I haven’t forgotten that I’m reading Bill Crider’s Sheriff Dan Rhodes series, but Simon Brett’s Mrs. Pargeter books are coming in faster through the library system. And, after just reading Emily Sullivan’s A Death on Corfu, it came as a surprise that Mrs. Pargeter’s Package is also set on that island.

Melita Pargeter knows what it’s like to mourn the death of a husband, so she agrees to accompany her friend Joyce Dover on a two-week package tour to Corfu after the death of Joyce’s husband. It’s not exactly the style Mrs. Pargeter is used to traveling in, but she’ll do it for a bereaved friend. But, Joyce’s strange behavior, and her request for Mrs. Pargeter to carry a package leads Melita to wonder if she really knows her friend. She even wonders if Joyce has a drinking problem.

When Mrs. Pargeter finds her traveling companion dead, she knows the police will want to call it the suicide of a bereaved widow. But, Mrs. Pargeter suspects it was murder. Fortunately, Mr. Pargeter had so many men assigned to look after his widow that she can even find help in Greece.

I liked this book so much more than the previous one in the series. Although, she’s not in London, Mrs. Pargeter still can call on friends for assistance. And, the cast is much smaller than in the previous book. Also, our amateur sleuth sees Corfu in a different light. She has an awareness of new complexities, “of the difference between the tourist surface and reality of Corfu.” There are interconnections between the villagers that don’t show on the surface.

While Mrs. Pargeter wants to prove Joyce Dover was murdered, she finds that the secrets and mysteries in the village go much further back than just the recent death. Mrs. Pargeter’s Package is a much deeper, more interesting mystery than the first two in the series.

Simon Brett’s website is https://www.simonbrett.com/

Mrs. Pargeter’s Package by Simon Brett. Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1990. ISBN 9780684192864 (hardcover), 224p.

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