Simon Brett's oldest and most beloved character, Charles Paris, is back. Paris, the often out-of-work actor, has a good part for a change playing Sir Toby Belch in a summer festival production of Twelfth Night. But when the director takes ill and then Paris' friend in the production is the apparent victim of intentional food poisoning meant for Paris, it's not long until the bodies start to turn up. Paris is forced to deal with a wild young director whose idea of Shakespeare the bard himself would hate.

"In Charles Paris, the third-rate actor but first-rate sleuth, Simon Brett has devised one of the most ingratiating heros around." —San Diego Union-Tribune