Dead Room Farce

Book excerpt: Meet Charles Paris: a washed-up actor with a taste for wine, women . . . and solving crimes! A binge-worthy cozy mystery series from the original king of British cozy crime, internationally best-selling, award-winning author Simon Brett, OBE. For fans of Richard Osman - but with added bite! "Like a little malice in your mysteries? Some cynicism in your cosies? Simon Brett is happy to oblige" THE NEW YORK TIMES "Few crime writers are as enchantingly gifted" THE SUNDAY TIMES "One of British crime's most assured craftsmen . . . Perfect entertainment" THE GUARDIAN "A new Simon Brett is an event for mystery fans" P.D. JAMES "Murder most enjoyable" COLIN DEXTER _______________________ A middle-aged actor - and sometimes sleuth - with farcical trousers An audio producer discovered dead in a locked studio . . . A key in the outside lock . . . It all points to a DEAD ROOM FARCE! When Charles Paris isn't dropping his trousers while rehearsing his role in Not On Your Wife!, a farce premiering in Bath, he's recording an audio book in a tiny studio known as the 'dead room'. The studio's owner, Mark Lear, has found success as an audio producer after being dumped by the BBC many years ago. But the day after the theatre company record a radio commercial for the farce at the studio, Mark is found dead, locked in the now aptly named room. Was Mark's sudden announcement that he was going to write a tell-all book about the corporation a direct threat to someone in the cast or crew? Charles must negotiate dark secrets and skeletons jangling in old cupboards to unpick the truth! Fans of Agatha Christie, The Thursday Murder Club, Anthony Horowitz, Alexander McCall Smith, M.C. Beaton and Faith Martin will love this hilarious cozy traditional mystery series featuring one of the funniest antiheroes in crime fiction. Written over a fifty-year-period, it perfectly captures life and contemporary attitudes in 1970s London - and beyond! READERS ADORE CHARLES PARIS: "A sure hit" Library Journal "Perfect for Paris' fans and for anyone who likes a comic but challenging mystery" Booklist "Brett, who remains better known on his own side of the pond, is a master of breezy, boozy buffoonery" Publishers Weekly "For a page-turning, laugh-out-loud but truly clever read Brett's Charles Paris cannot be beaten" Judith Cranswick, 5* Goodreads review "Charles Paris always delivers a great combo of humour and mystery. Very enjoyable!" Fay, 5* Amazon review "Brilliant as usual. Charles Paris never fails to entertain and amuse" Jacqueline, 5* Amazon review "A very good read" Zena, 5* Amazon review THE CHARLES PARIS MYSTERIES, IN ORDER: 1. Cast in Order of Disappearance 2. So Much Blood 3. Star Trap 4. An Amateur Corpse 5. A Comedian Dies 6. The Dead Side of the Mike 7. Situation Tragedy 8. Murder Unprompted 9. Murder in the Title 10. Not Dead, Only Resting 11. Dead Giveaway 12. What Bloody Man is That 13. A Series of Murders 14. Corporate Bodies 15. A Reconstructed Corpse 16. Sicken and So Die 17. Dead Room Farce 18. A Decent Interval 19. The Cinderella Killer 20. A Deadly Habit 15. A Reconstructed Corpse 16. Sicken and So Die 17. Dead Room Farce 18. A Decent Interval 19. The Cinderella Killer 20. A Deadly Habit