Rach's Reading Club 2024

A Decent Interval

For my first September book, I selected a book by an author I have never hear of, Simon Brett. The novel, A Decent Interval is a apparently one in a series of mysteries about a likeable but down-on-his-luck actor named Charles Paris.

Paris takes acting seriously, but drinks and has a less than successful marriage. In one of his luckier moments, he gets the part of the ghost in a production of Hamlet which has a chance of making it to the West End (London's equivalent of Broadway).

Then, an unfortunate accident injures the actor playing Hamlet followed by another one which kills the actress playing Ophelia. The first suspicion falls on the understudies who are filling in for these actors and Paris takes it upon himself to solve the mystery.

As a murder mystery it's okay, the plot twists aren't particularly surprising and the killer's motive turns out to be distantly related to one of the themes of Hamlet. Still, even though this novel is only 200 pages, the murder mystery could probably told in a lot less space which brings me to another point. The real reason for reading this is not the plot, but the sometimes sad sometimes humorous picture that it paints of the British theater scene.

The novel derives humor from the conflict between old school actors like Paris and the younger generation. There's a particularly overused running gag about how it's politically incorrect to refer to female actors as "actresses".

Another somewhat overused gag is the one where Paris remembers a play he was in and there is a parenthetical with a quote from a negative review that the play received.

Both of the above gags are a little overdone, but it's still an entertaining read.