Hanging in the Hotel FROM THE PUBLISHER
"The Hopwickle Country House Hotel once boasted to a clientele of the rich and famous. But hard times call for hard measures, so owner Suzy Longthorne throws open her doors to welcome the Pillars of Sussex - an elitist group of local businessmen whose social gatherings revolve around drinking and off-color commentary." "Short staffed, Suzy recruits Jude as a waitress to help keep the spirits flowing. But the next morning, Jude discovers that one spirit has flown away for good, when she finds the body of a young man - supposedly an initiate for Pillar membership - hanging from the beam of a four-poster bed." The police are quick to rule the death a suicide. The Pillars of Sussex deny that the victim was ever considered for membership. Suzy just wants to forget the incident ever happened. But Jude knows that both parties have something to hide - so she enlists a reluctant Carole to nurture her relationship with a flirtatious Pillar in the hope that they'll topple him over and uncover the truth.
FROM THE CRITICS
Publishers Weekly
Prolific British author Brett's fifth Fethering mystery (after 2003's Murder in the Museum) featuring Carole Seddon offers comfortable pacing and plenty of plot twists. Carole's pal Jude Nichols bails out an old friend by waiting tables at the Hopwicke Country House Hotel, once the playground of the very rich and very famous. Hopwicke and its owner, former model Suzy Longthorne, have fallen on hard times since 9/11, and the hotel has been forced to accept a far less sophisticated clientele, like the Pillars of Sussex men's club. The Pillars have a long and spotty history of philanthropy, but are far better known as a group of carousing gentlemen with friends in high places. When a possible inductee is found hanged in his room, only Jude believes it wasn't a suicide. The Pillars all tell the same story, the police are convinced with little investigation and even Suzy, who found a threatening note before the inductee's death, suddenly clams up. Jude turns to Carole, and the two try to untangle a tightening web of lies. The entertaining supporting cast includes a chef with attitude and a slew of solicitors, one of whom is maddeningly smitten with Carole. Agent, Jane Chelius. (Aug. 3) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
A convivial group of misogynists check into the Hopwicke Country House Hotel. One checks out early. Sometime around 3 a.m., Nigel Ackford, after drinking way too much as a guest at the Pillars of Sussex men-only dinner, retires to his room in the posh hotel owned by former model Suzy Longthorne. Kerry, the teenager filling in as a chambermaid until a big break makes her a rock star, discovers him swinging from the four-poster, his head decidedly askew. Eager to quash any bad publicity, Suzy, her ex-hubby, former rocker turned TV pop music critic Rick, Suzy's celebrity chef Max, Pillars clubmen Donald Chew and Bob Hartson, and the West Sussex constabulary all insist it's suicide. But Suzy's friend Jude, the self-appointed Fethering area crime-stopper who'd been helping out the short-staffed (and -funded) Suzy, immediately suspects murder. With the assistance of her neighbor Carole Seddon (The Torso in the Town, 2002, etc.), Jude eventually establishes a timetable of who was sleeping where, when, and with whom, and assigns motives to everybody, ranging from a cover-up of homosexuality to revenge for thwarted stardom to solicitor duplicity. There'll be another death, a vexing attempt at seduction, and a first meeting with her son's fiancee for Carole to deal with before the red herrings are dispatched in a burst of silliness. Smatterings of the Brett wit don't compensate for gaping plot holes and emphatically distasteful attitudes toward homosexuality. Agent: Jane Chelius/Jane Chelius Agency
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