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  • Dead Room Farce

  • A Charles Paris Mystery
  • By: Simon Brett
  • Narrated by: Frederick Davidson
  • Length: 6 hrs and 27 mins
  • 3.8 out of 5 stars (38 ratings)

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Dead Room Farce

By: Simon Brett
Narrated by: Frederick Davidson
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Summary

It's not Beckett exactly, but a three-month run of Not on Your Wife!, a new farce by the prolific British farceur Bill Blunden, is not to be sniffed at by a jobbing actor. Which is why Charles Paris is standing on stage with his trousers around his ankles, playing Aubrey, the older lover of GIlly, wife of Bob, whose young mistress Nicky he is passing off as the property of his neighbor Ted. Rehearsals have gone well, the laughs are coming, and if his marriage is on the skids again there's always the consolation of Bell's - and the uncertain attractions of aging ingenue Cookie Stone. But by the time the troupe reaches Bath a darker mood has set in. Cookie Stone seems to think she and Charles are practically married (if only he could remember what happened!), and Charles' old friend Mark, who runs a recording studio in Bath where Charles is making a talking book, has a drinking problem that amounts to a death wish. But it's not the drink that kills Mark, it's somebody in the cast who has a dirty little secret that Mark must not be allowed to reveal...
©1997 by Simon Brett (P)1999 by Blackstone Audiobooks
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What listeners say about Dead Room Farce

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for G. Walton

old fashioned mystery

I first heard the radio series before I (audio) read the book so the character of Charles is Bill Nighy in my book. With him in mind I enjoyed this as a light easy read..

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for Avril

uncomfortably read

What made the experience of listening to Dead Room Farce the most enjoyable?

I had to work myself up into ignoring the rather camp reader, who did well in character but was not half the reader that Simon Brett is of his own novels/

Would you listen to another book narrated by Frederick Davidson?

probably not

Any additional comments?

I love Simon Brett's books but this narrator did the story no favours particularly when compared to Simon Brett himself or Bill Nye's excellent ( and probably unreplaceable) Charles Parris.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for campingkate

I guess I just love Bill Nighy!

Is there anything you would change about this book?

I love Charles Paris on the radio and I am a fan of Simon Brett's work. However this audio book was hard going for me. If I had not heard the dramatised version first I may have got on with it a bit better.

What three words best describe Frederick Davidson’s performance?

Nothing wrong at all - just not Bill Nighy

If this book were a film would you go see it?

Yes, but I would have to insist on Charles Paris being played by Bill Nighy.

Any additional comments?

You may have spotted a pattern here!

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for Kirstine

Enjoyable romp

I've listened to quite a few Simon Brett audio books and know to expect a humorous tale connected with a theatrical or television production where one or more people get killed. The main enjoyment comes from the details of the chaotic life of the actor/amateur sleuth Mathew Parris and in the detection of the murder is incidental. This book is in the same vein, however, unlike the other books I've heard this one is not read by the author, Simon Brett, which spoiled it a but for me as the whole time I felt the reader's voice was wrong for Mathew Parris character in that it was too plummy and drawling. Don't get me wrong the reader is not bad, just not the right one.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for Sue

Badly Cast

I own 12 of the Simon Brett Charles Paris audiobooks and about 11 of the BBC adaptations. This is the only one I've returned.
I love the Beeb dramatisation of this book but the narration killed this version for me.
It isn't just that I'm used to Simon Brett's narration or that Bill Nighy is Charles Paris for me, it's more that I can't cope with Frederick Davidson's turning him into Leslie Phillips.
It isn't bad narration, by any means, its just wrong.
Such a shame!

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for Colin

Good Story Shame About the Reader

I always enjoy Brett's Charles Paris stories but the reader is completely wrong- much too posh
Why aren't the Simon Brett readings available on audible

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for Sniffy and Particular

LOVE LOVE LOVE Frederick Davidson's performance !!

If you could sum up Dead Room Farce in three words, what would they be?

Very good fun,.

Who was your favorite character and why?

The female voice over artist desperate to get with Charles Paris.... what a bad girl!

Which scene did you most enjoy?

All of it - but - the way that the BBC throws people out of jobs at age 50 - rings true - except I think it was 30 in the mid-nineties. ...And these poor chaps end up just as depicted, with a "Mummy" style girlfriend who "does everything"

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Both

Any additional comments?

Frederick Davidson's slight sneer and inflection downwards, was perfect for the slightly mad, old soak, over educated underwhelming actor...

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for John K. Artley

Don’t buy this

God this is awful...don’t buy it thinking you’re getting Bill Nighy..the most god awful boring flat narration the narrator sounds bored and I couldn’t carry on a complete waste of money

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for Anne

Disappointed

Narrator disappointing, not suitable for this book , hopefully it could be reissued with new reader

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