Volume 7 in the Peculiar Crimes Unit series which stretches at this time to 10 volumes. Following the closure ofcthe PCU due to a beaurocratic loophole, the volume starts with the team scattered and Arthur practically a bed bound recluse but following the discovery of a headless corpse and sighti...
This book was fun to read and was a perfect palate cleanser after my last heavy literary meal. I loved the author's bubbly style:"Arthur Bryant: Have you met him before? If not, imagine a tortoise minus its shell, thrust upright and stuffed into a dreadful suit. Give it glasses, false teeth and a...
Just Finished (54) The Memory of Blood: A Peculiar Crimes Unit Mystery. It's always a joy to read another in this series of oddball mysteries. Arthur Bryant and John May started the Peculiar Crimes Unit during World War II, and despite their age, continue to investigate cases that are unusual in ...
A difficult book to read on some levels, a child's death is not what one would really regard as entertainment and in fact I did think that it was handled quite coldly. Having said that (and it wasn't in any way offensive) Bryant dealt with it the way that he deals with all death, a crime that mu...
One of the best in this series. Punch and Judy themed murders this time, with another theatrical setting for Bryant and May to roam around. A big 'be warned' for those easily offended is that the initial death involves a child. However, fans of Fowler's PCU will enjoy every twist and turn and Bry...
Bryant and May never disappoint; I stayed up late last night to finish this one, the tension really builds in the end and even though I was sure I knew the culprit. I wasn't sure the PCU would get their man - and then I was totally gobsmacked with the twist Fowler throws at us, bravo! I love this...
I have never read anything from this author, or on this series, but decided to give it a try. The characters were very quirky, a box of cats and growing marijuana under ones desk for example. The story was interesting, I liked the way it came together at the end. I didn't really care about the ch...
This is an interesting story which chronicles the first case of the Peculiar Crimes Unit. It takes place in 1973. Arthur Bryant and John May had been partners some time ago and they are now reunited as the PCU is given it's first quarters away from the Metropolitan Police as well as a small grou...
It takes a lot of skill, if not a lot of nerve, for an author to set up a book seemingly about the exploits of a crime detective duo and apparently kill one of them off on the first page.But that’s what happens here. In present day London, an incendiary device is set off in the office of London M...
When Christopher Fowler announced that he was to write a series of books based around his repeating characters, Detectives Bryant and May of the Metropolitan Police's Peculiar Crimes Unit, I was initially quite excited. A couple of books later, however, I was less enthusiastic. "Full Dark House",...
A strange story - but I rather liked it. John May and Arthur Bryant are the head of the Peculiar Crimes Unit. They are a relatively obscure unit in London, dealing with the obscure crimes very few know about. They are both aging and are afraid the unit will be closed when they are gone. Their...
This was an incredibly impressive short story collection. I have only read one or two stories by Fowler before and watched a very average film adaptation of one, so I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but I was fascinated by the author that writes urban horror. In the genre overpopulated with "a ...
When the Amazon order containing this book turned up, I couldn’t help but be a little disappointed by the contents. Sure, it was everything I’d ordered, including two books by one of my favourite authors, Christopher Fowler. One of these was the cause of my disappointment. Not for the contents, b...
I’m beginning to think the very first book in this series (which I’m sadly reading out of order) was the best. All of the books center on May and Bryant, two close to retiring (in age if not in desire) detectives of London’s Peculiar Crimes Unit, i.e. the weird stuff that no one else wants to do...