Things are going suspiciously well for Charles Paris. He has moved back in with his ex-wife and landed a proper part in a proper production: Sir Toby Belch in Twelfth Night. But when two members of the theatre company suddenly fall ill, Charles finds himself in trouble again - both on and off stage.

Taking on his most unlikely performing assignment yet: 'forklift-driver-for-a-day' in the Delmoleen company corporate video, Charles Paris discovers - to his horror - that a forklift can lead to death. Industrial accident - or murder? Charles decides to find out.

Who killed Marcus Steen, the theatrical tycoon with a fortune to leave to his young mistress Jacqui? And who killed Bill Sweet, the shady blackmailer with a supply of compromising photographs? Charles Paris, a middle-aged actor addicted to booze and women, decides to investigate by assuming a variety of roles, among them that of the mythical Detective Sergeant McWhirter. But, as Paris is about to discover only too painfully, impersonating a police...

Steve C. McQueen's only screen credits are playing dead bodies on cop and doctor shows, and now he's paying the rent by understudying movie sex symbol Josh Harper, who's trying to gain dramatic credibility in a West End play. If only Josh would miss a performance, Stephen could get his big break, prove his talent, and redeem himself in the eyes of his disapproving ex-wife and their precocious seven-year-old daughter. Stephen gets his chance when he...

A disliked innkeeper is murdered during the Ketterick Arts Festival.