A Comedian Dies, Simon Brett
A Comedian Dies, Simon Brett
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A Comedian Dies

Author: Simon Brett

Narrator: Frederick Davidson

Unabridged: 5 hr 34 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download (DRM Protected)

Published: 01/01/2007

Synopsis

Charles Paris, middle-aged actor turned amateur sleuth, is vacationing at a small English seaside town. Irresistibly drawn to anything theatrical, Charles seeks entertainment at the local music hall and endures a series of not-so-wonderful vaudeville acts in the hope that the man given star billing will be worth watching. This performer, Bill Peaky, comes on stage with his electric guitar, grasps the microphone—and drops dead, due to faulty wiring of the stage equipment.It looks like an accident, but Charles is not so sure and starts to find out more about the people in the other acts on the bill: Janine, the pretty dancer who disappears; Miffy Turtle, Peaky’s manager, a little too sharply dressed and too sharp altogether; Chox Morton, seedy and unduly nervous, manager of another act; Lennie Barber, one-time star comedian trying to make a comeback. The more Charles investigates, the more suspects turn up.

About Simon Brett

Simon Brett is the creator of six series of detective novels, as well as ten stand-alone novels. His stand-alone novel A Shock to the System was adapted as a film starring Michael Caine. He has been awarded the CWA’s prestigious Diamond Dagger for an outstanding body of work and the Malice Domestic Award for lifetime achievement. He was awarded an OBE in the 2016 New Year’s Honours for Services to Literature and also was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He is a former president of Britain’s Crime Writers Association. He worked as a producer in radio and television before taking up writing full-time.

About Frederick Davidson

Frederick Davidson (1932–2005), also known as David Case, was one of the most prolific readers in the audiobook industry, recording more than eight hundred audiobooks in his lifetime, including over two hundred for Blackstone Audio. Born in London, he trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and performed for many years in radio plays for the British Broadcasting Company before coming to America in 1976. He received AudioFile’s Golden Voice Award and numerous Earphones Awards and was nominated for a Grammy for his readings.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Bill on June 11, 2021

A Comedian Dies by Simon Brett is the first Charles Paris mystery that I've read (it is the 3rd in the series). I have read 3 or 4 of the Fethering series and enjoyed them. My wife used to listen to BBC radio dramatizations of the Charles Paris books, starring Bill Nighy as Paris. That is what got m......more

Goodreads review by Jenny on September 24, 2017

Didn't love this installment of Charles. As another review notes, he's a bit flat this go-around - he's not his usual womanizing, drinking self (he does manage to sweet-talk his way into a woman's bed but he continues to distract himself by thinking about the comedian's death). There are a lot of me......more

Goodreads review by Norma on December 28, 2021

( Format : Audiobook ) "Well, I never did." Another attempted marital reconciliation between Charles and Frances Paris saw them at an afternoon performance of a number of music hall type acts, with show girls, a musical group, a singer and an old comedian, once famous, now bottom of the bill. Topping......more

Goodreads review by Nic on November 12, 2017

I love this series, they literally make me laugh out loud, they are very much of their time and possibly may have been written slightly differently now but I can't get enough of them. The mystery is great and kept me guessing but the way that Charles Paris accidentally blunders his way through the s......more

Goodreads review by Jennifer on January 01, 2020

Classic light English murder mystery Fresh angle: told from an actor/ comedian/ amateur sleuth's perspective. A bit humorous at times. Context: England, late 1970s, how we once were.......more

Quotes

“Typical Brett: Well-realized characters and urbane dialogue…[with] a pronounced touch of irony.”

New York Times Book Review

“Frederick Davidson catches the perfect ironic and self-deprecating tone for Paris. Davidson’s excellent portrayal of the classes of people found in the British television studio and vaudeville hall greatly contributes to the enjoyment of this mystery.”

AudioFile

“Simon Brett, the Laurence Olivier of theatrical mystery, writes thrillers that play wonderfully: the dialogue is witty and natural, the characterization engagingly complex, and the plots most cunningly constructed.”

Booklist

“A likable case, nicely colored with a music hall/TV background…A neat, swift read by anybody’s standards.”

Kirkus Reviews

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