Sicken and So Die

Hamlet's words define the principal focus of this richly entertaining 1997 Simon Brett crime novel. The Shakespeare play being prepared for performance is "The Twelfth Night". Brett's desultory but reader-friendly actor Charles Paris has secured the part of Sir Toby Belch. If Brett loses a reader or two here it will be because his fascination with the play, how to interpret it, and how to prepare it for performance edge out this genre's "requirement" for a murder in the opening chapter. Brett's literate and lilting prose will always win him a place in my favorite living authors, whatever his subject.

Simon Brett writes great mysteries becuase the parts that don't deal with the mystery could easily make a good book on their own. I think these are the best sorts of mysteries, just like, say, Singin' in the Rain is a great movie becuase it's great even without all the singing and dancing. Sicken and So Die does an excellent job as a novel about the theatre, but the mystery is just as important, and it's not that well done this time.In Sicken and So Die, Charles Paris, the weary middle aged actor, is working in Twelfth Night and is having a nice time doing it. Then, the director is poisoned and a new avant-garde one takes the helm, much to Charles' annoyance. As he valiantly continues to play his part the way he thinks it should be done, he investigates a series of accidents that have happened in the play. Could they not be accidents? The Twelfth Night stuff works really well. Here, Brett finds his stride and he creates a hilarious portrayal of the theatre. The mystery, however, is different. Brett seems to be going thorugh the motions a bit, as if in a hurry to get back to the good stuff. Too much time is also spent on Charles and his wife. These parts add a sour edge to the book.Still, Sicken and So Die makes for a very entertaining read. I would also recommend Murder Unprompted and Star Trap, two earlier, better Charles Paris mysteries. One only hopes that Simon Brett writes a Charles Paris mystery that leaves the mystery out.

I love Charles Paris and other Simon Brett books, so I did enjoy the book. However I would recommend that those new to the charactors would check out some of the older ones - to have more background and general flavor.I did LOVE IT when Charles tries to salvage his dignity as a performer by playing the part the way he wanted. Very mid life crisis (I guess slightly past). I hope we watch Charles grow extremely old aged.

One of the reviews on the dust jacket said that "the novel works equally well as a classic whodunit and a comic novel of the theater." Well, I have to admit that the whodunit part is a little perfunctory. But it is very entertaining as a comic novel of the theater.It really is the story of unsuccesful actor Charles Paris butting heads with a politically correct director who mangles a production of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. As someone who has butted heads with the PC crowd myself, I really identified with Charles, and I always enjoy Brett's witty, sympathetic style.If you enjoy the Charles Paris stories for the way they evoke backstage gossip and the ups and downs of an actor's life and the colorful characters in the theater, or if you enjoy the story of someone struggling against trendy goofiness in the arts, then I think you'll like this novel a lot. But if all you want is a mystery and you consider the rest just window dressing, then you probably will be unsatisfied, because the mystery doesn't really take off until the very last part of the book and it does feel a bit rushed.