Brett, Simon

(British, 1945– )

Brett joined the BBC as a producer straight from Oxford and is the author of popular radio shows like After Henry and No Commitments. He has written parodies, humorous factual books, books about coping with babies, and novels about Mrs Pargeter, the widow of a successful criminal, but Charles Paris, the actor-detective, is his funniest creation. Charles is not terribly successful. He has problems with his wife, his agent, and the bottle, but still manages to land parts in all sorts of dramatic endeavours. Someone is done to death in whatever Charles is involved with, and he finds himself in everything from provincial rep to television sitcoms. From a long list of extremely funny, fast-moving stories try first So Much Blood (1976) and Corporate Bodies (1991). Brett has also written straight crime novels, the best of which is A Shock to the System (1984).

Michael Dibdin, Edmund Crispin, Damon Runyon  AG