{"id":252721,"date":"2026-07-13T02:18:41","date_gmt":"2026-07-12T23:18:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/1kitap1.com\/en\/a-decent-interval-simon-brett-1\/"},"modified":"2026-07-13T02:18:41","modified_gmt":"2026-07-12T23:18:41","slug":"a-decent-interval-simon-brett-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/1kitap1.com\/en\/a-decent-interval-simon-brett-1\/","title":{"rendered":"A Decent Interval – Simon Brett (1)"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"<\/figure>\n

Charles was wary about how he should reply to that, so he resorted to the old trick of answering a question with a question. \u2018Why, are you suggesting she was murdered?\u2019 \u2018I\u2019m not suggesting anything, Mr Paris. Merely trying to ascertain some facts, which will provide a background to the circumstances of her death.\u2019 Detective Inspector Shelley\u2019s manner was as formal as his language. It was impossible to know what he was thinking.<\/p>\n

He would have made a good poker player. Nor did the face of his sidekick, the female Detective Constable whose name Charles hadn\u2019t caught, give much away either. It was the same evening, the Thursday. They were in Charles\u2019s communal dressing room, but the other actors had been sent home. The second half of Hamlet had been abandoned \u2018due to an accident to one of the cast\u2019, as the House Manager had told the audience with intriguing imprecision.<\/p>\n

The theatregoers had all gone home in a state of high curiosity. But the news of Katrina Selsey\u2019s death couldn\u2019t remain a secret for long. Actors thrive on gossip and have a very efficient grapevine for distributing it. In spite of Tony Copeland\u2019s strictures, Charles felt certain that some of the younger actors wouldn\u2019t have been able to restrain themselves from tweeting the news. It was only a matter of time before the Grand Theatre was once again besieged by journalists and television crews.<\/p>\n

\u2018So I revert to my question, Mr Paris. Was Katrina Selsey popular with the other actors?\u2019 Charles was still determined to be cagey with his reply. He didn\u2019t know how much the detectives had heard from other company members. To give full details of Katrina\u2019s misdemeanours during rehearsal might at this stage be unwise. So all he said was, \u2018Everyone gets very tense running up to a First Night.<\/p>\n

Nerves are frayed. People tend to snap at each other.\u2019<\/p>\n

\n

This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author\u2019s and publisher\u2019s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.<\/p>\n

First published in Great Britain and the USA 2013 by SEVERN HOUSE PUBLISHERS LTD of 9-15 High Street, Sutton, Surrey, England, SM1 1DF. eBook edition first published in 2013 by Severn House Digital an imprint of Severn House Publishers Limited. Copyright \u00a9 2013 by Simon Brett. The right of Simon Brett to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs & Patents Act 1988.<\/p>\n

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Brett, Simon. A decent interval. \u2013 (A Charles Paris mystery ; 18) 1. Paris, Charles (Fictitious character)\u2013Fiction. 2. Actors\u2013Fiction. 3. Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616. Hamlet\u2013Fiction. 4. Theater\u2013Fiction. 5. Detective and mystery stories. I. Title II. Series 823.9’2-dc23 ISBN-13: 978-1-78029-044-7 (cased) ISBN-13: 978-1-78029-539-8 (trade paper) ISBN-13: 978-1-78010-412-6 (epub) Except where actual historical events and characters are being described for the storyline of this novel, all situations in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to living persons is purely coincidental.<\/p>\n

This ebook produced by Palimpsest Book Production Limited, Falkirk, Stirlingshire, Scotland. 1kitap1.com\/en To Ali and Tim, who know about the theatre 1kitap1.com\/en ONE It\u2019s been a while, thought Charles Paris. A while since I\u2019ve been dressed as a Roundhead for a part. A while since I\u2019ve had a part \u2013 any part, come to that. Later in the day he would be dressed as a Cavalier. Because Charles Paris was fighting the Battle of Naseby.<\/p>\n

Alone. Still, it was work. It had indeed been some time since he\u2019d had any of that precious commodity, work, but then that wasn\u2019t unusual in what he laughingly called his \u2018career\u2019. Like most actors, when unemployed, Charles Paris went into a kind of half-life. Yes, he met up with friends in the business, he continued to drink Bell\u2019s whisky either with them or more often alone, but the animating spark that made him fully alive was missing.<\/p>\n

And he kept wondering, as members of his profession in their late fifties tend to, whether he had already received his last ever job offer. An actor\u2019s career does not have a retirement cut-off point like more regulated types of employment. No farewell parties, gifts of carriage clocks and private pensions kicking in (few actors even know what the word \u2018pension\u2019 means).<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n
\n

Table of Contents<\/p>\nToggle<\/span><\/path><\/svg><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n