The sitcom House-Home was a mainstay of the TV schedules once upon a time, and in an attempt to cash-in on nostalgia, the nearest theatre to Fethering is hosting a stage-play version, reuniting most of the surviving cast members for not desperately entertaining night of light entertainment.

Jude is curious to attend, as she knew the leading actor, Drake Purslow, once upon a time, but she doesn’t get the chance to speak to him. When she heads to his dressing room after the show, she finds him dead on the floor, hit on the head by a prop computer that fell on him. Although if it was an accident, why was there a footprint in the blood on the floor?

Jude is convinced it was murder and soon she and her partner in sleuthing Carole are in the hunt to track down another murderer…

The Fethering Mysteries is now Simon Brett’s longest running series, this being the twenty-second title featuring Jude and Carole. Those of you who have read the series will know what to expect. Simon doesn’t take any risks with these stories, and are, to an extent, pretty close in structure to the traditional US cosy – namely Jude and Carole keep sticking their noses in until they trip over the murderer.

Having said that, Simon does this exceptionally well. I could do with a little development with Jude and Carole – they are still pretty much the same characters as they were in book one, and I’m not sure why we need to be reminded about Carole’s brief fling with Ted the landlord when that story never seems to go anywhere. But that familiarity works well, as you don’t need desperately long introductions. And bonus points for having the dead body appear by the end of chapter one!

A huge plus here, though, that makes this one of the best Fethering books, is Simon mining his many experiences behind the scenes in TV comedy. I’d love to know how much is drawn from his own life and how much is made up. Some characters do seem rather familiar, and this background is mined to provide a highly enjoyable background to the story.

All in all, if you want an enjoyable read that doesn’t outstay its welcome, you could do an awful lot worse than to take a trip to Fethering.