AuthorSimon Brett
NarratorBill Nighy
SeriesCharles Paris Mysteries, Book 1
Duration1h 52m
CategoriesAdult Fiction, Crime, Thriller and Mysteries, Cosy Crime
PublisherAudio Go Ltd
VersionAbridged
Bill Nighy stars as Charles Paris with Martine McCutcheon as Jodie Ricks in this BBC Radio 4 comedy detective drama. Charles finds himself uncharacteristically employed in a film, having landed the part of Szabec, a middle management vampire in The Wreathing. His co-star is swimwear model turned actress Jodie Ricks and before long, Jodie is using Charles as a confidant. Poor Jodie is in terrible trouble-not only is she being blackmailed over some compromising photos, but she is also carrying the baby of the film's producer, Elliot Roth, who now wants nothing to do with her. Then things take an even nastier turn when it appears that someone is trying to kill Jodie. Always keen to help a damsel in distress, Charles sets about trying to solve the mystery...
Author: Simon Brett
Author Simon Brett
Narrator Various
SeriesFather Paolo Baldi Mysteries Series 2, Book 4
Duration 42m
On sabbatical from the Franciscan order, Father Paolo Baldi is working as a philosophy lecturer in Dublin when his life takes an unexpected turn and he finds himself helping the police to solve crimes. Not For Life covers the story of a girl's suspected suicide. When questions are raised as to whether her death was accidental, Paolo follows the tra...
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A Charles Paris Mystery Book 15: A Reconstructed Corpse
Author: Simon Brett
Author Simon Brett
Narrator Bill Nighy
SeriesCharles Paris Mysteries, Book 15
Duration 1h 52m
Bill Nighy returns as Charles Paris: unsuccessful actor, bad husband and dipsomaniac. Desperately in need of work, having been kicked out of the marital home, Charles jumps at playing a missing property developer in a crime reconstruction programme. But the missing person case soon turns to murder when severed body parts begin to appear. Television...
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Author: Simon Brett
Author Simon Brett
Narrator Various
SeriesFather Paolo Baldi Mysteries Series 2, Book 1
Duration 42m
On sabbatical from the Franciscan order, Father Paolo Baldi is working as a philosophy lecturer in Dublin when his life takes an unexpected turn and he finds himself helping the police to solve crimes. Three In One sees Father Baldi and Mrs Reid taking a trip to the races, where the pair prove to have an unexpected link with a contract killing on t...
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Author: Simon Brett
Author Simon Brett
Narrator Various
SeriesFather Paolo Baldi Mysteries Series 3, Book 2
Duration 43m
On sabbatical from the Franciscan order, Father Paolo Baldi is working as a philosophy lecturer in Dublin when his life takes an unexpected turn and he finds himself helping the police to solve crimes. The Bookcase sees Father Baldi help a librarian investigate the link between her young lover's death, a shifty Chicago cop, and an illegal trade in...
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A Charles Paris Mystery Book 6: The Dead Side of the Mic
Author: Simon Brett
Author Simon Brett
Narrator Full Cast
SeriesCharles Paris Mysteries, Book 6
Duration 1h 52m
Actor and reluctant sleuth Charles Paris is facing chaos on the domestic front. He's lodging with his ex-wife Frances, and now their pregnant daughter has moved in as well. It's all a bit much... So he is over the moon when he lands a job on the BBC Radio Rep - but the ink is barely dry on his contract when a murder takes place in Broadcasting Hous...
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Author: Simon Brett
Author Simon Brett
Narrator Various
SeriesFather Paolo Baldi Mysteries Series 1, Book 1
Duration 44m
On sabbatical from the Franciscan order, Father Paolo Baldi is working as a philosophy lecturer in Dublin when his life takes an unexpected turn and he finds himself helping the police to solve crimes. Keepers Of The Flame sees Father Baldi solving the murder of a leading University academic. He follows the trail which leads into the past of one of...
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A Charles Paris Mystery Book 9: Murder In the Title
Author: Simon Brett
Author Simon Brett
Narrator Bill Nighy
SeriesCharles Paris Mysteries, Book 9
Duration 1h 50m
Charles Paris is his own worst enemy, a louche lush who can resist anything except temptation - especially in the form of women and alcohol. He's been out of work so long now he feels he may never get a job and he's driving Frances, his semi-ex-wife, mad. So when he's offered a small role in a play, she nearly pushes him out of the door. But it see...
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A Charles Paris Mystery Book 4: An Amateur Corpse
Author: Simon Brett, Jeremy Front
Author Simon Brett, Jeremy Front
Narrator Bill Nighy, Full Cast
SeriesCharles Paris Mysteries, Book 4
Duration 1h 52m
Charles is out of work again, and to make matters worse his mother has come to stay and he's no way of escaping her. So when he's offered some voiceover work by old friend, Hugo, he's delighted to get out of the house. But Hugo's marriage is in trouble: his much younger wife, Ellie, spends all her time at her Amateur Dramatic Group, and Hugo is dri...
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A Charles Paris Mystery Book 13: A Series of Murders
Author: Simon Brett
Author Simon Brett
Narrator Simon Brett
SeriesCharles Paris Mysteries, Book 13
Duration 57m
Charles Paris, actor and amateur sleuth, is working in television as the brainless bobby sidekick to a suave detective. The accidental death of an unpromising actress causes little suspicion, except in Charles' mind. He decides to investigate.
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Author: Simon Brett
Author Simon Brett
Narrator Various
SeriesFather Paolo Baldi Mysteries Series 1, Book 5
Duration 44m
On sabbatical from the Franciscan order, Father Paolo Baldi is working as a philosophy lecturer in Dublin when his life takes an unexpected turn and he finds himself helping the police to solve crimes. Death Cap sees Father Baldi visiting a monastic retreat far out in County Cork. A sudden death among the Franciscan brothers causes Paolo to suspect...
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Geoff 20 May 2021
Enter Mr Paris, louche sleuth, stage right
The first in Simon Brett's actor-cum-sleuth series Charles Paris, adapted for radio by the BBC, voiced by Bill Night and Suzanne Burdon.
Wonderful characterisations and dialogue, we warm to the louche Paris in spite of his penchant for drink halfway through a show/film performance.
This is the first on the series and we meet his half-estranged Mrs and agent that like him then loathe him in turns in most of these books.
Understandably.
But this is sharper than your average soft whodunnit, and 2 hours fly by. Situation, words and people paint a brilliant picture and the whole hangs together.