead body, I guess you do need professional help!