MRS PARGETERS PLOT: A MRS PARGETER MYSTERY (Mrs. Pargeter Mysteries)

Of all Simon Brett's literary creations, none is more adored by mystery fans than the resourceful Mrs. Pargeter, the delightful, middle-aged widow whose late, lamented husband made his living in sometimes nefarious ways.
Whatever his faults - and Mrs. P. won't hear a word of them - the gentleman loved his wife with unquestioned devotion. Together, they had hoped to build their dream house on a large plot of land an hour or so from London, a task that Mrs. P. must now sadly carry on by herself.
Her builder is Concrete Jacket, one of Mr. P.'s longtime associates, who has an unfortunate history of sudden incarceration during construction jobs. But Concrete promises Mrs. P. to avoid any shenanigans that might lead to confinement and to finish the job on time.
And he just might have kept his promise, had not an inconvenient dead body turned up in the house's new wine cellar. Even more "inconvenient" for the builder, the victim had threatened Concrete and was shot with Concrete's gun.
Things look bad both for Concrete and the house. And that's not all. Mrs. Pargeter has an unwelcome roommate at the elegant Greene's Hotel in London - a monkey named Erasmus who throws wet banana on anyone foolish enough to try to remove him from the premises.
Who killed the man in the wine cellar and who dumped Erasmus in the hotel? Such questions boggle the mind, but Mrs. Pargeter is worthy of the challenge.