Welcome to my official website
I am Simon Brett, the writer responsible for the Charles Paris, Mrs Pargeter, Fethering and Blotto & Twinks series of crime novels. I was very honoured to be awarded an OBE in the 2016 New Year’s Honours ‘for services to literature’. Round the same time I was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, thus providing me with some more letters to put after my name. Then back in 2014 I was presented with The CWA Diamond Dagger, one of the highest accolades in the crime writing world. My writing also includes comedy in radio and television series such as No Commitments and After Henry. I am very fortunate to make a living (most of the time) from something I would do anyway. I can’t remember a time when I didn’t want to write. I still do, and I want to do it better.
I am, incidentally, not to be confused with Simon Brett, the wood engraver. I occasionally meet people who say how fortunate I am to be able not only to write but also to create such skilful and beautiful wood engravings. Sadly, I have no aptitude at all for the visual arts. Should you wish to find the other, artistic Simon Brett, his website is:
www.simonbrett-woodengraver.co.uk.
But here on mine, by clicking on the relevant links, you will be able to find out more about me and my writing.
Mrs Pargeter's Patio
A bizarre discovery right under Mrs Pargeter's patio turns a quiet and sunny June morning into a thrilling hunt for answers in this new instalment of the light-hearted and entertaining Mrs Pargeter mystery series.
When widow Mrs Pargeter decides to have her morning coffee on the patio of her mansion in Chigwell, her intention is to admire her beautiful garden in peace and quiet. Little does she expect one of the patio's paving slabs to crack in two, depositing her on the ground - and revealing a human skull with a neat hole in the middle of its forehead!
Not wanting to bother the police just yet, Mrs Pargeter decides to save them some trouble and starts investigating the curious find herself. And who better to assist than her late husband's 'business associates', private investigator Truffler Mason and chauffeur Gary?
The trio are soon certain that a murder has been committed and the body disposed of under some convenient building works. But who is the mysterious victim? And more importantly, who put the body under Mrs Pargeter's patio?
Mrs Pargeter and her friends must find out the truth and soon, before the finger of suspicion points in an unthinkable direction: towards the late, great Mr Pargeter, whose business dealings Mrs P remains - naturally! - in blissful ignorance of...