Error loading page.
Try refreshing the page. If that doesn't work, there may be a network issue, and you can use our self test page to see what's preventing the page from loading.
Learn more about possible network issues or contact support for more help.

Dead Room Farce

ebook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available

Meet Charles Paris: a washed-up actor with a taste for wine, women . . . and solving crimes! A binge-worthy cozy mystery series from the original king of British cozy crime, internationally best-selling, award-winning author Simon Brett, OBE. For fans of Richard Osman - but with added bite!
"Like a little malice in your mysteries? Some cynicism in your cosies? Simon Brett is happy to oblige" THE NEW YORK TIMES
"Few crime writers are as enchantingly gifted" THE SUNDAY TIMES
"One of British crime's most assured craftsmen . . . Perfect entertainment" THE GUARDIAN
"A new Simon Brett is an event for mystery fans" P.D. JAMES
"Murder most enjoyable" COLIN DEXTER
_______________________
A middle-aged actor - and sometimes sleuth - with farcical trousers
An audio producer discovered dead in a locked studio . . .
A key in the outside lock . . .
It all points to a DEAD ROOM FARCE!
When Charles Paris isn't dropping his trousers while rehearsing his role in Not On Your Wife!, a farce premiering in Bath, he's recording an audio book in a tiny studio known as the 'dead room'. The studio's owner, Mark Lear, has found success as an audio producer after being dumped by the BBC many years ago. But the day after the theatre company record a radio commercial for the farce at the studio, Mark is found dead, locked in the now aptly named room.
Was Mark's sudden announcement that he was going to write a tell-all book about the corporation a direct threat to someone in the cast or crew? Charles must negotiate dark secrets and skeletons jangling in old cupboards to unpick the truth!
Fans of Agatha Christie, The Thursday Murder Club, Anthony Horowitz, Alexander McCall Smith, M.C. Beaton and Faith Martin will love this hilarious cozy traditional mystery series featuring one of the funniest antiheroes in crime fiction. Written over a fifty-year-period, it perfectly captures life and contemporary attitudes in 1970s London - and beyond!
READERS ADORE CHARLES PARIS:
"A sure hit" Library Journal
"Perfect for Paris' fans and for anyone who likes a comic but challenging mystery" Booklist
"Brett, who remains better known on his own side of the pond, is a master of breezy, boozy buffoonery" Publishers Weekly
"For a page-turning, laugh-out-loud but truly clever read Brett's Charles Paris cannot be beaten" Judith Cranswick, 5* Goodreads review
"Charles Paris always delivers a great combo of humour and mystery. Very enjoyable!" Fay, 5* Amazon review
"Brilliant as usual. Charles Paris never fails to entertain and amuse" Jacqueline, 5* Amazon review
"A very good read" Zena, 5* Amazon review
THE CHARLES PARIS MYSTERIES, IN ORDER:
1. Cast in Order of Disappearance
2. So Much Blood
3. Star Trap
4. An Amateur Corpse
5. A Comedian Dies
6. The Dead Side of the Mike
7. Situation Tragedy
8. Murder Unprompted
9. Murder in the Title
10. Not Dead, Only Resting
11. Dead Giveaway
12. What Bloody Man is That
13. A Series of Murders
14. Corporate Bodies
15. A Reconstructed Corpse
16. Sicken and So Die
17. Dead Room Farce
18. A Decent Interval
19. The Cinderella Killer
20. A Deadly Habit
15. A Reconstructed Corpse
16. Sicken and So Die
17. Dead Room Farce
18. A Decent Interval
19. The Cinderella Killer
20. A Deadly Habit

|A three-month run in a new farce, Not On Your Wife, is not to be sniffed at by jobbing actor Charles Paris. But by the time the troupe reaches Bath, a dark mood has set in, and Charles's old friend Mark has a drink problem that amounts to a...
  • Creators

  • Series

  • Publisher

  • Awards

  • Release date

  • Formats

  • Languages

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      June 29, 1998
      Not On Your Wife! is a poor excuse for a stage comedy, all dropped trousers and double entendres. But then Charles Paris (Sicken and So Die, 1997) is a poor excuse for an actor--and husband, father and lover. Yet he's proved to be an enduring amateur sleuth, whose cases take place during his sporadic moments of gainful employment. This latest dire dramatic vehicle is debuting in Bath, and Charles, between boozing bouts with his beloved Bells whiskey and romantic bouts with Cookie Stone, an aging actress unaccountably smitten with him, has landed a nice gig on the side reading books on tape. Mark Lear is in charge of the recording facility. He's a former BBC man and a bigger and more bitter drunk than Charles. His lover, Lisa Wilson, is concerned. Charles fancies Lisa more than poor Cookie and gets a rare chance to act chivalrous when Mark dies and all the signs (especially a locked sound room as the likely place of death) point to foul play. Brett is no stranger to the dramatic arts; his A Shock to the System was a Michael Caine movie, and he scripted a popular sitcom on British television. His characters are all priceless--haughty ham actors, melodramatic drunks, driven company hacks. The play itself is trite and bawdy and rendered by the author with leering panache. Charles is once again in for bloody awful reviews, but he does find the killer after discovering that Mark once supplemented his wages with the manufacture of gay audiotapes that starred a few names familiar to Charles. Brett, who remains better known on his own side of the pond, is a master of breezy, boozy buffoonery.

Formats

  • Kindle Book
  • OverDrive Read
  • EPUB ebook

subjects

Languages

  • English

Loading