Mrs Pargeter’s Pound of Flesh

Mrs. Pargeter doesn't much like diets. She never felt any need to change her own pleasingly ample figure, but she's happy enough to accompany her slimming-obsessed friend Kim Thurrock for a few days' stay at the exclusive Brotherton Hall health spa. There's one condition, however. Mrs. Pargeter must receive a special "allergy treatment" featuring the choice delicacies of a cordon bleu chef and an excellent wine list. Suitably assured of rich food and drink, she relaxes and looks forward to a luxurious rest. Until ... she sees two men wheeling away a young girl's body. Never one to let a murder go unsolved, Mrs. Pargeter sets off on a dangerous trail of inquiry through the pretensions and occasional charlatanism of the health-and-fitness game. It's a trail that brings her up against many of her late husband's "business associates" - among them, the lugubrious private eye Truffler Mason, journalist Ellie Fenchurch, Brotherton Hall's manager "Ankle-Deep" Arkwright, surgical specialist "Jack the Knife," and the enigmatic Stan the Stapler. But can she trust them all, or were some involved in the notorious betrayal of the late Mr. Pargeter summed up in the one ominous word "Streatham"? In typically unflappable style, Mrs. Pargeter rides through the investigation - from Brotherton Hall to London's King's Cross, through Cambridge University to a Dead Sea mud bath - in search of the villain. Justice will prevail. One way or another, Mrs. Pargeter will get her pound of flesh. The fourth excursion for this irrepressible widow, Mrs. Pargeter's Pound of Flesh is bound to bring even more enthusiastic fans to Simon Brett's masterly series of mysteries. From Publishers Weekly The late Mr. Pargeter left his widow pots of money and his address book, "a compendium of contacts which could procure a surprising range of unconventional services." When a young friend wants a slimmer self with which to welcome her husband (a former employee of the late Mr. Pargeter) home from jail, Mrs. P. uses her new sources not only to get them a free sojourn at a health spa, but also to assist in her investigation of some peculiar corpses she encounters there. Brett makes the most of the milieu, serving up delicious descriptions of "Dead Sea Mud Bath" treatments and "Mind Over Fatty Matter" products. There's even an attempted murder using a passive exercise machine. Although Brett's Charles Paris mysteries offer superior characterization, this third to feature Mrs. Pargeter (after Mrs. Presumed Dead ) is consistently witty and convincing. Readers will gobble it up, especially its six happy resolutions. Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Kirkus Reviews Melita Pargeter, that impossibly well-connected underworld widow (Mrs. Pargeter's Package, etc.), checks into the Brotherton Hall fat farm, along with her friend Kim Thurrock, and finds surprises unthinkable outside Brett's world of high comedy--from the cordon bleu diet she's secretly allowed, to the number of Brothertons tied into a botched burglary in Streatham that her late husband masterminded, and to the sudden death of anorexic client Jenny Hargreaves, whose improbably thin corpse promptly disappears. The death is clearly tied to self-promoting author Sue Fisher's Mind Over Fatty Matter diet empire--and also, just as clearly, to the Streatham job. A gossamer plot beefed up with the heavy jocosity Brett reserves for Mrs. P. and her raffish criminal cohorts. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. From Library Journal Plump Mrs. Pargeter accompanies her friend to a "fat farm" but with no intentions of losing weight. Instead, she enjoys the attentions of its owner, not to mention the full talents of the resort's gourmet chef. Quite accidentally, she stumbles upon the corpse of a young woman who seemingly died of anorexia. The ever-curious Mrs. Pargeter sets out to discover the facts surrounding the suspicious death. Enlisting the help of her dead husband's associates from the underworld, she winds her way through charlatans and impostors and toward a dangerous confrontation. Author Brett's background in radio serves well in his narration of his novel. Richly drawn characters, fine tension, and unbeatable humor are delightfully enriched with his reading. For all mystery collections. Susan B. Lamphier, Somerville P.L., Mass. Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.