Simon Brett worked as a light entertainment producer in radio and TV before taking up writing full time in 1979. As well as the Charles Paris and Mrs Pargeter detective series, he is also the author of the radio and television series After Henry, the radio series No Commitments and the best-selling How to be a Little Sod. His novel A Shock to the System was filmed starring Michael Caine. Married with three children, he lives in an Agatha Christie-style village on the South Downs.