A Reconstructed Corpse: A Charles Paris Mystery (BBC Radio Crimes)

by Simon Brett, Bill Nighy (Narrated by)

Overview

Bill Nighy returns as Charles Paris: unsuccessful actor, bad husband, and dipsomaniac. Desperately in need of work, having been kicked out of the marital home, Charles jumps at playing a missing property developer in a crime reconstruction programmer. But the missing person case soon turns to murder when severed body parts begin to appear. Television ratings soar as the public tune in to discover every gory detail of the case. The raging egos and jealous maneuverings of the producers, presenters and the police provide a long list of suspects for Charles as he pieces together a macabre jigsaw puzzle of murder. Bill Nighy, Suzanne Burden, and Jon Glover are among the star cast in this enjoyable mystery, dramatized by Jeremy Front.

2 CDs. 2 hrs.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781408470473
Publisher:	Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Publication date:	05/15/2012
Series:	Charles Paris Series
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 4.90(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

Simon Brett was educated at Dulwich College and Wadham College, Oxford, where he read English and was president of the Oxford University Dramatic Society. After landing a job at the BBC as a radio producer he worked on such programs as The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Week Ending, The Burkiss Way, I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue, and Just a Minute. At London Weekend Television he produced Maggie and Her, End of Part One, and The Glums. He is the author of the Charles Paris novels, which began with Cast In Order of Disappearance. He has written more than 80 books, including 19 Charles Paris books, 15 Fethering Mysteries, and six Mrs Pargeter novels, as well as several non-series titles such as A Shock to the System, which was adapted as a film starring Michael Caine. He has also contributed to several anthologies and scripted many sitcoms for radio, including No Commitments, Smelling of Roses, and After Henry. Other radio work includes several one-off plays for Radio 4, and a number of episodes of the detective series Baldi. A former Chair of both the Crime Writers’ Association and The Society of Authors, he is currently President of the Detection Club, as well as being involved with various writers’ organizations.

Editorial Reviews

In less skillful hands the premise for Brett's Charles Paris series might, by now (the 15th entry), be wearing dangerously thin. Each time out, Charles has posed as an unsuccessful actor, yet he seems always to have a paying gig of sorts. No matter. Brett is a master of the English cozy, comfortable, witty and sympathetic to his hero's plight. To pay the rent and keep himself in Bell's Whisky, Charles plays a missing man on a popular telly show where real crimes are re-created to entertain and to aid ongoing investigations. The author spends less time with obvious suspects than with the egos assembled behind the cameras, and in uniform: a dictatorial producer, the scared minions in his employ, and a pretty and ambitious policewoman whose former lover, a private investigator, left Scotland Yard under a cloud of suspicion. As always, Charles is endlessly inquisitive, especially when the arms of the real missing man are found in a fresh grave, and the likely widow, a willowy and temptingly photogenic woman named Chloe, seems to bask in her newfound celebrity. Once again Charles, last encountered in Corporate Bodies , is better at sleuthing than emoting, much to readers' continuing benefit. (June)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly