| SIMON BRETT - THE CHARLES PARIS THEATRICAL MYSTERIES | ||
| YEAR |
TITLE |
|
| 1975 |
 |
CAST IN ORDER OF
DISAPPEARANCE Who killed Marius Steen, the theatrical tycoon with a fortune to leave his young mistress Jacqui? And who killed Bill Sweet, the shady blackmailer with a supply of compromising photographs? Charles Paris, a middle-aged actor who keeps going on booze and women, takes to detection in Cast, In Order of Disappearance, by assuming a variety of roles, among them that of a Scotland Yard Detective-Sergeant, and the results are both comic and dramatic. As the mythical McWhirter of the Yard, he actually precipitates the crime; as one of the blackmailer's victims, he finds himself in bed with the blackmailer's wife; as a small-part player in a horror film (The Zombie Walks), he gets shot at by a murderer. And he arrives at the solution by way of the petrol crisis and an abortive attack of the German measles. It's a light-hearted frolic that is, at the same time, a beautifully ingenious puzzle, and it fizzes with fun and wit. R89 |
| 1976 |
 |
SO MUCH BLOOD Edinburgh and the Festival form both the background and the foreground to this lively whodunit. Charles Paris is flitting between a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, a "mixed-media satire", a late-night revue, and his own one-man show on Thomas Hood when a fading pop star is murdered, there is a bomb scare in Holyrood Palace, and someone makes a suicide leap from the top of the Rock ...R90 |
| 1977 |
 |
STAR TRAP The target for murder is an odious theater and television star, but actor/detective Charles Paris finds that the star 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 own show? The answer is one much more human than it first appears. R89 |
| 1978 |
 |
AN AMATEUR CORPSE As a professional actor, Charles Paris is invited to give his opinion of the Breckton Backstagers' production of The Seagull: this proves to be appalling and he wishes he were anywhere but there. As an amateur detective, though, he is in just the right place for soon afterwards one of the leading ladies is found strangled in the coal shed. Charles Paris eagerly investigates her mysterious death and we are treated to another entertaining account of theatrical back-staging, back-scratching and backbiting... R11/11 |
| 1979 |
 |
A COMEDIAN DIES Sun 'n' Fun Time, the Winter Gardens, Hunstanton: 'A Summer Tonic, Music and Laughter for All the Family'. Perhaps. But for Bill Peaky, rising young comedian, top-of-the-bill star of the show, it was the setting for an agonising death. And for Charles Paris, in the audience as the rising young comedian was spectacularly electrocuted by the microphone, the beginning of a new investigation into murder and mayhem in the seedier purlieus of show-business. R88 |
| 1980 |
 |
THE DEAD SIDE OF
THE MIKE Murder at the BBC? It's almost unimaginable. When Andrea Gower, the beautiful studio manager is murdered, the producer's only concern is the dead air emanating from the transmitter. But Charles Paris, the now famous actor/detective, has come to Broadcasting House to give a talk, and ends up as a mystery voice on a showbiz quiz show. Paris has to wallow through layers of BBC scandal, and uncovers a complicated fraud-with clues concealed in seemingly innocent announcements. These clues lead to a trap that is nearly the end of Mr. Paris in The Dead Side of the Mike. R89 |
| 1981 |
 |
SITUATION TRAGEDY Charles Paris, long-time actor and part-time sleuth, has got a job close to his heart - playing the golf-club barman in West End Television's new sit-com series, The Strutters. But from the start things go horribly wrong. Odd accidents - if they are accidents - carry off various members of the production crew, and even put paid to Cocky, the revolting Yorkshire terrier beloved of the show's star, Dame Aurelia Howarth. Charles Paris begins to scent the trail of another mass murderer ...R88 |
| 1982 |
 |
MURDER UNPROMPTED The career of actor Charles Paris seems to have reached an all-too-rare peak. A new play at Taunton, in which Paris lands a substantial role, transfers to the West End - albeit with Paris demoted to understudy. But on the first night, the star brought in for the London run is shot dead on stage. Paris finds himself playing the lead for the first time ever, a turn of events which also helps him solve the murder ...R88 |
| 1983 |
 |
MURDER IN THE TITLE Playing the
corpse in a wooden murder mystery at the
Regent Theatre, Rugland Spa, is not exactly
a triumph for Charles Paris, actor. In fact
his career could hardly sink any lower. But
suddenly the mystery spilled over into real
life when a bizarre sequence of events
culminated in the Artistic Director's
apparent suicide. And the talents of Charles
Paris, amateur sleuth, were called into
action. R88
|
| 1984 |
 |
NOT DEAD, ONLY
RESTING Charles Paris,
down on his luck and 'resting' between acts
waits patiently for a phone call from his
agent, driven to painting and decorating to
make ends meet. A rare evening out at a posh
restaurant among stars of screen and stage
promises a break in the depressing routine.
But when the restaurant's handsome,
temperamental chef is brutally murdered,
Charles finds himself drawn into the ensuing
investigation. At first it seems an open and
shut case: the chef's partner is in France
within hours of a spectacular quarrel with
him over a pretty youth. Yet as Charles'
inquiries take him into the feuds and
jealousies of his own profession, it soon
becomes clear that there's a lot more to the
case than that ...R89
|
| 1985 |
 |
DEAD GIVEAWAY
The television give-away panel game is the very lowest form of showbiz life. For Charles Paris, his acting career in the doldrums, 'If The Cap Fits' is the final humiliation - his qualification for representing his profession is that his face is unknown to the public. But when murder intervenes - and on camera, too - the other Charles Paris is revealed, the brilliant amateur detective, incisive, perceptive, forceful - and lucky. All the things Charles Paris, actor, is not. There are lots of suspects, and a whole selection of compelling motives: the victim was detested by all right-thinking people. But for Charles, nothing ever is straightforward, and the complications threaten to become overwhelming. R88 |
| 1987 |
 |
WHAT BLOODY MAN IS
THAT Charles Paris is on his way up
again, career-wise. No longer "resting" and no
longer just a corpse in a cupboard, he
blossoms in the play dreaded by superstitious
theatre folk, who will not even speak its
name: "the Scottish play"-Macbeth. It's only
in the provincial rep, but you have to start
(or re-start) somewhere. And his agent has
promised that though what's offered is not
much of a part, "other good parts are in the
offing". By which perhaps is not meant
precisely what happens: that Charles finds
himself doubling almost every role in the play
that isn't held by the three principals. And
as for the principals, they could hardly be
more ill sorted. Macbeth is played by George
Birkitt, the TV game-show personality. Lady
Macbeth comes straight from Stratford: an
intense young woman with method in her
madness. And Duncan is that notorious old ham,
Warnock Belvedere, who feels that he's in the
tradition of great actor-managers.With such a
cast, sparks are bound to fly. It's not long
before death strikes in the night. And Charles
Paris takes on the role of private eye...R88
|
| 1989 |
 |
A SERIES OF MURDERS Charles Paris has been contracted to play brainless bobby Sergeant Clump, foil to the charismatic amateur sleuth, Stanislas Braid, in a TV series of that name. However, filming is far from plain sailing - plagued by the show's pompous star, and the constant outraged interruptions of the ancient author whose novels are being adapted. Indeed, there is plenty of friction about, but when an actress is crushed to death Charles suspects it was not a simple accident and subsequently embarks on some sleuthing of his own. He may lack the panache of the suave Stanislas Braid, but unlike the great detective the danger Paris encounters is only too real. R90 |
| 1991 |
 |
CORPORATE BODIES Charles
Paris, sometime actor and amateur sleuth, has
a new if unlikely role as a fork-lift truck
driver in a promotional video for food-and-
drinks giant,
Delmoleen. The discovery of a body
crushed beneath his truck is not a good start
to the afternoon's filming - but worse is to
come. Embarking on some discreet
investigations, Charles charts a hilarious but
perilous course through the unknown waters of
corporate politics, product marketing and
sales conference hanky-panky.
R11/11
|
| 1993 |
 |
A RECONSTRUCTED
CORPSE Failed thespian
and boozy gumshoe Charles Paris's acting
career plumbs new depths when he takes the
part of a possible murder victim in a TV
series. Finding himself in a bizarre world
somewhere between police procedure and
showbiz, he can't resist getting involved in
the investigation. R00
|
| 1995 |
 |
SICKEN AND SO DIE Charles
Paris has not only moved back in with his
ex-wife but has also got a part in a
production of Twelfth Night. Everything
is going well until the director gets food
poisoning and a further member of the
company ends up in hospital. R00
|
| 1997 |
 |
DEAD ROOM FARCE A three-month
run in a new farce by Bill Blunden 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. When Charles's
friend Mark is murdered, it's one of the
cast, who has a secret to hide, who is
responsible. R00
|