The Killing in the Cafe: A Fethering Mystery

Early in British author Brett’s witty 17th mystery featuring Jude Nichol and Carole Seddon (after 2014’s The Tomb in Turkey), the reader learns that Carole is secretly addicted to a TV show featuring nuns and midwives, so she settles down “for an evening of prayer and placentas.” On a more serious note, at Polly’s Cake Shop, a popular eatery in the Sussex town of Fethering, a waitress, who’s also a client of Jude’s healing services, finds a body in the storeroom, but thinks she’s hallucinating. A few weeks later, Jude and Carole witness a body pulled from the sea. Meanwhile, Polly’s owner wants to sell out, and a group of residents, led by the delightfully blimpish Commodore Quintus Braithwaite, want to take it over with a volunteer crew. And the unemotional, uptight Carole goes bonkers over her new granddaughter. As mayhem ensues, Jude and Carole have few clues to go on. Only the low-key ending disappoints. (Mar.)