Murder in the Title

Charles Paris #9

by Simon Brett

Simon Brett again takes us behind the scenes in a back-stage drama of crime and detection in Murder In The Title. This time it's the world of provincial rep, with an historic theatre threatened with closure by unscrupulous property developers. And the theatre management seems to be digging its own grave: a deplorable choice of current productions; a painfully incompetent director; bizarre accidents happening on stage.

Charles is an amateur detective and a professional actor. As an actor his career is on the way down, with not much further to go. But as a detective he goes from strength to strength. He soon establishes that someone is deliberately sabotaging the company. All this culminates in a spectacular suicide. Or is it murder, as Charles Paris suspects?

Genres: Mystery, Audiobook, Murder Mystery, Crime, Fiction, British Literature, Detective

196 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1983

About the author

Simon Brett is a prolific British writer of whodunnits.

He is the son of a Chartered Surveyor and was educated at Dulwich College and Wadham College, Oxford, where he got a first class honours degree in English.

He then joined the BBC as a trainee and worked for BBC Radio and London Weekend Television, where his work included 'Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy' and 'Frank Muir Goes Into ...'.

After his spells with the media he began devoting most of his time to writing from the late 1970s and is well known for his various series of crime novels.

He is married with three children and lives in Burpham, near Arundel, West Sussex, England. He is the current president of the Detection Club.

Reviews

[LeahBethany · Rating 3 out of 5]

Charles Paris usually drinks and sleeps his way through every mystery and for some reason I love it. Murder in the Title didn't see Charles "sleeping" as much but he was still good for a pint or a glass of Bell's. I read this series mostly just for Charles and the theatre setting - he's just a wonderful character.

[Heidi Burkhart · Rating 3 out of 5]

This audiobook was dramatized. It was entertaining, but honestly not memorable.

[Jeff Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

A BBC audio drama based on the novel. Top notch. Will have to find the rest of them.

[Jenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had a suspicion the murderer/bad guy was Donald Mason because he was calling too much attention to how Tony was abstracted and incapable. Someone who cared about the theatre wouldn't be outwardly suggesting to a vendor that his colleague might have misplaced the paperwork. I enjoyed all the characters with small parts- Kathy Kitson and her desire to keep an R play PG, and Gay Milner with her political agenda. And then Nella Lewis makes a play for Charles at the end, who a few days ago spent the night with Frances (who is also having an affair with a married man named David.)

[Jennifer Dudley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great! Another opportunity to lavish praise on and give thanks to Simon Brett! I'm in midst of reading all the Charles Paris books. Few light-hearted books make me laugh out loud. Even when I don't feel much like laughing. But the writing is not just funny. His use of language and sentence structure is....well....brilliant. I love words and finding the best ones to use for precision of meaning. He knows all about this. I always learn new vocabulary, which is much fun. Could be OCD, but I document all the new words I learn while reading a book. Simon Brett's list is impressive.

Thank you again Mr. Brett and Charles Paris.

[Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Easily identifiable villain but not a bad story. Probably my favourite element in these books is the comedy. I really want “Shove It” to be a real play now :-p

[Jean · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sometimes I get a little tired of Charles Paris' drinking and philandering, but in this book, neither interferes with the plot (and in fact he only philanders with his wife), so it is tolerable. After that, it is a well-constructed plot with plenty of red herrings to lead the reader to the wrong conclusion though for credible reasons. The setting is in a run-down theatre in the provinces during the run of a mediocre (at best) play, and accidents keep happening. Is the playwright taking revenge on the people who cast aspersions on his play? Is the director sabotaging the play? The theatre manager? A real estate agent who thinks the site of the playhouse would make a better shopping center? And who would want to kill (for real) Charles Paris whose role is to fall out of a closet, dead, the victim of a murder in the play's plot?

[Anna McCormack · Rating 4 out of 5]

Murder of whom and by whom and for what?

In a struggling provincial theatre, Charles Paris uses memory and wit to overcome a clever villain who wants ruin the theatre and doesn’t care who gets damaged on the way. One gross play succeeds another as Charles gives (or should that be 'reveals') his all. As always in this series of books, the plot is enlivened with lots of squirmish humour.

[Monica Willyard Moen · Rating 3 out of 5]

The mysteries in this series are humorous, quirky tales that have interesting plots and apt commentary on the British stage and screen scene of the 1970s and 1980s. I think these mysteries are better in audio format because much of the writing is ironic, and some of the humor is rather dry. A good narrator makes this work even better than the printed page.

[Verity W · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another job, another mystery for Charles to solve. This time he's in rep in a particularly terrible murder mystery play (he's the corpse) and ends up trying to untangle what's behind the mysterious accidents and the terrible choice of rep. Fun.

[Geraldine Sidoli · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an abridged audio version of the story done by the BBC on Radio 4. The fabulous Bill Nighy is excellent as Charles and the updated script by Jeremy Front, who has done several of Simon Brett's Charles Paris stories, is superb

[J · Rating 4 out of 5]

great of course. BBC radio production with Bill Nighy

[Pooch · Rating 4 out of 5]

The humor is such fun!

[Dora · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fine member of the series/

[Jill · Rating 4 out of 5]

The audible BBC series with Bill Nighy is a hoot. Great cast and highly entertaining.

[A. Talbert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ehhhhh.....I'll give another one in the series a chance.

[Rolf · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun entry in a pleasant series. Changing the setting from London to a theater production in the country was a nice change of pace from earlier entries.

[Val · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Charles Paris mystery. If you like anything to do with the theater these are the books for you. The details are wonderful. Charles has a part in the local historic theater. Of course a suicide, or was it murder, happens and Charles becomes involved.

[Brian G · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another amusing episode in the life of Charles Paris. Playing a corpse Charles almost becomes one. A few accidents allow Charles to exercise his deductive muscles again.
The mystery is not brilliant and almost incidental to the other problems going on in his life.
Amusing but not thrilling 3 stars

[Lois Baron · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not fair to rate the book because I listened to the BBC radio adaptation of the book. Takes a little getting used to (especially the music they use for breaks--no idea how they picked that rock), but enjoyable. Lots of brilliant banter.

[Rachel N. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Charles Paris is reduced to playing the corpse in the production of a play in Rugland Spa. A series of accidents occurs during the production and Paris begins an investigation. I’ve read a few books in this series before, though totally out of order. They are humorous, easy reads.

[Sheena · Rating 3 out of 5]

Had a borrower in recently who wanted to read all of these but all now long gone

[Bettie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bettie's Books

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Charles Paris is reduced to playing the corpse and is being attacked by someone in the cast. What is going on?

A great book for anyone interested in rep theatre; Simon Brett has a good comic touch.

[Les Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another good one from Simon Brett

[Bernadette · Rating 4 out of 5]

finished 2017-05-22