Not Dead, Only Resting. [Paperback]

Simon Brett (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 19, 2000

Text for Author Bio: Simon Brett is a former radio and television comedy producer, who has been writing full-time for more than twenty years. Creator of the Charles Parks, Mrs. Pargeter and Feathering series of mysteries, his psychological thriller, A Shock to the System was filmed, starring Michael Caine. Married, with three children, he lives in an Agatha Christie-style village in West Sussex, England. Text for Book description: Tristam Gowers and Yves Lafeu have the flamboyance of stage matinee idols, but currently they are running a very smart restaurant, Tryst, which is much patronized by top people in the theatrical profession. Which means its not Charles Pariss usual ambience, but this small-part player, whos more successful as an amateur detective than as professional actor, is the guest tonight of another fascinating duo, William Bartlemas and Kevin ORourke, wealthy collectors of theatrical memorabilia. And he is in at the death: the gruesome murder of Yves. It seems to be an open and shut case. Tristam caught the night boat to France within hours of a spectacular public quarrel with Yves over a pretty youth, and now he has disappeared. But of course theres much more to it than that: much more, as Charles discovers when he begins to investigate.Text for Review Box: "Great entertainment." Sunday Times "A cunning tale of theatrical illusion." Yorkshire Post

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Charles Paris has learned that the hardest thing about having a career in acting is finding a job. Once more on the dole, but ever hopeful that a role in an award-winning West End play is just a phone call away, Charles starts a new job with another out-of-work actor. Unfortunately, minutes into their first house-painting assignment, Charles discovers a corpse. When the police write the case off as a murder/suicide, he decides to do a little investigating of his own. As usual, Charles's pursuit of the real killer takes more than one wrong turn. A delightfully witty tale, Not Dead, Only Resting is Brett at his best. Simon Prebble's performance of the varied and often peculiar cast of characters helps make this book another gem in the Paris series (Star Trap, Murder Unprompted). Sure to delight mystery fans and English literature lovers alike, this is highly recommended for all libraries. Theresa Connors, Arkansas Tech Univ., Russellville
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

About the Author

Simon Brett is a former radio and television comedy producer, who has been writing full-time for more than twenty years. Creator of the Charles Paris, Mrs. Pargeter and Fethering series of mysteries, his psychological thriller, A Shock to the System was filmed, starring Michael Caine. Married with three children, he lives in an Agatha Christie-style village in West Sussex, England.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 180 pages
• Publisher: iUniverse (May 19, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0595003567
• ISBN-13: 978-0595003563
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #397,871 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Another Great Charles Paris Effort, March 28, 2010

By 

John F. Rooney - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Not Dead, Only Resting. (Paperback)

Simon Brett's "Not Dead, Only Resting" has his actor amateur-sleuth, Charles Paris, without an acting job for the whole story and doing only his detecting work. When an actor is out of work, they say the actor is "resting." Charles has a part-time job as a house painter, and when he shows up for his first assignment, he and his work partner discover a murder victim, Yves Lafeu, who with his lover Tristram Gowers runs a restaurant named Tryst. Charles had previously met Yves and Tristram at the restaurant where the two had a row over a young man that Tristram believed Yves was having an affair with.
Brett has assembled an interesting cast of characters (suspects) and hasn't neglected his comic impulses. Charles, with the backing of Tristram's cousin Kevin O'Rourke, puts his investigative talents to work to find Yve's murderer and solve the disappearance of Tristram. O'Rourke and his lover Bartlemas are theater groupies who show up for every West End opening.
Charles and the pair go to the Yve and Kevin's French cottage in search of the missing man. The plot is ingenious, complex, and cleverly worked out. Of course there's a lot of acting lore involved in the plot so Paris fans will not be disappointed. Charles has to delve into gay society as part of his detecting. He even uncovers some blackmailing.
As he continues his investigation, Charles interviews a number of suspects and gathers clues, always stopping off to fortify himself with Bell's whiskey. To say that Charles likes to imbibe would be an understatement. Charles is getting known among theater people as a good detective, and it keeps him busy. A good thing because his acting career has had a lot of slow patches. Paris is a great character creation and this is a wonderfully entertaining crime series.

4.0 out of 5 stars Another little gem, November 6, 2006

By 

S. Schwartz "romonko" (alberta canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Not Dead, Only Resting. (Paperback)

Simon Brett's Charles Paris series is a winner. The reader gets a "bird's eye view" of life in the theatrical world in London, and a good little puzzle too. Charles Paris is a hard-drinking, 50-something, mostly out-of-work actor that does a little amateur detective work on the side. And he is probably one of the most realistic characters that you will come across in fiction. Simon Brett paints him masterfully without omitting any of the "warts". In this book we have Charles in the middle of a domestic homosexual dispute, and one of the partners turns up dead, he takes it upon himself to find the killer. Wonderful little book.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Transgressive, August 8, 2006

By 

Mary E. Sibley (Carneys Point, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Not Dead, Only Resting. (Paperback)

Charles Paris is an indigent actor. Tryst is an expensive restaurant. Charles is losing his wife, Frances, he is our of work, but he is enjoying his meal at Tristram Gower's establishment. During the following month, September, Tris and the chef of the restaurant intend to vacation at Cahors.

After visiting the unemployment office, Charles likes to go out for a drink and lunch. At a drinks club, the Montrose, (the lease is to be up at the end of the year, seemingly tracing another point in the downward spiral of Charles's existence), Charles runs into Zoe Fratton, Tristram's former wife. Working with another out-of-work actor, (the state is known as resting, not unemployment), on a job of redecoration, Charles bumps into a dead body, that of the chef of Tryst, Yves. The police commence looking for Tris in France, suicide is feared.

A friend, Kevin O'Rourke, seeks to hire Charles to discover who killed his cousin, Yves. Yves's sister, hostess of Tryst, presents a mystifying attitude to his death. The solution to the mystery has to do with an actor's take on his unemployment problem.

This is rich. The characterizations are good and the talk is witty. The plotting is intricate in the manner of Agatha Christie.