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 Simon Brett
Duration 7h 35m
The affluent seaside resort of Smalting is unaccustomed to crime. So when human remains are found beneath the floorboards of one of its beach huts, the community is awash with suspicion and fear. Amateur sleuths Carole Seddon and best friend Jude are drawn into the mystery, and their suspicion quickly falls on attractive Philly Rose, a young London...
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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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Charles Paris Mysteries Book 8: Murder Unprompted
Author: Simon Brett
Author Simon Brett
Narrator Geoffrey Howard
SeriesCharles Paris Mysteries, Book 8
Duration 5h 4m
"I want you all out-gone-dead-exterminated!" high strung Alex Household cried out, when, after a lifetime of struggle, he lost the starring role in a new play called The Hooded Owl-to an actor who couldn't remember his lines. But did that mean that it was Alex who had shot the leading man dead during his climactic speech? charles Paris, for one, co...
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Author: Simon Brett
Author Simon Brett
Narrator Simon Brett
Duration 7h 25m
It wasn't the rain that upset Carole Seddon during her walk on the West Sussex Downs. It wasn't the dilapidated barn in which she was forced to seek shelter. No, what upset her most was the human skeleton she discovered there.... So begins the second investigation for strait-laced Carole and her more laid-back neighbour Jude. This time their enquir...
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A Charles Paris Mystery: A Doubtful Death
Author: Simon Brett, Jeremy Front
Author Simon Brett, Jeremy Front
Narrator Bill Nighy, Full Cast
Duration 2h 10m
Bill Nighy returns as the loveably louche actor-cum-amateur detective Charles ParisCharles Paris is in Oxford, appearing in a re-imagining of Hamlet by a high-concept drama company. No fan of immersive theatre, he's unimpressed with the director's vision and less than thrilled to be rehearsing alongside puppeteers and mime artists.But he soon finds...
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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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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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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 Simon Brett
Duration 9h
Fethering residents, Jude and Carole, get more than they bargained for when a meal in their local pub leaves everyone with food poisoning. The landlord is horrified and when a series of disasters start to befall his business it looks like it could be the end of the road for the Crown and Anchor. The two amateur detectives wonder if it might just be...
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Author: Simon Brett
Author Simon Brett
Narrator Simon Brett
Duration 7h
When Jude agrees to lend her vintage chaise longue for the local Amateur Dramatic Society's production of George Bernard Shaw's The Devil's Disciple, little does she realise she'll end up in a starring role. It's an ambitious play, culminating in a dramatic execution scene: a scene that's played for real when one of the leading actors is found hang...
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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.