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Charles Paris #3
Star Trap
Simon Brett is back with one of his best theater-inspired detective novels in Star Trap. Though the target for murder is an odious theater and television star, actor/detective Charles Paris finds that the main character is behind the strange happenings backstage, including the rehearsal pianist being shot in the hand, and an actor falling and breaking his leg. Why does the star want to sabotage his show? The answer is one much more human than it first appears.
Author Bio: Simon Brett is a former radio and television comedy producer, who has been writing fulltime for more than 20 years. Creator of the Charles Paris, Mrs. Pargeter and Fethering series of mysteries, Brett's psychological thriller, "A Shock to the System" was made into a movie starring Michael Caine. Married with three children, he lives in an Agatha Christie-style village in West Sussex, England.
331 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1977
About the author
Simon Brett
385 books566 followersSimon Brett, OBE, FRSL is a prolific British writer of whodunnits.
He is the son of a Chartered Surveyor and was educated at Dulwich College and Wadham College, Oxford, where he got a first class honours degree in English.
He then joined the BBC as a trainee and worked for BBC Radio and London Weekend Television, where his work included 'Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy' and 'Frank Muir Goes Into ...'.
After his spells with the media he began devoting most of his time to writing from the late 1970s and is well known for his various series of crime novels.
He is married with three children and lives in Burpham, near Arundel, West Sussex, England. He is the current president of the Detection Club.
He is the son of a Chartered Surveyor and was educated at Dulwich College and Wadham College, Oxford, where he got a first class honours degree in English.
He then joined the BBC as a trainee and worked for BBC Radio and London Weekend Television, where his work included 'Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy' and 'Frank Muir Goes Into ...'.
After his spells with the media he began devoting most of his time to writing from the late 1970s and is well known for his various series of crime novels.
He is married with three children and lives in Burpham, near Arundel, West Sussex, England. He is the current president of the Detection Club.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 66 reviews
February 8, 2022
I quite enjoyed this third mystery featuring a middle-aged British actor Charles Paris. What I especially like about Charles Paris's many exploits is that they take me behind the scenes of British theater. This time Charles Paris is called to secretly investigate a sabotage against the musical based on an 18th century play "She Stoops to Conquer" by Oliver Goldsmith, where the main character Tony Lumpkin is played by a popular TV star, talented and mean in equal measure.
As the show moves from town to town, Oliver Goldsmith spins in his coffin faster and faster, Charles Paris's supporting role becomes tinier and tinier, the passions rise higher and higher, and mysterious accidents involve more and more victims. The plot becomes trully gripping and reaches its climax as the musical reaches West End.
Truth be told, I initially thought that Tony Lumpkin, Oliver Goldsmith and She Stoops to Conquer were all part of an elaborate joke, which demonstrates my ignorance of the British theater's 18th century repertoir.
Charles Paris's (Simon Brett's) sarcastic sense of humor deserves a special mention.
The version of an the audiobook I listened to is narrated by the author himself, and a fine job he does with it too!
As the show moves from town to town, Oliver Goldsmith spins in his coffin faster and faster, Charles Paris's supporting role becomes tinier and tinier, the passions rise higher and higher, and mysterious accidents involve more and more victims. The plot becomes trully gripping and reaches its climax as the musical reaches West End.
Truth be told, I initially thought that Tony Lumpkin, Oliver Goldsmith and She Stoops to Conquer were all part of an elaborate joke, which demonstrates my ignorance of the British theater's 18th century repertoir.
Charles Paris's (Simon Brett's) sarcastic sense of humor deserves a special mention.
The version of an the audiobook I listened to is narrated by the author himself, and a fine job he does with it too!
January 28, 2021
I think Star Trap (Charles Paris #3) by Simon Brett is my favorite book in this mystery series so far. It's an excellent mix of mystery and stage craft that keeps you interested from beginning to end.
Aging, struggling actor Charles Paris is asked by his friend, lawyer Gerald Venables, to take a job with an upcoming play. Venables is working for investors in the play / musical and has been guaranteed a job in the play. Venables is worried that someone might be trying to ruin the play due to a couple of recent accidents to cast members; one having been fired at by a BB gun, the other having fallen down a flight of stairs. Paris accepts, partly because he likes the idea of a regular salary, partly because previous investigations has piqued his interest.
The play stars a comic TV actor, one Christopher Milton, trying to become an even bigger success on the stage. The play is a reworking of an Oliver Goldsmith work from 1771, She Stoops to Conquer. It has been rewritten as Liberty Bell. Paris joins the cast in London where they are beginning rehearsals and will follow the show on the road to Leeds, Bristol and Brighton where the plan is to finalize the play for its ultimate premiere back in London.
It's a fascinating story, especially the process of working through rehearsals and play development, but the mystery is also quite well presented. Further accidents occur and Paris hesitantly begins investigating and trying to see who might be a suspect. The main characters are Paris, himself and Milton, an overpowering, domineering personality but also a talented, comic genius. The story moves along nicely and keeps your interest. Paris is a fascinating character, intelligent, well-read, frustrated with his life, both romantic and professional.
All in all an excellent mystery and overall story. The more I read this series, the more I enjoy it. (4.5 stars)
Aging, struggling actor Charles Paris is asked by his friend, lawyer Gerald Venables, to take a job with an upcoming play. Venables is working for investors in the play / musical and has been guaranteed a job in the play. Venables is worried that someone might be trying to ruin the play due to a couple of recent accidents to cast members; one having been fired at by a BB gun, the other having fallen down a flight of stairs. Paris accepts, partly because he likes the idea of a regular salary, partly because previous investigations has piqued his interest.
The play stars a comic TV actor, one Christopher Milton, trying to become an even bigger success on the stage. The play is a reworking of an Oliver Goldsmith work from 1771, She Stoops to Conquer. It has been rewritten as Liberty Bell. Paris joins the cast in London where they are beginning rehearsals and will follow the show on the road to Leeds, Bristol and Brighton where the plan is to finalize the play for its ultimate premiere back in London.
It's a fascinating story, especially the process of working through rehearsals and play development, but the mystery is also quite well presented. Further accidents occur and Paris hesitantly begins investigating and trying to see who might be a suspect. The main characters are Paris, himself and Milton, an overpowering, domineering personality but also a talented, comic genius. The story moves along nicely and keeps your interest. Paris is a fascinating character, intelligent, well-read, frustrated with his life, both romantic and professional.
All in all an excellent mystery and overall story. The more I read this series, the more I enjoy it. (4.5 stars)
July 17, 2008
Somewhere around the time I turned ten years old, my father decided to make a dream of his come true and he joined a local theater company. This was in a small town in a small state and so I always assumed it was for sociability and for a love of theater that prompted this in him. Surely he had no dreams of being recognized or becoming a star so late in life (thirty-five), and surely he recognized shortly after being in a few productions that he was never going to be a headliner. When he moved across the country, it wasn’t long before he insinuated himself into another company to fill the same type of roles. His dramatic specialty, from the number of shows I witnessed, consists of meaningful raises of his eyebrows and extra-careful annunciation of his lines. Bit players have such few opportunities to shine.
One of the bonuses of being related to someone in the theater, if you can call it a bonus, is the plentiful opportunities to go to theater parties. For the uninitiated, imagine a group of about twenty people, all simultaneously and in increasing levels of volume and drunkenness competitively auditioning for the role of “Life of the Party.” The half-life of entertainment for this kind of thing is incredibly short and by evening’s end, you will wonder why there aren’t more celebrity murders. After one theater party, you really will have had your fill for the decade. I’ve had my share in my college life and as a post-graduate.
By sheer coincidence, the two books I listened to at the end of the week, both rather short, happened to involve murder and the stage. (Get caught at too many theater parties and you will find yourself linking these concepts indelibly.) Both could be considered cozy mysteries featuring somewhat bloodless crimes and amateur detectives, though the older, an adaptation of Agatha Christie’s play Spider’s Web, comes from the mystery master, who oftentimes features crimes that are rather grisly. The second, Simon Brett’s Star Trap, has a seedy atmosphere and the kind of behavior that would shock my grandmother and perhaps many a cozy mystery reader (heavy drinking by the protagonist, casually loveless and almost hostile sex, existential crises brought on by age and failure, and poverty unflinchingly portrayed).
And that last element, the rather grimy lowlife atmosphere, has a mundane reality that grimmer, more noir mysteries lack. While hardboiled detectives never lack for their bottle in the desk drawer, their poverty, if part of the story, is simply a minor element. Charles Paris, the low to middling actor/detective in Star Trap, has the kind of shortage of funds that cause him to reflect on simple things, like the difference between drinking when you’re poor and when you’re working steady. His dreary flat has no romantic glamour. His romances likewise are lacking in dramatic flair.
The crimes of the book are also of a more simple nature. While more gritty detective stories feature daggers in the back and fatal struggles with a dropped pistol, Star Trap, which tells how Charles Paris tries to discover who, by knocking cast and crew about, is sabotaging the show he is in, features minor violence. Muggings that might not be muggings, a bit of paraffin wax slipped into someone’s gin to give them a touch of food poisoning, someone who may or may not have tripped down a flight of stairs.
I’ve always felt resistance to series of novels in which normal, regular, everyday people spend their days and nights stumbling over bodies. It’s the kind of thing that would take a psychic toll, yet Jessica in Murder, She Wrote never seems to lose her joie de vivre and sprightliness. While I understand the rubbernecking titillation fans of this series are expressing (just the hint of a thrill, a tidy, bloodless body), their very hygienity is perhaps more appalling. These folks want murder, but just for entertainment purposes, the bad guy clutching his stomach and toppling from rooftop, pure and safe for prime time.
Star Trap doesn’t pander to this vile sentimentality, and in fact, the actual crime element of the story is an incredibly small portion. While the crimes are clean enough for television, there is a seedy furtiveness that dramatic mysteries always overleap. What most of the book focuses on is the backstage dramas between the prima donna lead and every single other member of the show, the almost superstitious remedies for sore throats and coughs, and the little vanities actors are prone to. Brett elegantly skewers this bit of self-dramatization with the delightful phrase “...generally putting on expressions of private suffering which they had learnt when rehearsing Chekhov.”
The other element that is much to be admired in Brett’s novel is just how underplayed the climaxes and moments of drama are, how authentic they feel. When in anger Charles decides to buck his orders to protect the star of the show over everyone else, rather than the timpani moment of some books, this scene is done with silent teeth gritting vengeance, the way you would do in isolation. When a cast member is hit by a car, his injuries are minor, a Mini-clipping him and breaking his kneecap. The revelations that come to Charles are shown not as sudden and elusive epiphanies, but the result of working hard (when the mood strikes him), and come after he makes many attempts to avoid his unpleasant conclusions. That he is so frequently wrong makes him even more sympathetic to readers.
What ends up being the most striking about this is that the book demonstrates a keen psychological insight into the characters. Where most mysteries provide us with long-suffering existentialist automatons for heroes, one dimensional dramatic props, Charles Paris strides the literary stage with all his good and embarrassing bits fully on display, fully synthesized and realized. His flaws are not romantic, nor are they romanticized as heroic weaknesses. That’s rather appealing to find a writer willing to portray his hero so unflatteringly.
One of the bonuses of being related to someone in the theater, if you can call it a bonus, is the plentiful opportunities to go to theater parties. For the uninitiated, imagine a group of about twenty people, all simultaneously and in increasing levels of volume and drunkenness competitively auditioning for the role of “Life of the Party.” The half-life of entertainment for this kind of thing is incredibly short and by evening’s end, you will wonder why there aren’t more celebrity murders. After one theater party, you really will have had your fill for the decade. I’ve had my share in my college life and as a post-graduate.
By sheer coincidence, the two books I listened to at the end of the week, both rather short, happened to involve murder and the stage. (Get caught at too many theater parties and you will find yourself linking these concepts indelibly.) Both could be considered cozy mysteries featuring somewhat bloodless crimes and amateur detectives, though the older, an adaptation of Agatha Christie’s play Spider’s Web, comes from the mystery master, who oftentimes features crimes that are rather grisly. The second, Simon Brett’s Star Trap, has a seedy atmosphere and the kind of behavior that would shock my grandmother and perhaps many a cozy mystery reader (heavy drinking by the protagonist, casually loveless and almost hostile sex, existential crises brought on by age and failure, and poverty unflinchingly portrayed).
And that last element, the rather grimy lowlife atmosphere, has a mundane reality that grimmer, more noir mysteries lack. While hardboiled detectives never lack for their bottle in the desk drawer, their poverty, if part of the story, is simply a minor element. Charles Paris, the low to middling actor/detective in Star Trap, has the kind of shortage of funds that cause him to reflect on simple things, like the difference between drinking when you’re poor and when you’re working steady. His dreary flat has no romantic glamour. His romances likewise are lacking in dramatic flair.
The crimes of the book are also of a more simple nature. While more gritty detective stories feature daggers in the back and fatal struggles with a dropped pistol, Star Trap, which tells how Charles Paris tries to discover who, by knocking cast and crew about, is sabotaging the show he is in, features minor violence. Muggings that might not be muggings, a bit of paraffin wax slipped into someone’s gin to give them a touch of food poisoning, someone who may or may not have tripped down a flight of stairs.
I’ve always felt resistance to series of novels in which normal, regular, everyday people spend their days and nights stumbling over bodies. It’s the kind of thing that would take a psychic toll, yet Jessica in Murder, She Wrote never seems to lose her joie de vivre and sprightliness. While I understand the rubbernecking titillation fans of this series are expressing (just the hint of a thrill, a tidy, bloodless body), their very hygienity is perhaps more appalling. These folks want murder, but just for entertainment purposes, the bad guy clutching his stomach and toppling from rooftop, pure and safe for prime time.
Star Trap doesn’t pander to this vile sentimentality, and in fact, the actual crime element of the story is an incredibly small portion. While the crimes are clean enough for television, there is a seedy furtiveness that dramatic mysteries always overleap. What most of the book focuses on is the backstage dramas between the prima donna lead and every single other member of the show, the almost superstitious remedies for sore throats and coughs, and the little vanities actors are prone to. Brett elegantly skewers this bit of self-dramatization with the delightful phrase “...generally putting on expressions of private suffering which they had learnt when rehearsing Chekhov.”
The other element that is much to be admired in Brett’s novel is just how underplayed the climaxes and moments of drama are, how authentic they feel. When in anger Charles decides to buck his orders to protect the star of the show over everyone else, rather than the timpani moment of some books, this scene is done with silent teeth gritting vengeance, the way you would do in isolation. When a cast member is hit by a car, his injuries are minor, a Mini-clipping him and breaking his kneecap. The revelations that come to Charles are shown not as sudden and elusive epiphanies, but the result of working hard (when the mood strikes him), and come after he makes many attempts to avoid his unpleasant conclusions. That he is so frequently wrong makes him even more sympathetic to readers.
What ends up being the most striking about this is that the book demonstrates a keen psychological insight into the characters. Where most mysteries provide us with long-suffering existentialist automatons for heroes, one dimensional dramatic props, Charles Paris strides the literary stage with all his good and embarrassing bits fully on display, fully synthesized and realized. His flaws are not romantic, nor are they romanticized as heroic weaknesses. That’s rather appealing to find a writer willing to portray his hero so unflatteringly.
August 3, 2023
Excellent novels like this one, are why I persevere in finding each volume of series revealing originality! Simon Brett has authored oodles of series for decades and struck me as funny. I was unfazed about being mildly impressed with the first two Charles Paris novels. It took years to score volume 3 and it paid off! One star settled a minor accumulation of critiques, leaving four to represent my clear and memorable awe. If the first two motives and methods stretched credulity: here is a believable story of flaws, determination to maximize our talents, and pasts that are unknowable without investigating.
Seeing the workings of theatre and television fame in England of 1977 was another treat, the bonafide stage upon which Simon’s wonderfully original mystery was set. Having worked for the BBC, he knows all about these industries. Anyone who loves entertainment would enjoy the unparalleled intricacy of the tour we get. Simon is a real writer, the kind whose vocabulary is recognized but which few of us would consider cobbling together! Crime mysteries are not deemed excellent literature but we are on professional ground here. In other words, however gaudy the bookcovers might look, these are not cheap paperbacks.
Great authors like him and Louise Penny deftly weave in societal questions for consideration. “Star Trap” convincingly presents a dilemma that actors commonly face, concurring with observations I have read. Would you rather perform meaningful work that fewer people understand, or receive bigger publicity by recycling television quirks that made you a household name?
The only thing better than beautifully used words, is shaping them hilariously.
“The Friday performance was scrappy. The cuts had been only partly assimilated. The show was full of glazed expressions and untidy musical passages, where some of the band remembered the cuts and some didn’t.”
Seeing the workings of theatre and television fame in England of 1977 was another treat, the bonafide stage upon which Simon’s wonderfully original mystery was set. Having worked for the BBC, he knows all about these industries. Anyone who loves entertainment would enjoy the unparalleled intricacy of the tour we get. Simon is a real writer, the kind whose vocabulary is recognized but which few of us would consider cobbling together! Crime mysteries are not deemed excellent literature but we are on professional ground here. In other words, however gaudy the bookcovers might look, these are not cheap paperbacks.
Great authors like him and Louise Penny deftly weave in societal questions for consideration. “Star Trap” convincingly presents a dilemma that actors commonly face, concurring with observations I have read. Would you rather perform meaningful work that fewer people understand, or receive bigger publicity by recycling television quirks that made you a household name?
The only thing better than beautifully used words, is shaping them hilariously.
“The Friday performance was scrappy. The cuts had been only partly assimilated. The show was full of glazed expressions and untidy musical passages, where some of the band remembered the cuts and some didn’t.”
April 4, 2019
From BBC Radio 4 - Drama:
Bill Nighy returns as actor-cum-amateur-sleuth Charles Paris in Jeremy Front's new dramatisation of Simon Brett's novel.
Charles, bit part actor and amateur sleuth, finally gets the chance to be in a West End musical, but Charles' suspicions are roused when the number of accidents looks like more than bad luck...
At home, Charles' 'semi-detached' wife Frances is approaching a big birthday and she's drawn up a bucket list of things to do before it's too late.
Episode 1
Bill Nighy returns as the loveably louche actor-cum-amateur sleuth, Charles Paris.
Episode 2
Charles has got a better part in Winnie, the musical about Winston Churchill, after one of the other actors had an accident.
Episode 3
After yet another accident involving a member of the cast of 'Winnie' the musical, Charles is getting suspicious.
Episode 4
A death in the company of Winnie The Musical after a string of accidents makes Charles think someone might be sabotaging the show.
Charles ..... Bill Nighy
Frances ..... Suzanne Burden
Maurice ..... Jon Glover
Chris Watt ..... Nigel Lindsay
Nina Lamb ..... Clare Corbett
Trevor Rhodes ..... Michael Bertenshaw
Mark Spelthorne ..... Christopher Harper
Izzy ..... Franchi Webb
Ged ..... Ronny Jhutti
TV Announcer ..... Carolyn Pickles
Director ..... Mary Peate
Producer ..... Sally Avens
Jeremy Front (Jack and Millie, Magnificent Women, Sword of Honour) continues his hugely successful adaptations of Simon Brett's novels starring Bill Nighy (Marigold Hotel, Dad's Army) as Charles Paris; Suzanne Burden (Fresh Meat, Tis Pity she's A Whore) as Frances - Charles ex-wife from whom he's never been able to detach himself - and Jon Glover (Episodes, Hitchhikers) as Maurice - Charles' long suffering agent.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000...
Bill Nighy returns as actor-cum-amateur-sleuth Charles Paris in Jeremy Front's new dramatisation of Simon Brett's novel.
Charles, bit part actor and amateur sleuth, finally gets the chance to be in a West End musical, but Charles' suspicions are roused when the number of accidents looks like more than bad luck...
At home, Charles' 'semi-detached' wife Frances is approaching a big birthday and she's drawn up a bucket list of things to do before it's too late.
Episode 1
Bill Nighy returns as the loveably louche actor-cum-amateur sleuth, Charles Paris.
Episode 2
Charles has got a better part in Winnie, the musical about Winston Churchill, after one of the other actors had an accident.
Episode 3
After yet another accident involving a member of the cast of 'Winnie' the musical, Charles is getting suspicious.
Episode 4
A death in the company of Winnie The Musical after a string of accidents makes Charles think someone might be sabotaging the show.
Charles ..... Bill Nighy
Frances ..... Suzanne Burden
Maurice ..... Jon Glover
Chris Watt ..... Nigel Lindsay
Nina Lamb ..... Clare Corbett
Trevor Rhodes ..... Michael Bertenshaw
Mark Spelthorne ..... Christopher Harper
Izzy ..... Franchi Webb
Ged ..... Ronny Jhutti
TV Announcer ..... Carolyn Pickles
Director ..... Mary Peate
Producer ..... Sally Avens
Jeremy Front (Jack and Millie, Magnificent Women, Sword of Honour) continues his hugely successful adaptations of Simon Brett's novels starring Bill Nighy (Marigold Hotel, Dad's Army) as Charles Paris; Suzanne Burden (Fresh Meat, Tis Pity she's A Whore) as Frances - Charles ex-wife from whom he's never been able to detach himself - and Jon Glover (Episodes, Hitchhikers) as Maurice - Charles' long suffering agent.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000...
May 14, 2023
It has been some years since I read Brett's Charles Paris. The first two I thought were quite good, but wasn't so keen on this one.
Charles, an actor, is told that a new play is going to be performed, but before it has even had many rehearsals, people in the cast have been having suspicious accidents. If he can get a part in the play, he would be able to find out if there are any more accidents or any clue as to who is causing them. Charles agrees to try and look into the matter, as he badly needs the money he will be paid to appear in the play. It soon becomes obvious that the leading actor, is mixed up in the accidents, but Charles needs the proof
Charles, an actor, is told that a new play is going to be performed, but before it has even had many rehearsals, people in the cast have been having suspicious accidents. If he can get a part in the play, he would be able to find out if there are any more accidents or any clue as to who is causing them. Charles agrees to try and look into the matter, as he badly needs the money he will be paid to appear in the play. It soon becomes obvious that the leading actor, is mixed up in the accidents, but Charles needs the proof
August 21, 2013
This book did not translate well to audio. I think, especially because the audio was done quite some time ago, so it was not read as creatively as books are now. The reader did a decent job. The book was interesting, but slow and melancholy.
December 24, 2023
This audio book passed the miles, but it was hard for me to like the the characters. The protagonist, Charles Paris, is pretty down on himself and mostly just stumbles into clues. Somehow stumbling into clues in Simon Brett's Fethering series works, but not here.
August 19, 2013
Not as enjoyable as the Feathering mystery series by the same author.
November 12, 2024
I'm really enjoying this series - and it's very easy to go straight from one book to the next.
June 18, 2020
Star Trap is set in 1975 and represents one of the earlier episodes in the investigative career of Charles Paris, down-at-heel journeyman actor.
Charles is recruited to appear in Lumpkin!, a musical loosely based upon Oliver Goldsmith's classic play She Stoops to Conquer. This production has been devised primarily as a vehicle for Christopher Milton, the enormously popular star of one of the leading television comedy series of the time.
Charles, however, has not won his role through the customary path of attending an audition and being deemed the most suitable actor for the part. He had instead been contacted by his urbane solicitor friend, Gerald Venables, one of the 'angels' investing in the show, who has been concerned about some odd incidents which he thinks might be part of a greater plot to sabotage the musical. Knowing of Charles's success in solving a couple of previous theatrical mysteries, Venables thinks that he might prove to be a helpful asset to the company management as their man on the inside.
As ever, Simon Brett demonstrates his detailed knowledge of the theatrical world, conjuring an authentic context for the escalating series of incidents that continue to bedevil the show. Personalities and egos clash, and Christopher Milton appropriates more and more of the body of the show to his part, leaving the rest of the cast bereft of any funny or worthwhile lines. He is, however, as Charles continually has to concede (often through gritted teeth following yet another of the star's dreadful tantrums), exceptionally talented, and though he may be hogging ever larger portions of the work to himself, his decisions do seem to make theatrical sense.
As usual with this entertaining series, the plot is well-constructed (and the relevant clues to the eventual denouement are all there), but delivered with a light touch, and Charles Paris remains a very engaging lead character (I think he is too self-effacing to be called a hero).
Charles is recruited to appear in Lumpkin!, a musical loosely based upon Oliver Goldsmith's classic play She Stoops to Conquer. This production has been devised primarily as a vehicle for Christopher Milton, the enormously popular star of one of the leading television comedy series of the time.
Charles, however, has not won his role through the customary path of attending an audition and being deemed the most suitable actor for the part. He had instead been contacted by his urbane solicitor friend, Gerald Venables, one of the 'angels' investing in the show, who has been concerned about some odd incidents which he thinks might be part of a greater plot to sabotage the musical. Knowing of Charles's success in solving a couple of previous theatrical mysteries, Venables thinks that he might prove to be a helpful asset to the company management as their man on the inside.
As ever, Simon Brett demonstrates his detailed knowledge of the theatrical world, conjuring an authentic context for the escalating series of incidents that continue to bedevil the show. Personalities and egos clash, and Christopher Milton appropriates more and more of the body of the show to his part, leaving the rest of the cast bereft of any funny or worthwhile lines. He is, however, as Charles continually has to concede (often through gritted teeth following yet another of the star's dreadful tantrums), exceptionally talented, and though he may be hogging ever larger portions of the work to himself, his decisions do seem to make theatrical sense.
As usual with this entertaining series, the plot is well-constructed (and the relevant clues to the eventual denouement are all there), but delivered with a light touch, and Charles Paris remains a very engaging lead character (I think he is too self-effacing to be called a hero).
December 11, 2025
Charles Paris is asked by his old friend Gerald Venables to look into mishaps occurring on the set of a new theatrical production being headed by television star Christopher Milton; several people attached to the production have been injured in accidents and Gerald and other backers of the play are anxious that nothing goes wrong to derail it as they don’t want to lose their investment money. It is simple to get Charles attached to the play in a minor role, but he is reassured by the fact that once the production has been worked out in the “provinces,” it is due to land in London for a good long run. And Charles, of course, can always use the money offered by a long stage production. Once he arrives in the company, however, he discovers that everything is far more complicated than he expected, not least the quandary in which he finds himself: Christopher Milton is both a raging psychopath, his most likely suspect, and an extremely talented actor with a genius for theatrical work…. This is the third book featuring Charles Paris, set in 1970s England. I was initially amused by Charles, but by this third book I’ve become a bit jaded; he is basically a lecherous lush and only secondarily an amateur detective. The 1970s setting is interesting in itself, and this particular story offers a lot of behind-the-scenes information about how a big musical production is developed and staged, but I don’t think I’ll continue with the series, as Charles himself is just becoming a depressing character to read about. Mildly recommended for the setting and plot, though.
November 11, 2018
( Format : Audiobook )
"I beg yours."
Simon Brett's delightful thespian comedy detective mystery is set in England of 1975, before home computers and mobile phones, where to make a call meant using the public telephone boxes. Charles Paris is an aging, often out of work actor with an unspectacular career and a useless agent. His personal life is also a mess. So the idea of some solid acting work sounds very good. When a lawyer friend offers him a role in a forthcoming show starring a very popular T.V. star, with several weeks touring culminating in London's West End and a nine month contract, how can Charles refuse? But his friend also wants Charles to do some undercover sleuthing: two accidents to cast members, exactly one week apart, have already caused delays and he fears sabotage. Charles is there to ensure his investment is safe. But Charles believes that the accidents are just that, accidents, nothing sinister, until, that is, there are more
Pity, because for the very first time, Charles hsd thought he just might be in a bit...
Simon Brett reads his own book with clear English voice, understanding, gentle wit and great character voices. Visual and amusing, the Charles Parish books are great fun and still very enjoyable some forty years later (a number of them have also been made into BBC productions, starring a full cast and Bill Nighy as Paris). A very enjoyable light read. Recommended.
"I beg yours."
Simon Brett's delightful thespian comedy detective mystery is set in England of 1975, before home computers and mobile phones, where to make a call meant using the public telephone boxes. Charles Paris is an aging, often out of work actor with an unspectacular career and a useless agent. His personal life is also a mess. So the idea of some solid acting work sounds very good. When a lawyer friend offers him a role in a forthcoming show starring a very popular T.V. star, with several weeks touring culminating in London's West End and a nine month contract, how can Charles refuse? But his friend also wants Charles to do some undercover sleuthing: two accidents to cast members, exactly one week apart, have already caused delays and he fears sabotage. Charles is there to ensure his investment is safe. But Charles believes that the accidents are just that, accidents, nothing sinister, until, that is, there are more
Pity, because for the very first time, Charles hsd thought he just might be in a bit...
Simon Brett reads his own book with clear English voice, understanding, gentle wit and great character voices. Visual and amusing, the Charles Parish books are great fun and still very enjoyable some forty years later (a number of them have also been made into BBC productions, starring a full cast and Bill Nighy as Paris). A very enjoyable light read. Recommended.
June 19, 2017
I read the first in this series, Cast, in Order of Disappearance, some time ago. I thought it was pretty good but it didn’t inspire me to go right after the next in the series. Finally I got around to reading the second, So Much Blood, and thought it was better. Charles Paris, the cad with a conscience, seemed more likable in that one and I’m always a sucker for a book set in Edinburgh even if one premise the plot hinged on did not make sense to me. So I picked up this one, the third in the series and was pleasantly surprised to find it the best so far. Charles is fleshed out more and I enjoyed the humor in this one. The plot is good, more believable than the last one. I would give it four and a half stars if Goodreads did halves.
April 1, 2025
Simon Brett writes series mysteries whose main characters are amateur detectives with rather off-putting lifestyles. In this case, Charles Paris is a minimally successful alcoholic actor. He is given a small part in a major play because one of its backers suspects sabotage is behind some recent accidents. For most of the book, he stumbles around, unsure if there is anything criminal happening. When he begins to actually investigate, the action picks up.
This was written nearly 50 years ago, so theatrical stardom was a very different lifestyle. In fact, a major plot point would probably be impossible in our "no secrets" world.
The appeal of the book is partly the immersion in a backstage world. For me, it was a lso the appeal of investigation by going places and asking questions: no Google, no cell phones.
This was written nearly 50 years ago, so theatrical stardom was a very different lifestyle. In fact, a major plot point would probably be impossible in our "no secrets" world.
The appeal of the book is partly the immersion in a backstage world. For me, it was a lso the appeal of investigation by going places and asking questions: no Google, no cell phones.
January 6, 2019
3.5 stars
A little light reading to start the year.
I keep hoping this series will get really good. I suspect it gets better. This was written in 1975 and I suspect I'll like it better when the "contemporary" feel is less dated (if that makes sense).
Still I like the protagonist, it's fun to follow the world of 1970's theatre and the puzzle element works as ever.
One thing that sticks out is how Charles Paris - who is just a jobbing actor - asks all sorts of questions to all sorts of people and they mostly just shrug and answer them without wondering why he's playing detective. In a couple of sequences he does at least pretend to be a journalist. Maybe it's a trope of the 'cozy mystery' genre. I haven't read enough to know.
A little light reading to start the year.
I keep hoping this series will get really good. I suspect it gets better. This was written in 1975 and I suspect I'll like it better when the "contemporary" feel is less dated (if that makes sense).
Still I like the protagonist, it's fun to follow the world of 1970's theatre and the puzzle element works as ever.
One thing that sticks out is how Charles Paris - who is just a jobbing actor - asks all sorts of questions to all sorts of people and they mostly just shrug and answer them without wondering why he's playing detective. In a couple of sequences he does at least pretend to be a journalist. Maybe it's a trope of the 'cozy mystery' genre. I haven't read enough to know.
October 19, 2025
I did not enjoy this book as much as the previous one. We're back to the Charles drinking a lot and the main sexual encounter was just unpleasant. And the mystery itself lagged. For huge chunks of the book it wasn't even mentioned until suddenly Charles would remember it and then clumsily try to investigate. He continually jumped to a wrong conclusion and made an ass of himself before repeating the process. Ultimately he didn't solve it so much as stumble upon the truth, and the conclusion was just very weak.
January 4, 2021
Always a pleasure
It is indeed always a pleasure to step into the world of Charles Paris, though sadly this novel didn't enthralled or excite as much as others. One must remember that some unfortunate words used did not have such consequences as now. I can always see past that. I am however looking forward to reading the next in the series and am always grateful for the hilarious mind if Simon Brett.
It is indeed always a pleasure to step into the world of Charles Paris, though sadly this novel didn't enthralled or excite as much as others. One must remember that some unfortunate words used did not have such consequences as now. I can always see past that. I am however looking forward to reading the next in the series and am always grateful for the hilarious mind if Simon Brett.
August 29, 2018
Another Charles Paris mystery.
Charles is persuaded to take a role in a touring production, to investigate possible sabotage. At first he is unconvinced about the need to investigate, but during the course of the tour, more and more of the cast are incapacitated, so Charles turns sleuth once more.
Charles is persuaded to take a role in a touring production, to investigate possible sabotage. At first he is unconvinced about the need to investigate, but during the course of the tour, more and more of the cast are incapacitated, so Charles turns sleuth once more.
December 4, 2020
Entertaining reading 📚
Excellent will written thriller mystery novella in the series with interesting will developed characters. The story line is fast moving with lots of twist and turns leading to the conclusion. I would recommend this series to anyone who enjoys will written mysteries. Enjoy reading 🔰2020😮
Excellent will written thriller mystery novella in the series with interesting will developed characters. The story line is fast moving with lots of twist and turns leading to the conclusion. I would recommend this series to anyone who enjoys will written mysteries. Enjoy reading 🔰2020😮
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December 12, 2021Somewhat dated detective fiction, mostly palatable due to an appealing central character. All the plot - including important characters/backstory - came towards the end, which is surely a weakness (so we don't know about the villain's true motivation - we can't *possibly* know - until the final quarter of the book).
February 4, 2026
What makes a star a star?
This star mystery story, featuring professional actor-cum-amateur detective Charles Paris, is not only a brisk and humorous read but also an interesting exploration of stardom. What makes a star a star? How do they stay a star? And, significantly, is it worth it? How do you, the reader, feel about Christopher Milton, the star in question here?
This star mystery story, featuring professional actor-cum-amateur detective Charles Paris, is not only a brisk and humorous read but also an interesting exploration of stardom. What makes a star a star? How do they stay a star? And, significantly, is it worth it? How do you, the reader, feel about Christopher Milton, the star in question here?
April 30, 2019
I really enjoy the Charles Paris books and on the whole I enjoy the radio dramatizations but they are hurt by the slapstick and entertainment industry satire element that dominate the storylines. They'd be far better if they told the story straight instead making Charles a clumsy buffoon.
December 28, 2021
The title is a pun on the name of a stage contraption that allows an actor to spring onto the stage from below. The actor/detective Charles Paris is not particularly bright nor disciplined, but he does understand the theater work and London's old stages.
July 2, 2024
A nice pleasant mystery with some humor and twists and turns. A nice 3.5 read. We found it a little draggy in places. We liked that the protagonist was an actor in live theatre. The book was set in England.
September 2, 2018
2.9 stars.
I prefer the books after this one. More murder :-D
I prefer the books after this one. More murder :-D
February 19, 2019
3.5,.but I think I enjoyed the radio drama adaptation better.
April 1, 2019
listen to the excellent Bill Nighy BBC radio adaptation. They made it more of a comedy than mystery but very enjoyable.
May 5, 2020
This was the whole book. I was disapppointed. Too wordy and long.
The plays with Bill Nighy are better.
The plays with Bill Nighy are better.
October 20, 2020
Pretty much a non plot
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