"The Witness at the Wedding" by Simon Brett

Being that THE WITNESS AT THE WEDDING is my first exposure to any of Simon Brett’s prolific literary works, and also being that the man shares his surname with my favorite all-time baseball playing great, I must say my impression of this mystery was immensely more grand than I initially expected.

THE WITNESS AT THE WEDDING, for starters, revolves all the way around the impending marriage of Pascale “Gaby” Martin to Stephen Seddon.  Stephen is the son of Carole Seddon, neighbor and friend to Jude; whom together, the two ladies, sleuths in previous Fethering Mysteries, provide the investigative arm for this mystery within a mystery.

What I mean by this is simple.  Brett has given the reader the standard murder mystery found in any number of deductive tales, along with a mysterious family, Gaby’s family, who oddly exude a stealth presence that says ‘no’ to any affable conversation and personable sharing – as would be standard in situations such as engagements, weddings, and the like.

Carole Seddon views this as strange and uncomfortable (trying to hold up a conversation with Howard and Marie Martin is the clichéd one-legged stool), but more immediately pressing troubles for her lie in the inevitable renewed contact with her ex-husband David, a man she has seen neither in years, nor desired to see ever again.  They have spoken since the divorce, but only as seldom as needed.

Carole’s best friend Jude, meanwhile, plays host to Gita Millington; who, on the surface, has nothing to do with the actual mystery; but in the end, provides a valuable service in the solving of the crime.  Gita is a journalist who despaired to a failed suicide attempt.  Her talents and expertise prove invaluable to Carole and Jude as the story progresses.

Jude also manages to attend to the physically-ailing needs of Gaby Martin, who secretively comes to her with the impinging pain within her back – something Jude discovers – and Gita uncovers through her investigative skills as a journalist – stems from the wedding and the stealth manner the entire Martin family wish to proceed and continually seem to operate.

Then, on the evening of the engagement party, there is a murder; and it is a crime eerily reminiscent of a death that happened thirty-one years earlier.  Is it somehow connected to Gaby’s flat being burgled? Nothing was stolen, but her personal files were perused. Carol and Jude steadily pick away at the suspects and unravel the clues to fit these decades-old pieces of the puzzle together for a crime that haunts the Martin family even today.

I supposed the thing I enjoyed most about THE WITNESS AT THE WEDDING was Brett’s style, his subtle style and writing a non-typical formulaic mystery.  Yes, all the elements are present here, i.e. murder, suspects, motive – or, in this case, there is no motive until the mystery of three decades earlier is solved – a police investigator who represents the law, and a sleuth (or two sleuths) who brings the mystery to its logical head.  Yet, in these 329 pages there is the drama, if not comedy, of the two families (the Seddons and the Martins) becoming one in the marriage of their children.  The planning, the awkwardness at wishing to maintain good levels of decorum, the adjustments to make in dealing with differing personalities – Carole is forced into a situation of relating to an ex-husband she’d rather have left behind for good and a daughter-in-law she warms to only as the story unfolds, while Marie Martin seems to be perpetually on the verge of the inevitable emotional breakdown.

THE WITNESS AT THE WEDDING is a solid story because Brett writes it as a drama with the mystery suffused through its plot.  Though I am certainly no aficionado of mysteries, I do believe it is one laid out in such a fashion as to actually be solved by the reader – not easily, as nothing worthwhile is ever easy, but rather as a challenging puzzle anyone who can deduce all the pieces, grand or minute, and fit them into a picture every reader can see.