An Untidy Death

by Simon Brett Narrated by Simon Brett

Overview

When Alexandra Richards approaches professional declutterer Ellen Curtis to ask her to help sort out her mother's chaotic flat, Ellen gets the impression Alexandra doesn't like her mother very much. So when Ingrid Richards's body is discovered in her burned-out home, Alexandra's exasperated words don't seem like such a joke. Due to the hazardous state of the victim's over-cluttered residence, the police are inclined to dismiss her death as an unfortunate accident. Ellen's not so sure. Could Alexandra's resentment towards her mother have escalated into outright violence? The more she discovers about the dead woman's remarkable past, the more convinced Ellen becomes that there's something decidedly suspicious about her death. At least she can console herself that clearing out widower Edward Finch's bungalow will be a straightforward job in comparison. But Ellen couldn't be more wrong...

Editorial Reviews

Booklist Starred Review of The Clutter Corpse

Brett fans, along with readers who liked Richard Roper's How Not to Die Alone, will love this quirky, warmhearted mystery

Guardian on The Clutter Corpse

The first in a new series featuring professional tidier-upper Ellen Curtis ... This psychologist in rubber gloves is an engaging narrator

From the Publisher

An intriguing mystery is made more compelling by Brett's sympathetic understanding of human frailties - Daily Mail

A neatly constructed whodunit - Kirkus Reviews

An Untidy Death Simon Brett Brett has a gift for creating vivid, complex characters … cozy fans will be delighted - Publishers Weekly

Daily Mail on The Clutter Corpse

An imaginative plot with a generous quota of surprises ... Highly enjoyable

Kirkus Reviews

2021-06-02
Ellen Curtis, whose profession is decluttering her clients’ homes, cleans up a lot more in her second case.

It’s ironic that Alexandra Richards wants SpaceWoman, Ellen’s company, to clean out her mother’s home in Brighton because Ingrid Richards herself seems to be the main thing clogging her daughter’s life. Ingrid has traveled the world as a flamboyant journalist, but she’s never taken proper responsibility for the daughter her brief relationship with fellow reporter Niall Connor left her with. Now that Niall has married celebrity Daily Mail columnist Grace Bellamy, everyone seems to be well over the birth of Alexandra, leaving Ingrid surrounded by unsorted papers and Alexandra left to solace herself with the smugly lukewarm endearments of computer repairman Walter Rainbird. Meantime, Ellen frets over the welfares of waitress Mary Griffin, whose abusive husband has been imprisoned since trashing her place, and her own children, remote, London-based Juliet and Nottingham Trent student Ben. Brett’s exposition is a model of effortless efficiency. In no time at all, he sketches out Ellen’s fraught relationship with the ex-actress mother she calls Fleur, details the 1986 hostage rescue in Beirut that left Ingrid scarred and BBC cameraman Phil Dickie crippled, traces Ellen’s uphill battle to declutter the household of widowed Edward Finch, who coyly intimates that he may have murdered his wife, kills off Ingrid in a sadly predictable house fire, and hints that her death may not have been accidental.

A neatly constructed whodunit punctuated by series regulars who periodically break in to speak their piece.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940172963421
Publisher:	Dreamscape Media
Publication date:	09/07/2021
Series:	Decluttering Mystery Series , #2
Edition description:	Unabridged

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