Forsythia suddenly dying

[PenCreed]

We have three reasonably sized forsythias in the garden, which the previous owner planted. All I've ever done with them is trim them back as they get a bit over-exuberant and they've been fine, but one of them has suddenly lost all its leaves and looks very dead. The other two look absolutely fine, so it's not just seasonal! I haven't done anything to the dead one. Does anyone have any suggestions as to why it might have decided to give up the ghost?

I'm not unduly gutted by its loss as I'd quite like more flower bed space where it was (although i'll have to get someone to come and dig the dead bits out) But I am concerned other things might also start to suddenly die on me, and the veg growing was a disaster this year so I don't want a barren garden!

Have a look lower down the trunk to see whether you can spot any differences between that one and the others, discolouration, spots, black bits, scabby growths, fungus etc. Are the tips of the branches dying back as well or do they appear ok? What do the leaves look like - I know they are dead, but do they look diseased in any way? You do need to clear all the fallen leaves off the ground and throw them away. Not in the compost bin, but in the ordinary rubbish bin.

If it isn't diseased, it might be that the long hot summer has finally got to it, and it has given up the ghost.

Thank you @EndlessMagpies - it's taken me quite some time to have a chance to look at it properly again in daylight! The leaves were brown, but the rest of it doesn't look diseased, so that's a positive. I'm hoping it was just the dry weather that did for it. I'll hack down what I can in the next couple of weeks (so long as today's torrential rain isn't a pattern for the whole month) and give some thought as to what we could put in there instead.

Scape the bark with a finger nail. If the underlying wood's green it's fine. If dry and brown it's dead.