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verityw's review
3.0
Fun murder mystery set in Edinburgh with the strangely likable but drunk and caddish Charles Paris investigating a death among a college am-dram group on the Fringe.
spectacledbear's review
3.0
I'm quite familiar with the Charles Paris series of books as a result of the Radio 4 adaptations, but so far have only read the first two, and I must say that I enjoyed this more than the first.
It's possible that my mental picture of Bill Nighy as Charles increases my enjoyment of these books, but this is a very easy-to-read whodunnit, set against the backdrop of the Edinburgh Fringe, at which Charles (not yet the rather faded actor he becomes) revives his one man show based on the poems of Thomas Hood. He's filling a gap in the programme of the Derby University Dramatic Society (DUDS), and witnesses the not-as-accidental-as-it-seemed stabbing of one of the cast, which reignites his amateur sleuthing tendencies.
I guessed the murderer early on, though I didn't quite guess the motive (such as it was).
Overall, a light read with some very amusing moments.
It's possible that my mental picture of Bill Nighy as Charles increases my enjoyment of these books, but this is a very easy-to-read whodunnit, set against the backdrop of the Edinburgh Fringe, at which Charles (not yet the rather faded actor he becomes) revives his one man show based on the poems of Thomas Hood. He's filling a gap in the programme of the Derby University Dramatic Society (DUDS), and witnesses the not-as-accidental-as-it-seemed stabbing of one of the cast, which reignites his amateur sleuthing tendencies.
I guessed the murderer early on, though I didn't quite guess the motive (such as it was).
Overall, a light read with some very amusing moments.
latepaul's review
3.0
This is the second of the umpteen Charles Paris books. Like the first it works really well as a mystery and if all you want out of a whodunnit book is some interesting situations, enough characters and possibilities to keep you guessing then this has all that.
Personally I like the character of Paris, and I appreciate how it doesn't out-stay its welcome but I'd like a little more from it. Also feels a bit dated now.
Personally I like the character of Paris, and I appreciate how it doesn't out-stay its welcome but I'd like a little more from it. Also feels a bit dated now.
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