Charles Paris, middle-aged, middle-talented actor has hit a new low – a part in a production of The Message Is Murder, namely the body that falls out of the wardrobe in Act One. Not even Charles can mess this up – well, unless he gets incredibly drunk and can’t even fall straight. Despite this inevitably happening, Charles manages to hang on to his job, even after messing up the second time. The second time wasn’t due to the fact that he wasn’t drunk – he was, obviously – but he was avoiding the knife that was trying to stab him through the back of the wardrobe.

When another near-death occurs, Charles realises that someone is trying to sabotage the production – or even the theatre itself. But when the artistic director “commits suicide”, it becomes clear that he is up against someone ruthless – and he hasn’t a shred of proof against them…

So after a couple of disappointing “funny” titles – The Pie & Mash Detective Agency and The English Village Murder – and an enjoyable theatrical tale – Light Thickens – which was still disappointing, mystery-wise, I thought I’d try something that combined the two. That should work. So I went back to the Charles Paris series, that I’ve reviewed before. My enjoyment has varied quite a bit from book to book, so I knew this would be a bit of a lottery, but why not take a gamble?

What’s the phrase for a bad result when rolling dice? Snake eyes? Yeah…

I think you can divide the book into three sections.

First, there’s the hijinks surrounding putting on the rubbish mystery play and the simultaneous rehearsal for the replacement. The latter is funny because it’s a modern edgy piece with prostitutes and nudity and the cast are a traditional rep company who don’t want to take their clothes off. The various cast members end up being fairly anonymous, bar the leading lady, and while there are some decent jokes, they’re quite spaced out.

Second, there’s the mystery. Needless to say, Charles gets the wrong end of the stick, but eventually he spots the obvious villain and then trips over the proof. But because the aforementioned cast are pretty anonymous, you don’t exactly have a massive pool of suspects to guess from. And Brett does something that he’s done a few times, that is giving one event an innocent explanation – well, one divorced from the main plot – that doesn’t really add anything bar adding early threat to the story.

Finally, though, the biggest problem is Charles Paris. I’m guessing that Simon Brett knows many Charles Paris-like actors, but he’s not remotely sympathetic. I think here, he’s somewhat accepting of the state of his career and his abilities, but the main thrust of his story here is his relationship with his wife, who’s starting a new relationship much to his despair. And I just don’t understand the thinking of someone who spends the whole book wanting to repair his marriage and… makes a questionable decision at the end. Yes, I know the point is that Charles is self-destructive, but that doesn’t make him an appealing lead for a comic crime caper.

So, for me, one of the lower points of the series. If you want to give the series a go, I’d try What Bloody Man Is That?, I enjoyed that one a lot.