Mrs. Pargeter's Package

Mrs Pargeter #3

by Simon Brett

With the help of some unsavory associates, Mrs. Pargeter investigates the bizarre death of the recently widowed Joyce Dover, tracing Joyce's supposedly dead husband from South America, to England, to Corfu.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Cozy Mystery, Crime, Audiobook, Cozy, British Literature

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1990

About the author

Simon Brett is a prolific British writer of whodunnits.

He is the son of a Chartered Surveyor and was educated at Dulwich College and Wadham College, Oxford, where he got a first class honours degree in English.

He then joined the BBC as a trainee and worked for BBC Radio and London Weekend Television, where his work included 'Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy' and 'Frank Muir Goes Into ...'.

After his spells with the media he began devoting most of his time to writing from the late 1970s and is well known for his various series of crime novels.

He is married with three children and lives in Burpham, near Arundel, West Sussex, England. He is the current president of the Detection Club.

Reviews

[Kimberly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love Mrs. Pargeter

This is my third go round with Mrs. Pargeter. Her no nonsense, everything can be managed attitude is endearing and, as usual, she is correct. Calling upon a multitude of old business associates if her deceased husband, she always finds a way Funny. Endearing. Light. Charming.

[Ellen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mrs. Pargeter's Package (Mrs. Pargeter, #3) by Simon Brett.

Simon Brett is a wonderful author. He has the knack of blending in the old with the new characters and keeping them all in their place. along with that talent S.B.'s imagination for a new mystery with each book knows no bounds. I've read and enjoyed almost all the Fethering series and decided to take a walk down memory land with his Mrs. Pargeter series.
Mrs. Pargeter and Joyce Dover (a friend) decide to take a trip to Greece together. Mrs. Pargeter has been widowed a while now after a loving marriage with her husband. Joyce has recently lost her husband and is having some difficulty in adjusting to being without her husband. Joyce asks Mrs. Pargeter to hold on to a package of hers before venturing off.
That package may come in handy as a clue especially after Joyce is found dead in her villa. The authorities rule it as a suicide, but Mrs. Pargeter isn't so sure. And now Mrs. Pargeter's sleuthing skills begin to come in handy along with some useful items left to her by her late husband.

I just trust this author to bring me along on his journey into another fun mystery. I love this book and this series. Thank you Simon Brett.

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This third of the Mrs. Pargeter series delivers a challenging enough murder up close and personal as it occurs in her own resort accommodations. The first death is her traveling companion from England she had joined for a vacation in Greece. Her careful observations of the scene and knowledge that the mineral water they had been served was drugged led her to conduct a thorough investigation the police were not willing to do. The official decision was death by suicide since the lady was recently widowed.
Mrs. Pargeter taps into her late husband's wealth of helpers and the action is very much over the top, bordering on slapstick at times. Nevertheless, Brett delivers the fun as well.

Loan from Friend- thank you!

[Pamela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mrs Pargeter is on a package holiday to Corfu with her friend Joyce Dover. Of course, Mrs P is used to finer things, but she is prepared to make sacrifices for the sake of her friend who has been recently widowed. However she starts to feel things are not quite right - Joyce asks her to take a package through customs for her, and acts very strangely on arrival in the taverna - and when Joyce is found dead in their villa, Mrs Pargeter knows she will need some help to unravel her secrets.

This was great fun and Mrs Pargeter is such a brilliant character that she carries the reader through, even at those over-the-top moments when things slip well past the believable. I really enjoy meeting the acquaintances of the late Mr Pargeter and was delighted that the lugubrious Truffler Mason reappeared in this story. The little Corfiot village was nicely described and the characters were interesting.

The plot itself was rather neatly done, but the resolution of the dangerous predicament at the end was a bit weak and disappointing. Still this is a lovely series and I’m already looking forward to the next adventure for Mrs Pargeter.

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series has really grown on me. I can't claim that they're great mysteries or insightful novels, but they are a lot of fun and I greatly enjoy spending a few hours in Mrs Pargeter's company.

(Brett does a great job reading his novels on audiobook, so if you're into those I especially recommend this series.)

[Eden · Rating 5 out of 5]

2022 bk 78. This is my favorite, so far, of the Mrs. Pargeter books. In this the character is more self assured, able to transcend language and gender barriers, to take on the murder of an Englishwoman on holiday. Even the seizure of her passport doesn't faze her one little bit. A most enjoyable read and a nice look at the island of Corfu.

[Verity W · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don’t like these as much as the Charles Paris books but they’re still fun, easy to read mysteries. This one is set in Greece and has a death that everyone else is determined to pass off as suicide.

[Jill · Rating 4 out of 5]

I do like reading this series, as I find it is impossible not to like the character of Mrs Pargeter.
In this book she is invited to take a holiday with a friend who has recently lost her husband. Having had that experience herself, she accepts. However to her a package holiday which has been arranged is, rather slumming it, as she always travels first class herself. Still, she is determined to make this a good holiday, to lift her friend's spirit. Obviously, anything involving Mrs Pargeter, is never straight-forward. Even on the first day she finds out that she really doesn't all there is to know about her friend, and worries about her friend's drinking habit.
I'd say this does give us more of an insight as to what Mr Pargeter did for a living, leaving his wife well provided for, both with wealth and associates.

[Les · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mrs Pargeter goes to Corfu. Having found that suburban developments aren’t her preferred residence Mrs Pargeter agrees to accompany a recently widowed fried to Corfu

As this is set in the 80s security etc is more lax than we moderns are accustomed to

Upon their arrival her friend seems to suffer from extreme fear and upset leaving Mrs Pargeter uneasy
Alas it seems she was onto something as her friend appears to commit suicide their first night in town

The locals seem determined to sweep it under the rug but Mrs Pargeter doesn’t accept the judgment and activates her merry band of former criminals to resolve the situation

The story has lots of twists and surprises I didn’t see coming

[Robyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Discounted | More obvious than the first two, and Mrs Pargeter is now perfectly willing to commit crimes and discuss crimes, which she hadn't done in the previous books. These aspects make it less fun than the first couple, but it's still an enjoyable read.

[Ladie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series just keeps getting better. The characters and the plot were engaging and well-developed. The scenery was beautifully described, which I should know since I just returned from a trip that included a short excursion to Corfu. Most importantly, the big reveal and the dénouement were skillfully written. If, like me, you find the first of this series a disappointment, I suggest you persevere. Mrs Pargeter improves as she goes along.

[Louise Culmer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mrs Pargeter is on a package holiday to Corfu with her friend Joyce. Not really the type of holiday Mrs a Pargeter is used to, but things start to get interesting when Joyce is found dead, an apparent suicide. But naturally Mrs Pargeter thinks otherwise.
Quite an enjoyable mystery with Mrs Pargeter once more being helped out by various mysterious former colleagues of her late husband.

[Lillian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Narrated by the author, Simon Brett.

[Orinoco Womble (tidy bag and all) · Rating 3 out of 5]

A better read than the first two Pargeter novels. The characters are more credible, and I've lowered my expectations of Brett as a novelist and taken it for what it is--a mild divertissement. Many of the characters in this installment are so two-dimensional they don't even have names (such as the Blonde Secretaries); Mr Brett enjoys dealing with The British Stereotype. The plot is a bit better woven, though the reader of course is streets ahead of Mrs P. this time.

Mrs P's Cofu holiday starts out looking like it might be dire: a depressed travelling companion, a horrendous package holiday peopled with cardboard cutouts, and a taverna that doesn't bill you till the end of your stay (when you won't quibble, just so you can get back home). Excitement begins when she sleeps far too deeply and wakes up sans roomie--or rather, with only the roomie's inanimate corpse. Of course Mrs P. takes it upon herself to clear up the mystery, with the help of a couple of her husband's old friends who "would give their lives for her if necessary." (Yeah, yeah. Mr Brett does enjoy stretching the point about "honour among thieves"...apparently he doesn't know that even a dead don is...dead and gone.)
Entertaining, and the resolution of the mystery if not credible is at least acceptable, but again the "get me out of this" denouement is classic patched-on "finish it quickly" Brett. It's an okay read, if you don't expect Dorothy Sayers or even Dick Francis quality.

[Rob Smith, Jr. · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this book not written well but with a very good mystery. This is another Simon Brett I haven't cared for. Judging by the reviews, I'm missing something. I find the main character uneven. Inconsistent dialogue, internal and external. It's rare for me to read a book and find the main character hard to understand.

Not connecting to the main character had the rest of the book hard to connect to. I wasn't nutty about any of the characters. I found all of them to be very loose or stereotyped. This made the rest of the book tough to get through. Brett certainly wrote a lot about the main, supporting and minor characters, but I found all of that writing to be empty.

The plotting is well done and, as written above, a very good mystery included. The writing putting it all together is just not strong enough to me to make the whole work.

This would have been an outstanding book in different hands. Though, in view of other reviewers, I am in a minority.

Bottom line: I don't recommend this book. 4 out of 10 points.

[Vic Lauterbach · Rating 3 out of 5]

Simon Brett is always entertaining and this series is no exception. I prefer his 'normal' novels (like the Feathering series) to his parodies (like the Blotto and Twinks series) because in the latter he gets carried away with silliness. Too much of that doesn't mix well with detection (when I want silliness at its best, I just reread a Wodehouse novel). In this one, he serves up a clever plot and characters who get the job done even if they aren't all memorable. Mrs. Pargeter falls into this category. She's not a great character, but she's likable and effective. Best of all, she's no Miss Marple clone, but a forceful lady who makes the most of her late husband's criminal associates. With decent supporting characters and an interesting case, this is a solid amateur sleuth outing. The only weakness is an ending that's a bit too neat. I may not read this entire series, but I can recommend this one to anyone who likes the genre.

[Consta · Rating 3 out of 5]

I confess I did not enjoy this one quite as much as the first two, but it was still worth the reading.

I will definitely be reading on in the series.

[Clare · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just love Simon Brett novels. This was entertaining, well-written and a decent mystery to boot. I enjoyed the descriptions of Greece as well.

[Ainee Beland · Rating 3 out of 5]

What did I like about this reading?
This is an interesting and different adventure for Mrs. Pargeter as she heads to Corfu with her recently widowed friend. Not exactly up to her usual traveling style; but she plans to make the best of it - till her friend is murdered on their first night there. The local officer says it was suicide but Mrs. P. knows better and suspects a cover-up of some sort; since most of the locals are somehow related, getting to the truth won't be easy. Luckily one of her late husband's "associates" happens to live in the area and had been alerted that she was in the area. With some assistance from him as well as a couple of others back in England, Mrs. Pargeter is slowly getting to the truth.

We also have some interesting insights as to how her late husband got things done and how loyal his "employees" still are as they would do anything for his wife!

Another idea of interest:
The whole idea of marriage and having a partner as opposed to not having a partner is best displayed within the following conversation between Joyce and Melita:
“Oh, well...” Mrs. Pargeter shrugged philosophically. “That's the way things go. I once heard someone say that experience is the comb life gives you after you've lost your hair.”
“Sickening, isn't it? Trouble is, Melita, when you do have the freedom, you don't realize it. I mean, when I was about twenty I could have been having a whale of a time, lots of affairs, no strings, but did I? No, I just spent all my time worrying because nobody appeared to want to marry me. Didn't you find that?”
“Well, not exactly.” Mrs. Pargeter didn't want to elaborate. She had had a vibrantly exciting sex life before she met the late Mr. Pargeter – and indeed a vibrantly exciting sex life throughout their marriage – but she had always believed that sex was a subject of exclusive interest to the participants.
“In my experience,” said Mrs. Pargeter judiciously, “women who always go after unsuitable men do so because deep down they don’t want to commit themselves.”

There you have the gist of what is troubling some women today still; should they play hard to get or give the milk freely and be a cow; I am not phrasing this correctly; to be a ‘nun’ or an experienced damsel…Don't women all now claim that they don't need men for anything? All women do is either reject men or exploit them.—

[Susan in NC · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve enjoyed this series, mostly because of the delightful widow, Mrs. Pargeter, and the various interesting former associates of her deceased husband that we meet in each book.

He was clearly a very successful man who pampered his beloved wife and has left her very well off; he also left his address book full of associates from his criminal career, all of whom remain slavishly loyal to his memory and all he did for them. They were instructed to look out for her and provide her any service or help she required - not because of fear, but loyalty to him. He must have been quite a character, I wish we could meet him!

Anyway, this outing has Mrs. P accompanying a recently widowed friend on a Corfu package holiday - she wryly acknowledges to herself that she’s used to traveling more luxuriously, but she doesn’t want to let down her friend. The long day of travel and first night has our heroine realizing she really doesn’t know her friend very well - and that her friend drinks, a lot. She also asks Mrs. P to carry a package through customs, another red flag.

Mrs P is willing to make the most of the beautiful island, but finds her friend dead in her bed in the morning; it’s been made to look like suicide, but something doesn’t add up, and the local police sergeant is reluctant to investigate her suspicions. She’s determined to find justice for her friend, convinced it was murder.

She investigates, mostly in London, helped again by another former friend of Mr P’s, Truffler, who’s started a detective agency. Another associate, “HRH”, owns an elite and discreet London travel agency that specializes in helping wealthy (and sketchy) patrons that need to escape England, fast. I enjoyed his scenes the most, and hope to see him in future books.

The mysteries in these books are never terribly complex or compelling, although Brett pulls off a few twists. This one banged on a bit for me about 3/4 through, and the climax was rather silly, and I skimmed to the end. I will definitely read the next with my GR group, because they are cozy, lightweight but humorous mysteries, and enjoyable between other books.

[Nolan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Let me stress here at the outset that I love Melita Pargeter. She calls herself “Plump,” and admits that with the increase in her years, the plumpness is increasing to something else. Her late husband found her sizzlingly satisfying in bed, and he never complained about her curves. As a result, she’s entirely happy being who she is. She doesn’t diet, she doesn’t yearn to be some air-brushed celebrity, none of that. She’s just a lovely woman whose intellect ensures that she eventually gets ahead of the bad guys and solves the mystery.

You emphatically don’t need to read the prior books to enjoy this to its full. Each book happens in an entirely different location as though it were the first book.

In this installment, Mrs. Pargeter is off to Grease for two weeks of vacation with a recently widowed friend. They’re on the Greek island of Corfu, and Mrs. Pargeter plans to enjoy herself. But her friend seems intense, anxious, and even depressed. She drops hints that her husband is controlling her even from the grave. If you read this, you’ll understand why that hint matters.

On their second morning on the island, Mrs. Pargeter stumbles on her traveling companion, and the Greek cops say she killed herself. Mrs. Pargeter says no, and with the help of some shady characters from her late husband’s past, she sets out to prove that someone murdered her friend.

This was a quick, fun mystery that I handled between a late Saturday afternoon and early evening. It’s great fun, and the entire series has proven excellent. I’m committed to this series and eager for the next book in a few weeks.

[dnsyl57 · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Mrs Pargeter's Package" is book #3 in the "Mrs Pargeter" series by Simon Brett.

Note: The Kindle book blurb on Goodreads is incorrect. This is the blurb from Fantastic Fiction:
"A trip to Corfu is not Mrs Pargeter's usual idea of a holiday, but keeping a recently widowed friend company overrules her misgivings. But when that friend starts behaving strangely and then is found having apparently committed suicide, Mrs Pargeter resolves to get to the bottom of the mystery."

My thoughts:
An interesting adventure for Mrs Pargeter as she heads to Corfu with her recently widowed friend. Not exactly up to her usual travelling style but she plans to make the best of it - till her friend is murdered the first night there. Local officer says it was suicide but Mrs P. knows better and suspects a coverup of some sort but as most of the locals are somehow related, getting to the truth won't be easy. Luckily one of her late husbands "associates" happens to live in the area and had been alerted that she was in the area. With some assistance from him as well as a couple of others back in England, Mrs Pargeter is slowly getting to the truth.

Some interesting insights as to how her late husband got things done and how loyal his "employees" still are as they would do anything for his wife!

This story took some interesting turns as information was gathered before the killer was revealed and a potentially deadly situation for several characters was resolved

A quick and entertaining read.

[Alan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating 3

An enjoyable enough read with a plot that probably won’t stay long in my memory.
Set in the late 1980’s so no mobile phone’s internet etc made this very much a period novel now.
In the same way that the Ruth Rendall Wexford stories are entertaining but require the reader to go back to an earlier time.
Still the characters I generally enjoyed meeting again, the corfu holiday location was basically sketched in and I don’t think the reader really became immersed in that village and country. It could have been anywhere I thought.

It must be a couple of decades since I read this last, I remember I was on holiday and was in a bookcase holding books that guests could read.
I think I read all 6 available books around the same time, SB has since restarted the series apparently.

The series character did remind me, sort of, of a more human pleasant Agatha Raisin, not sure why tbh.
This time on the re read I also wondered why they have never been picked up for a tv series. It had all the hallmarks of becoming a good cosy mystery movie or tv series.

Overall then a quick easy read that I would probably recommend, just not a memorable read.

[K. East · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the first Simon Brett book I've read and I might have to read another in the series to know what I really think. This third in the series about Mrs. Pargeter, wealthy widow of a man of mysterious business dealings of perhaps questionable legality, is a fairly lighthearted British cozy mystery but full of vocabulary unfamiliar to the American ear. Mrs. Pargeter is an upbeat lady but with a spine of steel, not easily cowled, and always up for a little sleuthing adventure. Her deceased husband's background is populated with a myriad of people -- mostly men -- who would do most anything to help her in recognition of the help her husband gave them in their business endeavors when he was alive. So when she finds herself vacationing in Corfu with a friend who is murdered shortly following their arrival, Mrs. P calls upon a small army of her husband's acquaintances to help her round up the murderers. Some interesting turns in the plot, and Mrs. Pargeter is a feisty, fun protagonist, so I'll probably give another of these a whirl.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the third Mrs Pargeter mystery. I am enjoying this series, although they are quite light and forgettable. Still, the character of Melia Pargeter is fun. A widow, whose husband was obviously a career criminal, who left her with a whole cast of characters who worked for him and are always eager to aid Mrs Pargeter and smooth her path.

In this novel, Mrs Pargeter is off to Corfu with her friend, Joyce, who has recently lost her husband. Mrs Pargeter thinks, at first, that this was a random choice for a trip. However, when Joyce is found dead the authorities are keen to put it down as suicide, while Mrs Pargeter believes it to be murder. Before long, she is happily engrossed in solving the mystery.

The joy of this series is not really a sense of place, but the characters. Apart from a dodgy taverna, we could be anywhere. Mrs Pargeter is such a great central investigator though and I enjoyed spending time in her company.

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brett, Simon. Mrs. Pargeter’s Package. 1990. Mrs. Pargeter No. 3. Pan, 1997.
In Mrs. Pargeter’s Package, Simon Brett takes his redoubtable heroine on vacation to Corfu, where, no surprise, her traveling companion is murdered. The locals would like to pass it off as a suicide, but Mrs. P knows better. The plot moves along at its leisurely cozy pace, adding more than a dollop of local color. As usual, we get to enjoy some of her husband’s grateful underworld business companions as they rally round to help. I doubt that Mr. P could ever live up to the billing he gets in these novels, but it would be fun to have a flashback where we meet him. If you want a relaxing beach read (I know it is December, but you get the idea), Mrs. Pargeter will do nicely. 3.5 stars.

[Eugene · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another good, solid whodunnit from one of the masters. You can almost invariably rely on an entertaining fun read from Simon Brett, and with this entry in the Mrs. Pargeter series he’s spot on. The pages turn easily, the story is crisp and interesting and the denouement satisfying, pretty much the Brett standard of quality.
Mrs. Pargeter accompanies a friend on a junket to Corfu, but no sooner do they arrive than her companion Joyce Dover is found dead in the morning. The Greek police seem mighty anxious to call it a suicide and be done, but Melita Pargeter has doubts, and she won’t stop looking into things until she’s satisfied. And you can take it to the bank that by story’s end both she and we readers will indeed find satisfaction.

[Cynthia Maddox · Rating 5 out of 5]

I forgot how fun these novels are. Published in 1990 it is an entertaining and light read. Mrs. Pargeter was married to Mr Pargeter, who's passed is somewhat of a mystery. However as his widow she appears to inherited the Goodwill of his clientele.

She has degrees with a friend of hers who is just lost her husband. Within 24 hours the friend is dead, unapparent suicide. But nothing gets by Mrs. Pargeter. She confronts the local authorities with her belief that her friend has been murdered. When they blow her off she vows to prove it. From that point on it does not go well.

They just don't know the resources Mrs. Pargeter has at her disposal. And I'm not sure she does either.

Highly entertaining with a surprise twist ending..

[Bells Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Listened to this via Alexa reading a kindle book - the AI/mechanical sounding narration was just ok but the book was fun. It was next in the series and the only way I could find it as the library’s copy was lost. As to the story - widowed Mrs Pargeter is accompanying an old acquaintance who has recently lost her husband to Greece. She thought it was a vacation to help her friend mourn her husband but it turns out her friend wants more information on her husband. When they arrive on Corfu (I so want to go there) the friend is found dead. Is it suicide or murder? Mrs Pargeter is the only one interested in the truth and with the help of her deceased husband’s acquaintances (what in the world did Mr Pargeter do?!?) she gets to the bottom of it all.

[Margaret · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had previously read a Blotto and Twinks book by Simon Brett, and really didn't like it. Blotto was just too dumb. This book, however, I enjoyed. Mrs. Pargeter is a widow whose husband was involved in many shady enterprises. Mrs Pargeter agrees to accompany a recently widowed friend on a trip to Corfu. The friend is murdered the first night, and Mrs Pargeter sets out to find out what happened, assisted by associates of her late husband. The characters are interesting and Mrs Pargeter is fun.