Waste of a Life by Simon Brett
12/6/22; 192 pages
Severn House
Decluttering mysteries #3
Waste of a Life by Simon Brett is a highly recommended mystery and the third installment of his entertaining decluttering mystery series.
Ellen Curtis is the
owner and sole employee of SpaceWoman, a decluttering company in
Chichester, England. She doesn't do major cleaning out of hoarders
houses, she helps people overwhelmed with stuff organize what they have.
When Social Services asks her to bring order to the home of
Cedric Waites, she agrees to work with him. Waites is an elderly recluse
who needs to have his home decluttered and repaired in order to live in
it. Ellen has to be persistent to finally get Waites to allow her in
and eventually start to get the repairs and organization that he needs
done. She is shocked and sad to arrive one day and find Waites dead. It
is even more shocking when she learns that the police believe he was
poisoned.
Along the way Ellen
tackles some other interesting cases, does some sleuthing and
questioning on her own, and learns of a rivals campaign to smear her.
She is also dealing with her two grown children and problematic mother.
This is lighthearted entertainment rather than a heart-stopping
thriller. The appeal is in Ellen's personable and upbeat narration and
descriptions of the people she is working for and events she's
experiencing.
As you're reading it
may seem that the other decluttering cases are just filler, but they
actually provide information pertinent to several mysteries. The pace is
quick and Waste of a Life can easily be read in a day. Although this works as a standalone, after reading it I'm definitely interested in reading the first two in the series, The Clutter Corpse and An Untidy Death. Ellen is a great character and this could easily lead to another book in the series.
Disclosure:
My review copy was courtesy of Severn House via NetGalley.
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