Customer Reviews

What Bloody Man is That?

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My favourites among the lightweight crime novels of Simon Brett that feature actor cum sleuth Charles Parris are those set against a background of the live theatre and What Bloody Man Is That falls into this category.
Parris is engagaed to appear in provincial repertory theatre in a production of MacBeth-not,alas for him ,in either the title role or a significant supporting part ,but in a variety of small roles.It is a production for which the omens are not good.The title role is in the hands of an actor whose recent career has been in a television sitcom,and who has forgotten many of the disciplines of the classical theatre;his Lady MacBeth is a promising young actress used to the more leisurely and academic approach of the subsidised theatre and who is aghast at the short rehearsal time and text cutting inherent in the commercial world.Add to this a cast member who is a predatory old roue who turns up dead and there is every reason to believe that Shakespeares play will live up to its reputation an "unlucky"
The mystery is not deep but the brisk pace and jaunty writing keeps things lively and diverting,and there are some wry observations about the way the young generation of schoolkids have to be dragged along to see the Bard,and the unenthusiastic response of the MTV audience to the classics.Brett is especially good on the cameraderie between actors who operate below the level of stardom.
One for those who like their mysteries breezy and light and especially if they are devotees of the thespic arts.

Simon Brett has always been one of my favorite British crime writers, but only his Charles Paris mysteries interest me because the actor, Charles, is such a funny character, a wreck of a man, but oh, so human, so flawed. He's always nursing a hangover at a crucial time in his acting career or during his murder-solving avocational excursions. The theater backgrounds and the inner workings of acting are fascinating elements in the books. Brett's other crime series are boring and simplistic.
He should go back to Charles who is usually drunk, in and out of small acting jobs, and fun to read about because he has the worst agent in England. He's separated from his wife Frances, and is always teetering on the edge of despair, sobriety, and farce.
Acting jobs are hard for Charles to land. This time he has a job in provincial repertory in Warminster in that cursed play "Macbeth." Because he's a good-hearted, eager-to please, desperate actor, and because the director is a wimp, he gets saddled with ten bit parts in the play, all with different costumes.
Warnock Belvedere is a nasty old ham playing only one part, that of Duncan. He quickly becomes hated by the whole cast and eventually ends up as the murder victim. Charles has to solve the case because he discovered the body, and he's the chief suspect. He gives up the booze while on the case. It's an ingenious plot, and the solution is perfectly fitting.
The school matinee performances are hilarious, and the cast gets the giggles because a walnut is being passed around the cast to unsuspecting players. Brett doesn't really go into whether the play was effective for adult audiences or whether all the other actors did a good job. He's more interesting in weaving a good comic yarn, setting a fast pace, getting in some telling caricatures, and providing readers with a very enjoyable performance.