Another bumbling Charles Paris crime story.

There are two things that I love about this series: firstly (and NOT "first up"!!!), Simon Brett really understands the acting profession, and particularly the lower ends thereof. Charles Paris, and each of the characters that he encounters, seems to be a real rounded person. The second is that Charles Paris is not some hero scaling twenty foot walls to tackle a muscular killer. CP investigates through actorly gossip and hunch.

Thoroughly enjoyable. ( )

Not much mystery more about alcohol... unsatisfactory ending really, but ok read ( )

Simon Brett’s journeyman actor Charles Paris makes a very welcome return.

Charles has never ascended to the heights of his profession, and periods of gainful employment have tended to be the exception rather than the rule. His lack of professional success and achievement has been mirrored in his personal life, and now, nearing sixty (Simon Brett has not followed the approach of writers such as Ian Rankin and Michael Connelly in letting their protagonists age in real time, and Charles has been in his fifties ever since the publication of the earliest novels in the series back in the late 1970s), he is living alone in his bedsit near Paddington, and drinking prodigious amounts of alcohol.

Things may be looking up on one front as Frances, his never-quite-divorced wife seems amenable to a rapprochement as they approach their sixties, but she has insisted that Charles needs to stop drinking. Predictably for anyone familiar with the series, Charles greets this terrifying prospect by getting hideously drunk.

As the novel opens, Charles is in the unusual position of having some lucrative work lined up, and not just any old role. He has been selected for a role in a new play which is set for a three-month run in the West End, and did not even have to audition. The new play stars Julian Glover, an actor of similar age but markedly different career profile to Charles. Indeed, they had worked together more than thirty years ago in a repertory theatre in Dorset, when they had between them played Rosencrantz and Guildenstern (although at this remove neither could remember which was which). Since then, Glover had risen in the profession, starring in several films and securing a leading part in a blockbuster television series in the Game of Thrones genre. For reasons never made clear, Glover had recommended Charles for one of the minor parts in this play.

Rehearsals begin, and the company seems to be coming together fairly well, with no major rifts or friction. As usual, Charles’s first concern is to sort out prospective drinking partners, and despite his hopes of continued rapprochement with Frances, he makes his habitual prospective philanderer’s assessment of the female members of the cast and crew. All is going well until one night towards the end of the rehearsal period, the female lead is found dead at the foot of a staircase, with no indication of whether she had fallen or been pushed. Shortly afterwards, the theatre’s ageing alcoholic doorman is also found dead in a seedy private drinking club. Charles once more finds himself in a theatre company which contains a murderer.

Brett is very accomplished at developing engrossing plots, and adroitly judges the balance between suspense and humour. Charles is as engaging a character as ever, and this book adds another dimension to its predecessors with the reader rooting for Charles to succeed in his struggles over drinking.

All in all, this was very entertaining. ( )

>Please see all of my reviews on my blog at www.robinlovesreading.blogspot.com.

Charles Paris is an actor who hasn't worked in several months. He is rather surprised to find himself set for a role in a play that he didn't even have to audition for. While he is quite pleased to be working again, he is working on something else, a possible reconciliation with his wife.

I didn't enjoy this story as much as I thought I would, but that is simply because I jumped in so late in the series, so I will give this book four stars. I do so enjoy this type of story because when the average person takes on the task of solving crimes such as murder it is always quite engaging. Another factor in making this story work is indeed the imperfect portrayal of the character of Charles. He is far from perfect, fighting alcoholism and is also striving to reconcile with his wife of many, many years. I love an imperfect character. I like the realism this displays, rather endearing such a character to me. I most certainly look forward to future books in this series.

Many thanks to Severn House Publishing and to NetGalley for this ARC to review in exchange for my honest opinion.

Reviewer's note: A Deadly Habit is the 20th book in the Charles Paris series, which began in 1975. A good research source for me is a website called Fantastic Fiction. This is an invaluable resource where you can find individual lists and links of just about any author and series out there. Simon Brett has another series still in production, Fethering. He is also the author of several standalone novels, anthologies and plays, as well as nonfiction.
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