In the title compound, C(20)H(20)BrNO(2), the piperidone ring adopts a boat conformation. The phenyl rings are oriented at dihedral angles of 97.8 (2) and 96.0 (1)° with respect to the best plane through the piperidine ring. The dihedral angle between the two phenyl rings is 49.7 (1)°. In the crystal, bifurcated C-H⋯O hydrogen bonds form a R(2) (1)(7) ring motif, linking the mol-ecules into centrosymmetric dimers.