Customer Reviews

Charles Paris: A Series of Murders (Radio Crimes)

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As a fan of Lord Peter, Paul Temple, Albert Campion and Hercule Poirot and CD Audio Books I was running out new stories when I came across 'A series of murders' featuring Charles Paris by living author Simon Brett. Charles Paris is an actor and a world weary cad brilliantly read by Bill Nighy. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to the story the first time and the second time. Bill Nighy does for Charles Paris what Stephen Fry does for Harry Potter. Although this is the only the first CD available I do hope he reads all the others. Bring 'em on!

I'm a sucker for anything by Simon Brett and I love the radio adaptations of his work. This was well up to standard and I had a restful time in the garden in the sunshine enjoying my listening with a glass of something long and cool to hand.

This is excellent, perfect for playing in the car. Bill Nighy is wonderfully good as Charles Paris. My only regret is that there aren't more of the series available yet on cd.

This series is brilliant. The writing is witty, the performances excellent and the plots deliciously ludicrous. I really hope the rest of the BBC broadcasts will be released on CD as I missed them when they were on the radio. Highly recommended.

I have not yet had the pleasure of reading the original books but I'm sure that on the basis of this adaptation it would be well worth me taking the effort to do so. Bill Nighy's acting in this audio CD is fantastic! I'm sure a good measure of this is due to the writing and production behind him. The word play & humour is perfect for me. I'm giving this 4 Stars but only on the basis that any subsequent additions to these audio CD's may be even better! I can't wait to hear more.

A lovely combination of the dryly witty, and the wickedly devious, and a nice change from the Agathe Christie school of detective fiction! Likeable characters, all full of foibles, and a lot of fun!

I first read a Charles Paris book thirty years ago, and looked forward to dramatisations in due course. Sadly, the first tries involved Francis Matthews, who didn't display the right degree of well-meaning untrustworthiness that Bill Nighy seems to find so effortless. Nighy is exactly right as Paris; even in this very edited form, you have no difficulty in guessing how he will fail next. If he promises not to drink, you know the next time you hear him he'll have a hangover; and when he promises his estranged wife that he won't touch a woman for a year in order to win her back, you know at once that he will fall short of his target by the best part of eleven months. But he is quite an endearing rogue, and it is entertaining to see how a complete amateur works his way into trying to solve a series of deaths connected with a television series that he is doing. The time slot allowed for this adaptation was a little meagre. The dramatisation keeps up a fairly breathless pace but you can't help thinking an extra five or ten minutes would have allowed more of the original book to come through, but an excellent effort nonetheless.

This author is clearly talented. His prose is excellent, but the plot is rushed and confused. The big reveal is simply a character saying that they killed the people. No clues, no insights into the character of the murderer ,nothing for the audience to engage with. I think he was restricted by the fact that this "murder mystery" is so short. If he was restricted as to length then a smaller scope crime may have worked better. This multiple murder in half an hour was too ambitious.

I have been a fan of Simon Brett since I first listened to After Henry. The Charles Paris series is brilliant especially when Bill Nighy narrates. He manages to bring out the best in Mr Brett's writing. If you have not listened before you are in for a treat. More please Mr Brett and Mr Nighy.

This is a detective story, but with the added dimension and bonus of a very witty script excellently delivered by Bill Nighy. I just can't wait to hear more of the same wonderfully conceived dramas in the future. Well worth listening to.