A Decent Interval

It's been 15 long years since we've had a Charles Paris mystery by creator Simon Brett. Charles has changed little; he's always looking for the next acting job--and, even more importantly, the next drink. Narrator Michael Page smoothly presents an older, more resigned and passive Charles. When the leading lady in HAMLET succumbs to poison, Charles swings into action. Brett offers his usual eccentric characters, particularly several has-been actors whom Page portrays replete with exaggerated foreign accents and huge egos. Ex-wife Francis and Agent Maurice Skelton, regulars in Brett's series, play only minor roles, and they're missed as they add humanity and humor to Charles's somewhat limited life an actor. The denouement is clever as Charles returns to London having made a compassionate decision regarding the murderer. S.G.B. (c) AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine