Sometimes we just need a little candy for the brain. The Inspector and Mrs. Jeffries by Emily Brightwell fits the bill.

I’m not sure how I came across this book. Very possibly it was a free – or nearly free – offering for my Nook. Doesn’t matter. I had never heard of the series – or the author – and Ms. Brightwell wrote something like 30 books in this series alone. I’m not sure how I missed it.

Mrs. Jeffries is the housekeeper for Police Inspector Gerald Witherspoon. The inspector is a kindly man and a good employer. He is well loved by his friends and those who work for him. Unfortunately, he is not the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree. In fact, he reached the position he is in only through the help of his staff.

His housekeeper, cook, housemaid and footman all pitch in to help the inspector solve his cases, but in such a way as to fool him into thinking he did the work.

This first book in the series opens up operating under this premise. The clueless Witherspoon has already become an inspector thanks to the help of his friends. This fact confused me. I kept checking to make sure this was the first book in the series, but it definitely is.

In The Inspector and Mrs. Jeffries, a diabolical physician is found poisoned. It appears that he was killed using poison mushrooms in his soup, and the suspicion immediately falls on his cook. After all, who would be better able to put the mushrooms into his food, and she had motive. The dead doctor was a despicable man and mean to all of his staff. Enter Mrs. Jeffries and her cohorts who, through their sleuthing, determine that she could not have been the murderer. The murderer they eventually uncover certainly doesn’t come as a surprise to the reader, but the road to their discovery was fun.

This is not great literature, my friends. Still, it was light-hearted, easy to follow, and amusing. I will certainly try a few more of the books in the series, though the formula might get repetitive and tedious. On the other hand, sometimes authors improve the series as they go along by developing the characters and giving them some depth and background, and I hope that is the case here. It isn’t a waste of time to read these books as long as you know what to expect. With only 164 pages in the book, it is a quick and nonviolent nighttime read-in-bed. You can practically finish it in one sitting. The characters are funny and delightful, and the series has possibilities.

I recommend it for a fun and easy read.

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