Jude and Carole try to solve a murder among the horsey set, amidst a series of mutilating attacks on mares in the area.

This is a pretty standard cozy mystery. Events of note:

-Jude has an ethical dilemma.
-Carole worries about trouble in her son’s fledgling marriage.
-A recurring character gets stabbbed.
-Carole and Jude do not solve the murder. One of them just happens to be present when the guilty party confesses.
-Carole bets on a horse.

I was more than usually irritated by the duo’s presumption that they have the right to disturb crime scenes and break into property owned by others. The last third of the book dragged, and I skimmed until a) I found out what was going on with Carole’s son and b) which was much less interesting, I found out who committed the murder.

Normally I would say to listen to the audiobook to soak up the lovely voice of Geoffrey Howard (aka Ralph Cosham), and I did listen to the first two thirds, but I switched to the ebook so I could skim to the the end. ( )

Brett, Simon. The Stabbing in the Stable. Fethering No. 7. Berkley, 2006.
Fethering is one of those quaint English towns with a very high murder rate that nobody seems to notice. The American version is the Cabot Cove of Murder, She Wrote. Two retired women, Jude and Carol, stumble into body after body, and after a while, figure out who done it. Simon Brett is an old hand at the cozy murder mystery, and he brings to it a little more character development, social consciousness, and understated satire than most other cozy writers can manage. This time Jude and Carol discover, not only the titular body in the stable but a variety of people whose lives need fixing and one person whose life is irredeemable. Brett writes the perfect bedtime mystery. Agatha Christie never did it better. 4 stars. ( )

Good. A little icky with the psychopathy. I liked the trip to the horse races. ( )

very lightweight cozy. Less about equestrian activities than about thinly drawn characters. not recommended. ( )

#7 in the Fethering series. Jude arrives at a local stables to work on healing a horse to find the co-owner of the stables, Walter Fleet, stabbed to death in the horseyard. Jude has the impression that someone has just left the exercise yard, as a back gate slams shut. I enjoy these variants on the cozy village theme featuring Carole Seddon, retired public servant, and her neighbour Jude, healer, yoga teacher etc. Jude and Carole can't resist investigating this murder right on their doorstep. In addition there appears to be someone, known locally as the Horse Ripper, injuring mares. Young Imogen Potten is convinced that the horse that she exercises at the stables is a potential target. Jude enjoys introducing Carole to the delights of gambling at the races. Nothing startling about this book - just a comfortable, cozy read. ( )