A Series of Murders (Portway Large Print Series) [Large Print] [Hardcover]

Simon Brett (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1991 | Series: Portway Large Print Series

Charles Paris is in clover. He has been contracted for three whole months to play brainless bobby Sergeant Clump, foil to the charismatic amateur sleuth, Stanislas Braid, in a TV series of that name. Recourse to the Bells is still needed, however, to get him through a days filmingone made all the more arduous by the pompous posturings of the shows star, and the constant outraged interruptions of the ancient author whose detective novels are being adapted. Indeed, there is plenty of friction about, but when a particularly unpromising actress is killed, crushed to death, there seems no reason to doubt it was an accidentexcept in Charless mind. Leaving behind a trail of broken resolutions and empty bottles, Charles indulges in 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. A Series of Murders is a witty and delightful addition to Simon Bretts popular series.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

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. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 216 pages
• Publisher: Chivers; Lrg edition (December 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0745172997
• ISBN-13: 978-0745172996
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,877,449 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars fine Brett effort, August 27, 2000

By 

Mary Carol Scherb (Irvine, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Series of Murders (Paperback)

Simon Brett now returns to the extraordinary character who made him famous: Charles Paris, the usually out-of-work actor who on occasion imbibes a little too much and who detects even better than he acts. A Series of Murders finds Charles gainfully employed in what he hopes will be the long-running Stanislas Braid television series based on some rather dated 1930s novels. Charles is booked for three highly paid months as Sergeant Clump of the Little Breckington Police Station, foil to the suave detective Braid, a disciple of the School of Lord Peter Wimsey. Russell Bentley, a wooden and egotistical leading man who always plays himself, stars as Braid, and an impossibly bad actress, Sippy Stokes, is "absolute death" as Stanislas Braid's naive young daughter, Christina. Television sitcoms hardly require Shakespearean training, but Sippy is so awful she may ruin the show. Fortunately for the series but sadly for Sippy, Charles discovers the young lady crushed to death beneath a props case when he wanders into the props room (on his way to the bar) early in the shooting schedule. Charles knows that many people had cause to dislike Sippy or to wish her gone, but murder would seem to be an extreme way to terminate anybody's contract. Simon Brett is in very fine form here

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This One Should Be Reissued!, March 10, 2010

By 

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

Simon Brett's British character actor/amateur sleuth, Charles Paris, is generally out of work hanging around his seedy London bed-sitter. His agent is known as the worst one available, but he's full of valuable theater gossip that comes in handy for Charles's detecting work. Charles likes his Bell's whiskey a little too much, but it helps to stave off the bad effects of a marriage gone sour and his dire acting prospects. He occasionally gets hangovers that can be measured on the seismic scale.
In "A Series of Murders" Charles has landed a three-month assignment in a television mystery series as the cloddish Sergeant Clump. It's a pre-World War II drama that is more old-fashioned than period stuff. The TV detective is Stanislas Braid, and he is being portrayed by an actor who can never play anyone but himself. The leading men in Simon Brett's series are usually inept. The TV episodes are adapted from the mysteries of W.T. Wintergreen, a woman who along with her sister insists on everything being filmed exactly as she wrote it.
As usual Charles is the one who finds the victims, and often he'll know it's foul play, murder, when the cops think it's accidental death. This plot is very clever, and the solution is quite ingenious. Readers always have fun watching Charles trying to seek rapprochement with his estranged wife Frances who is onto his tricks and his broken promises.
Sometimes in a Paris novel an incompetent actor or actress will get done in, or it might be someone who is nasty or dodgy. Brett knows all the ins and outs of theater, and he's sharp delineating actors, directors, writers and crew members. There are always a lot of comic lines, and Brett knows how to get Charles in trouble. Charles is his own worst enemy. This page-turner has a lot of suspects, and it's all fast-paced and pleasant reading. Not the greatest Brett, but not bad either.

5.0 out of 5 stars A Series of Murders By Simon Brett, December 4, 2010

By 

Dorothea Corbin (FORT WORTH, TX, US) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A Series of Murders: A Crime Novel (Hardcover)

I received this book earlier than excepted and it was in exactly the condition that the seller said it was. I would definitely but from this seller again.