The Hanging in the Hotel by Simon Brett

The Hanging in the Hotel

Review of the novel The Hanging in the Hotel by Simon Brett

Published by Allison & Busby Ltd in 2004.

Cost: £15.99

ISBN 0-333-90853-8 (Hardback Edition – 374 pages)

Simon Brett is currently the President of the Detection Club that supports and promotes British Crime Writers; taking up the position in 2000. He has written a number of stories and has developed several leading characters that present themselves in his series of books. The Hanging in the Hotel is book three in the Fethering Mysteries series.

This is a crime that is solved by two middle-aged ladies, Jude (whose surname is never disclosed) and Caron Shedden, both divorcees and in their 50’s. The majority of the action takes place at Hopwick Country House Hotel, owned by Suzy Longthorne, a onetime celebrity, that still has her looks and knows how to run an exclusive country hotel. The story focuses on a function held at the hotel for an organisation called ‘The Pillars of Sussex’ – a group of solicitors that raise funds for the local community - when one of the group is found hanging from his four-poster bed the following day. It is Jude that finds the body of Nigel Ackford and has reason to believe he has been murdered, but the police believe the evidence points towards a suicide.

The narrative revolves around that fact that no one takes Jude’s theories seriously and the fact that the local police seem rather incompetent. Brett decides not to present the police investigation to the reader, but we are made aware of some strange aspects to their enquiry, which do to their failure to follow-up, have a serious impact on the murder investigation. Prior to his death the victim gave his mobile phone to his girlfriend as she had lost her own, and planning to get a new one for himself. These days it would be impossible to consider an individual managing their daily routine without a mobile phone, but it was similar in 2004. So, you have to ask why the police make no enquiry as to establishing the whereabouts of Ackford’s mobile phone; this is a serious mistake and has grave consequences on the solution to the murder. It is three-quarters of the way through the book that Jude finds out that someone has been ringing Ackford’s mobile phone and the story immediately takes a serious change of direction.

Although there are lots of twists and turns and red herrings presented by Brett as he proves his skills as an excellent writer, we find the police make another serious error, or Simon Brett makes a writer's error. On page 177 Jude decides to discuss her findings with Inspector Goodchild, providing the name of a guest staying at the hotel on the night of the murder, but the inspector’s comments are:

“Miss Longthorne told me he had been there as soon as I asked her whether any other people had been staying on the premises”

However, on page 191, Suzy is stunned when Jude knows that her husband was at the hotel on the night of the murder; followed up by the husband (Rick) on page 224:

“Jude, just take my word for it – my presence at the hotel must be kept a secret”

It is very clear that no one has told the police that Rick was staying at the hotel.

Apart from these minor errors the story is a good murder mystery read. There is a lot of intrigue and the implied power that senior members of The Pillars of Sussex have over the local community is managed well. I like the way that Brett manages conversation between his characters, doing away with the need to repeat spoken words, opting for the style: ‘Jude confirmed what had just been said’, or ‘Jude agreed with Carol’. In a story that has a lot of dialogue, the inferred conversation moves the reader on to the next aspect of the story.

The story concludes with an unexpected revelation as to the murderer on page 364, a possible but least likely suspect, which the police should have made a suspect very early on in their investigation and one that Jude considered likely early in the narrative.

This story is Simon Brett at his best, it would have to score well with readers and made me want to seek out the other books in The Fethering Mysteries series. Rating: 4 stars

Dr James Sheppard

11th February 2015