Simon Brett

Ellen Curtis runs her own business as a declutterer, helping people who are running out of space. When Ellen stumbles across the body of a woman in an over-cluttered flat, suspicion immediately falls on the deceased homeowner's son, who has recently absconded from prison. No doubt Nate Ogden is guilty of many things - but is he really the killer?

The Clutter Corpse

Moray Lyle McIntosh

Ellen, is the SpaceWoman, an expert on decluttering and helping people with hoarding tendencies. As a favour to a friend she visits a new client only to find a body amongst the clutter and chairs of an old woman's life. Ellen gets drawn further into the mystery as personal connections are revealed and further bodies found.

"Cosy" mysteries, i.e. those with less violence than other crime novels, usually with plenty of humour and rural settings, are one of my comfort readers because in general it's all about the puzzle rather than the murder. Unfortunately, the puzzle is rather lacklustre in this one. Although Ellen find the body in the first few pages it's not until more than 60% through the book that the next plot point emerges and it's all rather simple and predictable. The majority of the book is taken up by episodes in Ellen's personal and private life but instead of helping to create an engaging protagonist, it seems like the author himself becomes more and more intrusive. Do not look at The Man Behind the Curtain. Except it's difficult not to. Encountering the line "The process of a woman's aging is different from a man's. Perhaps we have more signposts on the road. Perhaps, too, that's why men are so crap at asking for directions" (Ha, ha, ha.) I was unsurprised to remove myself that this is a female protagonist written by a man. And one with a tendency to write his female characters in a tone that mixes scorn with condescension. Most of Ellen's clients are women unable to care for themselves and even when the men are the hoarders it's the women in their lives that are condescended to and dominated. Brett may be attempting a sympathetic commentary on patriarchy but that's not how it comes across, his women look weak and/or selfish (see Ashleigh, Dorothy, Jeanette, Kerry, Hooks, Fleur...) with little internal life and no complex characteristics. Lots of the men are written like this too but they also have pretty and the male side characters of Oliver, Dodge and Ben show that he CAN do empathy and complexity. Even Ellen is more a set of thoughts and tropes than a person, her inner voice repetitive such as the constant reminders that she is no longer attracted to former flame Philip, every time they meet, speak or he enters her thoughts. The issue is rather highlighted in the absurd idea that a man would get a 14 year service for killing his girlfriend during a heated argument. Mr Brett, you have no idea. It wouldn't be murder. It wouldn't be 14 years.

The narrative is dilatory, skipping between past and present with the mystery barely holding it together. Much more time is devoted to long flashbacks and episodes with Ellen's clients, no-one of which helps to move the story along and feels like a lot of paying in a rather short book. I made it to the end with a lot of eye-timing and no surprise. Not for me.

NB. Why on earth is it necessary to specify that a young single mother who lives in social housing in a deprived area and is written without an ounce of pity ("As is common with *girls like her*, Ashleigh didn't want to breastfeed". Girls like her?!) has a child who whose "appearance showed him to be mixed race. WTF?!

The Clutter Corpse

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