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Bryant & May: Peculiar Crimes Unit #10
The Invisible Code
Two small children are playing a game called 'Witch-Hunter'. They place a curse on a young woman taking lunch in a church courtyard and wait for her to die. An hour later she is found dead inside the church. Bryant and May must investigate.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published August 2, 2012
About the author
Christopher Fowler
245 books1,246 followersLibrarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
Christopher Fowler was an English novelist living in London. His books contain elements of black comedy, anxiety and social satire. As well as novels, he wrote short stories, scripts, press articles and reviews.
He lived in King's Cross, on the Battlebridge Basin, and chose London as the backdrop of many of his stories because any one of the events in its two-thousand-year history can provide inspiration.
In 1998 he was the recipient of the BFS Best Short Story of the Year, for 'Wageslaves'. Then, in 2004, The Water Room was nominated for the CWA People's Choice Award, Full Dark House won the BFS August Derleth Novel of The Year Award 2004 and 'American Waitress' won the BFS Best Short Story of the Year 2004. The novella 'Breathe' won BFS Best Novella 2005.
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
Christopher Fowler was an English novelist living in London. His books contain elements of black comedy, anxiety and social satire. As well as novels, he wrote short stories, scripts, press articles and reviews.
He lived in King's Cross, on the Battlebridge Basin, and chose London as the backdrop of many of his stories because any one of the events in its two-thousand-year history can provide inspiration.
In 1998 he was the recipient of the BFS Best Short Story of the Year, for 'Wageslaves'. Then, in 2004, The Water Room was nominated for the CWA People's Choice Award, Full Dark House won the BFS August Derleth Novel of The Year Award 2004 and 'American Waitress' won the BFS Best Short Story of the Year 2004. The novella 'Breathe' won BFS Best Novella 2005.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 393 reviews
May 10, 2022
I am taking somewhat of a break from history books and am revisiting some favorite mysteries.
The words "humorous" and "murder" don't usually go together but author Christopher Fowler makes it work for his readers in the Peculiar Crimes Unit series. The PCU is located in London and is constantly moving from one dilapidated building to another as the police and Home Office are always trying to shut them down since they do not follow police procedures. Headed by the comically inept Raymond Land, who has been in an acting position since the series began, the real powers are Bryant and May, two elderly detectives whose methods are unusual to say the least and their wonderful young supporting detectives and constables who are of the same mold. We even meet again the Two Daves, handymen who follow them from building to building but never seem to get anything fixed and do more damage than good.
In this book, Oskar Kasavian (who makes appearances in other books of the series) an avowed enemy of the PCU and a high government official in the Home Office, comes to Bryant and May confidentially and asks their help to discover why his wife's personality and actions have suddenly changed dramatically and are endangering his career. Before we come to the convoluted and totally ridiculous ending, there are several murders. When I say "ridiculous ending" it is meant with affection. That is what gives this series a loyal readership....nothing is as it appears and the main characters are eccentric. clever, and funny. Lots of fun!!!
The words "humorous" and "murder" don't usually go together but author Christopher Fowler makes it work for his readers in the Peculiar Crimes Unit series. The PCU is located in London and is constantly moving from one dilapidated building to another as the police and Home Office are always trying to shut them down since they do not follow police procedures. Headed by the comically inept Raymond Land, who has been in an acting position since the series began, the real powers are Bryant and May, two elderly detectives whose methods are unusual to say the least and their wonderful young supporting detectives and constables who are of the same mold. We even meet again the Two Daves, handymen who follow them from building to building but never seem to get anything fixed and do more damage than good.
In this book, Oskar Kasavian (who makes appearances in other books of the series) an avowed enemy of the PCU and a high government official in the Home Office, comes to Bryant and May confidentially and asks their help to discover why his wife's personality and actions have suddenly changed dramatically and are endangering his career. Before we come to the convoluted and totally ridiculous ending, there are several murders. When I say "ridiculous ending" it is meant with affection. That is what gives this series a loyal readership....nothing is as it appears and the main characters are eccentric. clever, and funny. Lots of fun!!!
October 10, 2018
Our two elderly heroes, London Detectives Arthur Bryant and John May, with their Peculiar Crimes Unit, (PCU), are back in their 10th adventure. As their name suggests, the PCU is tasked with solving Peculiar Crimes using peculiar investigative tactics
Bryant is the curmudgeon - unconventional, eschewing technology and “progress”. He has the air of the eccentric, absent minded professor about him – if you are familiar with the TV show The Big Bang Theory, he could be Sheldon’s grandfather. He can also be laugh-out-loud funny
May is somewhat brooding as well as dapper, who still has an eye for the ladies and they for him. He smoothes over the waves Bryant constantly leaves in his wake, and has a droll sense of humor. These books disprove the adage that getting older means getting boring.
The rest of the PCU team – a group of loveable misfits, each with their own idiosyncrasies – is a strong supporting cast. While crime-solving the PCU is also constantly fighting for its very existence – The British Home Office looking for any reason to close down what they perceive as an expensive and archaic operation. Yet this group of unlikely crime-stoppers muddles through and consistently gets “results”.
Because of their success, in this book Bryant and May are called in personally by their in-house Home Office boss/nemesis. Their task, to find out and deal with what is haunting said boss’ much younger and “foreign” wife - who is causing much public and political turmoil with her “behavior”. Although loathing both their “client” and the assigned task, our two heroes accept – with the caveat that they can also “look into” a seemingly unrelated case – the mysterious death of a young woman in a church.
And maybe not as quickly as the reader would hope – we spend a little too much time with the troubled political wife – but soon enough – the story/mystery becomes a blend of The Da Vinci Code, espionage and political hi-jinx and conspiracies. Fans of this series will not be disappointed – all the quirks, twists, turns and humor we associate with this author/series are here.
If you are new to the PCU books I would suggest starting with one of the earlier books. There are some general assumptions made concerning the PCU situation and characters – similar to the Reginald Hill Dalziel/Pascoe – that may be missed or at least unappreciated – starting with the “angst” of our heroes working with/for their boss. Also the PCU team plays a minor role here.
Regardless an entertaining addition to an excellent series.
Bryant is the curmudgeon - unconventional, eschewing technology and “progress”. He has the air of the eccentric, absent minded professor about him – if you are familiar with the TV show The Big Bang Theory, he could be Sheldon’s grandfather. He can also be laugh-out-loud funny
May is somewhat brooding as well as dapper, who still has an eye for the ladies and they for him. He smoothes over the waves Bryant constantly leaves in his wake, and has a droll sense of humor. These books disprove the adage that getting older means getting boring.
The rest of the PCU team – a group of loveable misfits, each with their own idiosyncrasies – is a strong supporting cast. While crime-solving the PCU is also constantly fighting for its very existence – The British Home Office looking for any reason to close down what they perceive as an expensive and archaic operation. Yet this group of unlikely crime-stoppers muddles through and consistently gets “results”.
Because of their success, in this book Bryant and May are called in personally by their in-house Home Office boss/nemesis. Their task, to find out and deal with what is haunting said boss’ much younger and “foreign” wife - who is causing much public and political turmoil with her “behavior”. Although loathing both their “client” and the assigned task, our two heroes accept – with the caveat that they can also “look into” a seemingly unrelated case – the mysterious death of a young woman in a church.
And maybe not as quickly as the reader would hope – we spend a little too much time with the troubled political wife – but soon enough – the story/mystery becomes a blend of The Da Vinci Code, espionage and political hi-jinx and conspiracies. Fans of this series will not be disappointed – all the quirks, twists, turns and humor we associate with this author/series are here.
If you are new to the PCU books I would suggest starting with one of the earlier books. There are some general assumptions made concerning the PCU situation and characters – similar to the Reginald Hill Dalziel/Pascoe – that may be missed or at least unappreciated – starting with the “angst” of our heroes working with/for their boss. Also the PCU team plays a minor role here.
Regardless an entertaining addition to an excellent series.
December 8, 2014
I have now read the most recent of the Bryant & May Peculiar Crimes books and also have a new favorite in the series. In this episode, the team are called in by their Home Office arch nemesis, Oskar Kasavian, to find out why his wife is behaving so irrationally. Needless to say. the case leads in multiple directions, all about London, into the past of the city and British history (as well as religious and mythological esoterica).
Fowler's plotting continues to get tighter and the writing about London and its many quirks and environments is just as lovingly and interestingly produced as in prior books. He is a keen observer of the city's past and present (and possible future) as are the book's protagonists. Here we have a description of Hampstead:
Hampstead had always prided itself on being a cut above
other London areas. The homes of Byron, Dickens, Keats and
Florence Nightingale had now been usurped by financiers who
had turned the village into one of the most expensive
places in the world....It had lakes and the largest open
heathland in London, and looked down on everyone else from
a windswept peak where the city temperatures cooled, and
on a summer day like this you could almost believe you
were deep in countryside until you saw the high street
prices. (p 98)
As in other books in the series, there is much made of the difference of class in England, which is different than in the United States. In the US everything tends to be about money. Of course the US has never had royalty, peerage and all that so we have been spared that aspect of problems in the equity department. But in the modern world, money and power are still there, ready to cause problems in all civilizations.
I continue to recommend this series which definitely improves as it progresses, though I have enjoyed it from the start. If you are interested in England, especially London and its history, this may be a series for you.
Fowler's plotting continues to get tighter and the writing about London and its many quirks and environments is just as lovingly and interestingly produced as in prior books. He is a keen observer of the city's past and present (and possible future) as are the book's protagonists. Here we have a description of Hampstead:
Hampstead had always prided itself on being a cut above
other London areas. The homes of Byron, Dickens, Keats and
Florence Nightingale had now been usurped by financiers who
had turned the village into one of the most expensive
places in the world....It had lakes and the largest open
heathland in London, and looked down on everyone else from
a windswept peak where the city temperatures cooled, and
on a summer day like this you could almost believe you
were deep in countryside until you saw the high street
prices. (p 98)
As in other books in the series, there is much made of the difference of class in England, which is different than in the United States. In the US everything tends to be about money. Of course the US has never had royalty, peerage and all that so we have been spared that aspect of problems in the equity department. But in the modern world, money and power are still there, ready to cause problems in all civilizations.
I continue to recommend this series which definitely improves as it progresses, though I have enjoyed it from the start. If you are interested in England, especially London and its history, this may be a series for you.
February 28, 2021
This one completely held my attention and was fascinating. It will be interesting to see what the fall out will be in the upcoming story. Christopher Fowler really Knows London and I love his sense of humour. This series is such a delight, and this one was particularly good.
December 4, 2013
So glad for the opportunity to once again enter the world of Bryant and Mays, two elderly detectives, much maligned for their unorthodox ways, particularly Bryant whose ways of thinking cannot easily be discerned, and the other members that make up the Peculiar Crime Division.
For once they find themselves in the position of trying to help the man who most often wants to shut them down, Oskar, their boss and main critic. Fowler has mastered his craft, has come up with a winning combination of humor, aged detectives who are forced to operate in the modern world, much to Bryant;s continuous dismay, a wonderful story and quite a bit of history. The churches of London, St. Brides and others, the history of the various clubs throughout time and what they meant, Bedlam and some of the past treatments there and even a mention of rats and fleas and the notorious plague, as well as the existing class system..
His supporting staff is interesting as well, a white witch, a black witch, co-workers who are loners themselves and even a pregnant cat. Wonderfully entertaining, very well done and in this case the PCU hasS a chance to help themselves and their unit once again regain an acknowledged position of power. Of course, things are never as simple as they appear and are so very often deceiving, are they not?
ARC from NetGalley.
For once they find themselves in the position of trying to help the man who most often wants to shut them down, Oskar, their boss and main critic. Fowler has mastered his craft, has come up with a winning combination of humor, aged detectives who are forced to operate in the modern world, much to Bryant;s continuous dismay, a wonderful story and quite a bit of history. The churches of London, St. Brides and others, the history of the various clubs throughout time and what they meant, Bedlam and some of the past treatments there and even a mention of rats and fleas and the notorious plague, as well as the existing class system..
His supporting staff is interesting as well, a white witch, a black witch, co-workers who are loners themselves and even a pregnant cat. Wonderfully entertaining, very well done and in this case the PCU hasS a chance to help themselves and their unit once again regain an acknowledged position of power. Of course, things are never as simple as they appear and are so very often deceiving, are they not?
ARC from NetGalley.
September 21, 2020
A wonderfully quirky mystery, set in London, and featuring two 'elderly' detectives, John May and Arthur Bryant. I love this series! (Read only two so far.)
Detectives May and Bryant should have been put out to pasture years and years ago - and yes I can say that as I'm of the age, too - and yet they keep on working out of the Peculiar Crimes Unit, a group established to work on crimes which might be overlooked, are weird or have the potential to harm someone important (or vital to the nation's security!) The story is complex, with clues that I missed utterly, and with some of the best, most clever, most witty - and yet not overdone - writing I've ever read. I'd read these books just to read these books...
In this story a young woman is found dead in a church and just after being 'targeted' by two playful children as a witch. There's a 'witch theme' running all through this book, and Arthur Bryant, the more eccentric of the two detectives, is an 'expert' on witches, the occult, the supernatural, etc.
But THIS is not a book about the supernatural! It really isn't. It's just that some of the individuals in it believe in this stuff and it places a thick veneer - like a crust or layer of too-sweet frosting - over EVERYTHING. As a detective, you needn't believe in ghosts, witches, ouija boards and so on, but what if those you're investigating DO? I like that about these books. Sometimes you really have to get into your suspect's head - or witness' head - to understand what's going on. I also love the atmosphere: old churches full of carvings and underground tombs and symbolism galore. Men's clubs, which I've always thought are super-creepy. And cemeteries and dark alleys and museums and fancy restaurants and tenement buildings. I could just go on and on - I love the locales these books are set in.
As for the plotting; it's intense, and confusing, but it is to Bryant and May, too! (Especially to John May, the more straight-laced of the pair.) There's also a subplot where the upper law enforcement hierarchy are always trying to shut down the PCU, or Peculiar Crimes Unit. (I have a feeling they're gonna always fail.) The supporting characters are all unique as well, with their own peculiarities. Some of them could carry their own series.
Richly imaginative, highly entertaining, these books are a delicious treat and I intend to eat every one of them up.
As for the author, Mr. Fowler, he's now up there with Preston and Child, John Verdon, and John Connelly, some of my favorite writers. I've got the next book on hold at the library.
Five stars!
Detectives May and Bryant should have been put out to pasture years and years ago - and yes I can say that as I'm of the age, too - and yet they keep on working out of the Peculiar Crimes Unit, a group established to work on crimes which might be overlooked, are weird or have the potential to harm someone important (or vital to the nation's security!) The story is complex, with clues that I missed utterly, and with some of the best, most clever, most witty - and yet not overdone - writing I've ever read. I'd read these books just to read these books...
In this story a young woman is found dead in a church and just after being 'targeted' by two playful children as a witch. There's a 'witch theme' running all through this book, and Arthur Bryant, the more eccentric of the two detectives, is an 'expert' on witches, the occult, the supernatural, etc.
But THIS is not a book about the supernatural! It really isn't. It's just that some of the individuals in it believe in this stuff and it places a thick veneer - like a crust or layer of too-sweet frosting - over EVERYTHING. As a detective, you needn't believe in ghosts, witches, ouija boards and so on, but what if those you're investigating DO? I like that about these books. Sometimes you really have to get into your suspect's head - or witness' head - to understand what's going on. I also love the atmosphere: old churches full of carvings and underground tombs and symbolism galore. Men's clubs, which I've always thought are super-creepy. And cemeteries and dark alleys and museums and fancy restaurants and tenement buildings. I could just go on and on - I love the locales these books are set in.
As for the plotting; it's intense, and confusing, but it is to Bryant and May, too! (Especially to John May, the more straight-laced of the pair.) There's also a subplot where the upper law enforcement hierarchy are always trying to shut down the PCU, or Peculiar Crimes Unit. (I have a feeling they're gonna always fail.) The supporting characters are all unique as well, with their own peculiarities. Some of them could carry their own series.
Richly imaginative, highly entertaining, these books are a delicious treat and I intend to eat every one of them up.
As for the author, Mr. Fowler, he's now up there with Preston and Child, John Verdon, and John Connelly, some of my favorite writers. I've got the next book on hold at the library.
Five stars!
January 10, 2014
Most peculiar…
Detectives Bryant and May of the Peculiar Crimes Unit are called in to investigate when a young woman is found dead in a church. There is no obvious cause of death, so they have to decide whether this was murder – or was she the victim of some spooky supernatural…er…something. Meantime, their boss and archenemy Oskar Kasavian asks them to help find out why his wife seems to be going mad – because that’s always something you would ask the police to look into, isn’t it? Psychics, shades of Bedlam, and witch-hunters – just a normal day for Bryant and May…
This is most definitely a book that requires the reader to check her disbelief at the door. The plot is…well…I tried to think of a politer word, but ‘ridiculous’ is the most appropriate. Is there a supernatural theme or isn’t there? I genuinely have no idea. It’s hinted at throughout but never confirmed. And the anachronisms! If we were to date the book purely on the characterisation, we’d have to assume we were in the 1950s, but the technology makes it clear we’re supposed to be in the present day. So the idea that all top civil servants are male, that their wives don’t work and meet up weekly in Harrods for afternoon tea…again, ridiculous.
In the afterword, the author says that he was ‘determined to create a pair of intelligent Golden Age detectives who are forced to deal with the modern world.’ Hmm…intelligent, I grant you. In fact, Bryant appears to have as encyclopaedic a knowledge of London as Holmes did, and the descriptions of some of the less well-known places are one of the main interests of the book. Golden Age? Well, they’re old – but most of the Golden Age detectives of my experience tended to rule out supernatural causes. And modern world – the only concession to modernity is that they all have mobile phones. Otherwise even Poirot would have felt at home in this mid-20th century society.
However, so long as the reader doesn’t expect the book to make any sense or have any basis in the real world, it’s a fairly enjoyable light-hearted read. Bryant and May are likeable characters, and there’s quite a lot of mild humour in the book. The writing is good, particularly of the spooky bits even though these didn’t really make sense or go anywhere in the end. This is my first Bryant and May and, while it was fairly enjoyable overall, it wouldn’t encourage me to read the rest of the series. But, looking at the reviews on Amazon, the series seems to have a dedicated and loyal following and several reviewers suggest this one isn’t up to the usual standard; so I would be reluctant to write off the whole series on the basis of this one book, and may try an earlier one at some point.
NB This book was provided for review by the publisher, Random House.
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
Detectives Bryant and May of the Peculiar Crimes Unit are called in to investigate when a young woman is found dead in a church. There is no obvious cause of death, so they have to decide whether this was murder – or was she the victim of some spooky supernatural…er…something. Meantime, their boss and archenemy Oskar Kasavian asks them to help find out why his wife seems to be going mad – because that’s always something you would ask the police to look into, isn’t it? Psychics, shades of Bedlam, and witch-hunters – just a normal day for Bryant and May…
This is most definitely a book that requires the reader to check her disbelief at the door. The plot is…well…I tried to think of a politer word, but ‘ridiculous’ is the most appropriate. Is there a supernatural theme or isn’t there? I genuinely have no idea. It’s hinted at throughout but never confirmed. And the anachronisms! If we were to date the book purely on the characterisation, we’d have to assume we were in the 1950s, but the technology makes it clear we’re supposed to be in the present day. So the idea that all top civil servants are male, that their wives don’t work and meet up weekly in Harrods for afternoon tea…again, ridiculous.
In the afterword, the author says that he was ‘determined to create a pair of intelligent Golden Age detectives who are forced to deal with the modern world.’ Hmm…intelligent, I grant you. In fact, Bryant appears to have as encyclopaedic a knowledge of London as Holmes did, and the descriptions of some of the less well-known places are one of the main interests of the book. Golden Age? Well, they’re old – but most of the Golden Age detectives of my experience tended to rule out supernatural causes. And modern world – the only concession to modernity is that they all have mobile phones. Otherwise even Poirot would have felt at home in this mid-20th century society.
However, so long as the reader doesn’t expect the book to make any sense or have any basis in the real world, it’s a fairly enjoyable light-hearted read. Bryant and May are likeable characters, and there’s quite a lot of mild humour in the book. The writing is good, particularly of the spooky bits even though these didn’t really make sense or go anywhere in the end. This is my first Bryant and May and, while it was fairly enjoyable overall, it wouldn’t encourage me to read the rest of the series. But, looking at the reviews on Amazon, the series seems to have a dedicated and loyal following and several reviewers suggest this one isn’t up to the usual standard; so I would be reluctant to write off the whole series on the basis of this one book, and may try an earlier one at some point.
NB This book was provided for review by the publisher, Random House.
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
August 23, 2021
This series just rolls along with more and more weird people and events. Blakeys on shoes, my great great grandmother's maiden name as Colin Bimsley's middle one. Hah! The logic behind the murder is usually a fairly illogical thing and it is in this one too, but it's the getting there that is the treat, the drifting through museums like the Soane and the City of London and the keeping up with the lives of the characters that create such pleasure. Knowing what we do about him it was satisfying to see Colin running across rooftops in the dark and not killing himself or anyone else. (How did that girl get away?) Chris Fowler introduces fans to the various places and ideas in his books through his website, but you don't realise which ones are important until the books come out. We've even met the inspiration for Maggy Armitage so I can see her face and just have to add whatever gear she has on this time (an ankh on one leg and star of David on the other). I'm sure we're going to meet Mr. Merry again since Arthur owes him a fee and who is going to get Crippen's nine kittens? That's three times three kittens, you notice. I love the vocabulary: penumbral corners is nice. This is reading #2. I'm still reading with a pencil in hand so anyone picking up my copy will find a conversation going on in the margins.
August 5, 2014
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 25, 2014
I will start by saying the overall core mystery in this book isn’t bad. It has some interesting twists to it, although the “ah-ha” moment where the facts are reveled do not stand up to scrutiny of the original passages of past events. When the “real” way an event in the book went down is revealed, it in really doesn’t resemble what the reader actually experienced. That however isn’t too big of detraction since that is not so unusual in mystery books and it is the journey and not the re-read that is the real test of a book.
My big issue with this book is the detectives specialize in puzzling murders and during the investigation put up all sorts of red herrings around mysticism and secret orders, none of which were true or even paid off. All that bouncing around religious or occult clues could have been cut out and allowed the book to deliver a much less muddied story. That kind of thing works in books where there really is some secrete order or mystic explanation but falls very flat when it’s just in the book for obfuscation.
The other issue I had with the book may just be because I am not familiar with the series. There are a lot of characters who are quickly introduced and very similar to one another. I had an issue with the characters all running together, and there were times I was really not sure who the book was dealing with. Again I can’t tell if this is an issue with my being unfamiliar with an ongoing series or too many characters without enough individuality.
If you take out the issue with indistinguishable characters and glut of red herrings, then this is a well-paced and suspenseful mystery. This is one of those times where I can feel a really top notch book that has been buried over by other elements that it could have done without.
http://homeofreading.com/the-invisible-code/
My big issue with this book is the detectives specialize in puzzling murders and during the investigation put up all sorts of red herrings around mysticism and secret orders, none of which were true or even paid off. All that bouncing around religious or occult clues could have been cut out and allowed the book to deliver a much less muddied story. That kind of thing works in books where there really is some secrete order or mystic explanation but falls very flat when it’s just in the book for obfuscation.
The other issue I had with the book may just be because I am not familiar with the series. There are a lot of characters who are quickly introduced and very similar to one another. I had an issue with the characters all running together, and there were times I was really not sure who the book was dealing with. Again I can’t tell if this is an issue with my being unfamiliar with an ongoing series or too many characters without enough individuality.
If you take out the issue with indistinguishable characters and glut of red herrings, then this is a well-paced and suspenseful mystery. This is one of those times where I can feel a really top notch book that has been buried over by other elements that it could have done without.
http://homeofreading.com/the-invisible-code/
Read
September 23, 2014Written as a pair with Deathworld
Deathworld I admit it. Harry Harrison's bad style irritated me. For a while. Mainly it was these. The short sentences. If you can call them that. Sentences.
I did manage after some encouragement from the ranks to get over that and I'm glad I did. It's a good bad-book. The Wildside edition I read was horribly proofread, but not nearly as badly as the academic books I've been reading lately. Nothing, at any rate, that distracted me from a punchy story, good characterisation as sci fi goes and a really interesting idea for world in which the story takes place.
As it happens I next picked up The Invisible Code by Christopher Fowler. I thought this was going to be another good bad-book for a few pages, but it doesn't take long to discover it's a bad bad-book.
Rest here:
http://alittleteaalittlechat.wordpres...
Deathworld I admit it. Harry Harrison's bad style irritated me. For a while. Mainly it was these. The short sentences. If you can call them that. Sentences.
I did manage after some encouragement from the ranks to get over that and I'm glad I did. It's a good bad-book. The Wildside edition I read was horribly proofread, but not nearly as badly as the academic books I've been reading lately. Nothing, at any rate, that distracted me from a punchy story, good characterisation as sci fi goes and a really interesting idea for world in which the story takes place.
As it happens I next picked up The Invisible Code by Christopher Fowler. I thought this was going to be another good bad-book for a few pages, but it doesn't take long to discover it's a bad bad-book.
Rest here:
http://alittleteaalittlechat.wordpres...
August 11, 2016
Enjoyable but not as good as I've come to expect from Fowler.
As the series goes on, the plots are getting more implausible. The Bryant & May books have always been weird with a touch of the fantastic, it's their special charme, but I get the feeling that Fowler is somehow loosing himself in more and more arcane research and plot-twists, and as a result the narrative is beginning to get uneven, with several places where the pacing is off. It's still a very entertaining book but it lacks the steady dynamic of the earlier ones because everything seems a bit too farfetched. I like my mysteries to be over-the-top but by now Fowler is overdoing it. It's not going to stop me from reading the next one, but I think this series should draw to an end before it gets ridiculous and looses its momentum completely.
Recommended for Bryant & May fans but newcomers to the series should start with one of the earlier volumes.
As the series goes on, the plots are getting more implausible. The Bryant & May books have always been weird with a touch of the fantastic, it's their special charme, but I get the feeling that Fowler is somehow loosing himself in more and more arcane research and plot-twists, and as a result the narrative is beginning to get uneven, with several places where the pacing is off. It's still a very entertaining book but it lacks the steady dynamic of the earlier ones because everything seems a bit too farfetched. I like my mysteries to be over-the-top but by now Fowler is overdoing it. It's not going to stop me from reading the next one, but I think this series should draw to an end before it gets ridiculous and looses its momentum completely.
Recommended for Bryant & May fans but newcomers to the series should start with one of the earlier volumes.
January 10, 2014
I stumbled upon this gem under the new books section-- having never read anything by this author. This is the 10th book in a series of mysteries solved by the Peculiar Crimes Unit in London. Instead of sexy leading men or women we have a group of aging but very smart men and women who have to sort mysteries dealing with murder, deception,a bit of the arcane and a bit of politics. Don't let the cover of the books fool you--you are entering into other forms of witch hunting. With this many plot twists and turns you come out with a very unusual braid. A thinking person's book! Enjoy!!!!
October 11, 2019
It was better than I remember it. A well written fun series. Bryant and May are a wonderful duo of detectives heading the Peculiar Crimes Unit. In this book they charge around London following myths, legends and intuition with quirkiness and determination to keep the Great British public safe.
Highly recommend and looking forward to #11 in the series
Highly recommend and looking forward to #11 in the series
January 28, 2016
I quite liked the journey with all its weird and mystical loose ends, but honestly! The last red herring was just too big to be true and the revelation truly laughable. Like a last minute decision.
July 3, 2017
Tenth in the Bryant & May detective mystery series (a.k.a., Peculiar Crimes Unit) set in London and revolving around two too-old detectives who refuse to retire and who have their own way of doing things.
My Take
Per usual, Fowler begins with a memo for the bulletin board. I do enjoy the "staff roster" introducing us to the characters in the PCU by name and Land’s descriptions via the memo. His annoyance with Bryant, lol, is priceless.
It’s also extremely annoying that Sabira won’t talk to Bryant or May. Sure, I can understand why she’s worried about that, but jesus…
You’ll need to keep your wits about you and your brain razor sharp, for Fowler is more convoluted than ever in the plans within plans within plans within…well, you get the picture. It’s a torturous path he weaves and quite the clever delivery of death.
One particular red herring that will frighten you is the children wondering "how are we going to kill her". It borrows from those real-life mysterious deaths of Russian enemies. It won't be the only red herring, as it seems to take forever for the PCU to figure out what's going on.
You may want to have Bryant & May and the Bleeding Heart on hand after you read that ending.
The Story
The latest strategy the Home Office is using to try to close down the PCU is to prevent the PCU from getting any cases. Well, after all, the entire police force hates them, especially that Arthur Bryant, swanning about, nicking the high-profile cases, the cheek of actually solving them…
Why does Bryant have to be right all the time?!?
What makes life all the more shocking is that their nemesis, Oskar Kasavian of all people, wants to hire Bryant and May, and the payoff would be amazing.
The Characters
Senior Detective Arthur Bryant is beyond unique while his partner, Senior Detective John May, is the dapper, diplomatic half. Alma Sorrowbridge is Bryant’s long-suffering landlady-cum-roommate who found them a new home on a council estate when their old home, Chalk Farm, was purchased out from under them.
…PCU, is official and yet not. Created during World War II to deal with crimes that could threaten the British morale or were simply too odd for the regular police. It is currently under the purview of the Home Office, which is trying to shut it down…most spectacularly via Kasavian.
The cuckolded Raymond Land is the acting unit chief…he’s been "acting" for years now; Leanne is his cheating wife, talking about divorce. After some of Land’s comments, I think I understand why she wants out… Detective Sergeant Janice Longbright favors the film star looks of the ‘50s, although she seems to be lightening up; her mother had been with the Unit when it first started. Dan Banbury is the crime scene manager and info tech. Sergeant Jack Renfield is by the book and wondering how he got stuck here ( The Victoria Vanishes , 6). Detective Constable (DC) Meera Mageshkar is more violently torn and trying to avoid dating DC Colin Bimsley who’s had a pash for her for ages and is Diminished Spatial Awareness-challenged. Crippen is the office cat. The pregnant one. DC Fraternity DuCaine has been seconded to the Unit.
Giles Kershaw had been with the Unit and is now the coroner at St. Pancras. Rosa Lysandrou is his dour housekeeper. Dr. Gillespie, a coroner, is about to retire, and should have weeks ago. He’s also an old friend of Bryant’s. Dr. Benjamin Fenchurch is another coroner who works at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital.
The Home Office (HO)
Leslie Faraday is the Home Office liaison officer charged with keeping the PCU in line. His boss is "the cadaverous HO security supervisor" Oskar Kasavian. Kasavian’s wife is the unhappy eighteen-years-younger Sabira Borkowski, who comes from a far less privileged background. Edona Lescowitz is her best friend from Albania; she’s studying film design. Andy Shire is part of the HO security.
Other politicians in Oskar’s office and their poisonous wives include Charles and Emma Hereward; Edgar Lang and Lady Anastasia "Ana" Lang; and, Stuart Almon (he heads up the HO’s Workforce management Data System) and Cathy Almon. The three of men are also Oskar’s business partners in Pegasus Holdings, a private-public initiative, which provides intelligence to the scientific community. Lavinia Storton-Chester’s husband, Nigel, is the Security Division’s PR manager. Daniella Asquith. Edgar Digby is Almon’s lawyer.
The Rakes’ Club was the original Hellfire Club. The Damned Crew is a club within the club and had been linked with the Gunpowder Plot of 1605. Luka Terebenin is a Russian felon.
The Cedar Tree Centre is…
…a high-end clinic. Amelia Medway is a senior nurse. Sheryl Cooper is a keen watcher. Spike is a fellow patient, an American musician. Francina is majorly depressed.
Janet Ramsey is the unscrupulous editor of Hard News ( Ten Second Staircase , 4). Jeff Waters is the photographer assigned to stalk Sabira. PhotoNet is the company he works for. Mandhatri and Jakari Sahonata have four children. John is the maître d’ at Claridge’s.
Lucy Mansfield accompanies her workaholic father, Andrew, to his office, Royal Oak Recruitment Services, on the weekends. Tom Penry usually plays with Lucy when his father brings him to the office; Jennifer is Tom’s mother.
Amy O’Connor, a part-time bar manager, was Dr. Peter Jukes’ fiancée. Jake Wallace worked in the church’s basement. Samuel Simmons is the director of the Cincinnati Bioanthropology Research Unit working in St. Bride’s. Theseus had been developing a bioweapon for Porton Down, a military science park financed by the Ministry of Defence ( The Victoria Vanishes , 6).
Sally Talbot owns a bookstore and is prominently featuring Bryant’s Casebook of Bryant & May…and has the HO all a’dither. I swear, their cases sound like a crazed paranormal series. Anna Marquand had been Bryant’s biographer ( The Memory of Blood , 9). Catherine Porter is a volunteer, and Terry is an attendant at the Soane museum at No. 13, Lincoln’s Inn Fields.
Maggie Armitage is an old friend of Bryant’s and the leader of the Coven of St. James the Elder with whom he consults as necessary. Starbuck is one of her contacts in the spirit world. Dame Maud Hackshaw is the one to consult about madness. Georgia Standing is an archivist specializing in the study of Roman lunar symbolism; she took over from Harold Masters ( The Victoria Vanishes , 6). Mr. Merry is a terrifying man to whom you do NOT want to be beholden. Maggie has a LOT of rules about being anywhere around the man. Angela Lacie is a former MI6 cryptography expert based at Bletchley Park.
The Cover and Title
The cover is quite cheerful with the radial gradation of its background starting at the center with a scale-textured deep cream and blowing out into a series of ever-darkening greens. The title and author’s name are in a script font in black with the former at the top of the cover and the latter at the bottom. The below-center graphic is an arched stained glass window with the PCU series name across its middle against a pale pink banner with its acronym, PCU, in the point of the arch in a shining gold while the initials B and M are right below it in a Gothic font. There are three black witches hats in the bottom of the window with one speared by a sword. A British flag flies out on the right, a horned skull with batwings is in the lower left corner, and a crown is on the right opposite the flag.
The title is The Invisible Code that politicians’ wives must follow.
My Take
Per usual, Fowler begins with a memo for the bulletin board. I do enjoy the "staff roster" introducing us to the characters in the PCU by name and Land’s descriptions via the memo. His annoyance with Bryant, lol, is priceless.
"May I remind you that you are British officers of the law, and are not required to have any imagination."There is a coldness to the story, to all the stories in the series, and it’s the third-person omniscient point-of-view that keeps us at a distance. Not to worry though, as Fowler heats us up with how these people think and act. It's these politicos in here who seem to be the theme in that you can’t trust politicians. Or their wives with all the "rules" they "must" follow and the manipulating they do, and they are the nastiest bitches. – I do enjoy Bryant snarking back at them…"nice gaff", indeed, lol.
It’s also extremely annoying that Sabira won’t talk to Bryant or May. Sure, I can understand why she’s worried about that, but jesus…
You’ll need to keep your wits about you and your brain razor sharp, for Fowler is more convoluted than ever in the plans within plans within plans within…well, you get the picture. It’s a torturous path he weaves and quite the clever delivery of death.
One particular red herring that will frighten you is the children wondering "how are we going to kill her". It borrows from those real-life mysterious deaths of Russian enemies. It won't be the only red herring, as it seems to take forever for the PCU to figure out what's going on.
"He had no interest in the lives he had placed at risk. All he could see was his career going up in flames."There was an interesting tidbit about Elgar’s "Enigma Variations" and the code he used on it.
You may want to have Bryant & May and the Bleeding Heart on hand after you read that ending.
The Story
The latest strategy the Home Office is using to try to close down the PCU is to prevent the PCU from getting any cases. Well, after all, the entire police force hates them, especially that Arthur Bryant, swanning about, nicking the high-profile cases, the cheek of actually solving them…
Why does Bryant have to be right all the time?!?
What makes life all the more shocking is that their nemesis, Oskar Kasavian of all people, wants to hire Bryant and May, and the payoff would be amazing.
The Characters
Senior Detective Arthur Bryant is beyond unique while his partner, Senior Detective John May, is the dapper, diplomatic half. Alma Sorrowbridge is Bryant’s long-suffering landlady-cum-roommate who found them a new home on a council estate when their old home, Chalk Farm, was purchased out from under them.
"’I’ve shared an office with you for most of my adult life. I know how you think.’’Well I wish you’d tell me,’ said Bryant. ‘I have absolutely no idea how my brain operates.’"The Peculiar Crimes Unit, a.k.a., …
…PCU, is official and yet not. Created during World War II to deal with crimes that could threaten the British morale or were simply too odd for the regular police. It is currently under the purview of the Home Office, which is trying to shut it down…most spectacularly via Kasavian.
The cuckolded Raymond Land is the acting unit chief…he’s been "acting" for years now; Leanne is his cheating wife, talking about divorce. After some of Land’s comments, I think I understand why she wants out… Detective Sergeant Janice Longbright favors the film star looks of the ‘50s, although she seems to be lightening up; her mother had been with the Unit when it first started. Dan Banbury is the crime scene manager and info tech. Sergeant Jack Renfield is by the book and wondering how he got stuck here ( The Victoria Vanishes , 6). Detective Constable (DC) Meera Mageshkar is more violently torn and trying to avoid dating DC Colin Bimsley who’s had a pash for her for ages and is Diminished Spatial Awareness-challenged. Crippen is the office cat. The pregnant one. DC Fraternity DuCaine has been seconded to the Unit.
Giles Kershaw had been with the Unit and is now the coroner at St. Pancras. Rosa Lysandrou is his dour housekeeper. Dr. Gillespie, a coroner, is about to retire, and should have weeks ago. He’s also an old friend of Bryant’s. Dr. Benjamin Fenchurch is another coroner who works at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital.
The Home Office (HO)
Leslie Faraday is the Home Office liaison officer charged with keeping the PCU in line. His boss is "the cadaverous HO security supervisor" Oskar Kasavian. Kasavian’s wife is the unhappy eighteen-years-younger Sabira Borkowski, who comes from a far less privileged background. Edona Lescowitz is her best friend from Albania; she’s studying film design. Andy Shire is part of the HO security.
Other politicians in Oskar’s office and their poisonous wives include Charles and Emma Hereward; Edgar Lang and Lady Anastasia "Ana" Lang; and, Stuart Almon (he heads up the HO’s Workforce management Data System) and Cathy Almon. The three of men are also Oskar’s business partners in Pegasus Holdings, a private-public initiative, which provides intelligence to the scientific community. Lavinia Storton-Chester’s husband, Nigel, is the Security Division’s PR manager. Daniella Asquith. Edgar Digby is Almon’s lawyer.
The Rakes’ Club was the original Hellfire Club. The Damned Crew is a club within the club and had been linked with the Gunpowder Plot of 1605. Luka Terebenin is a Russian felon.
The Cedar Tree Centre is…
…a high-end clinic. Amelia Medway is a senior nurse. Sheryl Cooper is a keen watcher. Spike is a fellow patient, an American musician. Francina is majorly depressed.
Janet Ramsey is the unscrupulous editor of Hard News ( Ten Second Staircase , 4). Jeff Waters is the photographer assigned to stalk Sabira. PhotoNet is the company he works for. Mandhatri and Jakari Sahonata have four children. John is the maître d’ at Claridge’s.
Lucy Mansfield accompanies her workaholic father, Andrew, to his office, Royal Oak Recruitment Services, on the weekends. Tom Penry usually plays with Lucy when his father brings him to the office; Jennifer is Tom’s mother.
Amy O’Connor, a part-time bar manager, was Dr. Peter Jukes’ fiancée. Jake Wallace worked in the church’s basement. Samuel Simmons is the director of the Cincinnati Bioanthropology Research Unit working in St. Bride’s. Theseus had been developing a bioweapon for Porton Down, a military science park financed by the Ministry of Defence ( The Victoria Vanishes , 6).
Sally Talbot owns a bookstore and is prominently featuring Bryant’s Casebook of Bryant & May…and has the HO all a’dither. I swear, their cases sound like a crazed paranormal series. Anna Marquand had been Bryant’s biographer ( The Memory of Blood , 9). Catherine Porter is a volunteer, and Terry is an attendant at the Soane museum at No. 13, Lincoln’s Inn Fields.
Maggie Armitage is an old friend of Bryant’s and the leader of the Coven of St. James the Elder with whom he consults as necessary. Starbuck is one of her contacts in the spirit world. Dame Maud Hackshaw is the one to consult about madness. Georgia Standing is an archivist specializing in the study of Roman lunar symbolism; she took over from Harold Masters ( The Victoria Vanishes , 6). Mr. Merry is a terrifying man to whom you do NOT want to be beholden. Maggie has a LOT of rules about being anywhere around the man. Angela Lacie is a former MI6 cryptography expert based at Bletchley Park.
The Cover and Title
The cover is quite cheerful with the radial gradation of its background starting at the center with a scale-textured deep cream and blowing out into a series of ever-darkening greens. The title and author’s name are in a script font in black with the former at the top of the cover and the latter at the bottom. The below-center graphic is an arched stained glass window with the PCU series name across its middle against a pale pink banner with its acronym, PCU, in the point of the arch in a shining gold while the initials B and M are right below it in a Gothic font. There are three black witches hats in the bottom of the window with one speared by a sword. A British flag flies out on the right, a horned skull with batwings is in the lower left corner, and a crown is on the right opposite the flag.
The title is The Invisible Code that politicians’ wives must follow.
December 9, 2022
Review to follow.
September 22, 2014
Where to start with the problems? The characters were trite and overblown. The dialog was the same for everyone--more than once I had to resort to counting quotation marks to figure out who was speaking.
If that weren't bad enough, there were some atrocious mistakes. For example, at one point an office is first described as being in the area of a building where there was "no direct access to sunlight." In the same paragraph, just three sentences later, there's this:
Later, there's Arthur's meeting with his old flame and they rehash a meeting that was supposed to have taken place years ago--a miscommunication put them each in the wrong spot. What? The impression is that they have seen each since and just now they are going over this? Trite and overwrought and completely unnecessary.
And then there's the bad guy who runs through a barbed wire fence. Yes, he runs through it. Not only does he rip through it as though it were a tape at a finish line, parts of it stick to him and he has to pull them off as he continues running. I don't know about the quality of barbed wire sold in the UK, but over here, you don't run through it!
Then there's the biggest irk. The series of paintings Fowler refers to over and over and over again as The Rake's Progress is A Rake's Progress . The Rake's Progress is a ballet, an opera, and a film, but NOT a series of paintings. If a writer makes a painting or series of paintings an important part of the plot, the least he can do is check that he's referring to it correctly. Not to do so is lazy, inept, and insulting to his readers--one of which I shall never be again.
If that weren't bad enough, there were some atrocious mistakes. For example, at one point an office is first described as being in the area of a building where there was "no direct access to sunlight." In the same paragraph, just three sentences later, there's this:
"Kasavian was standing at the internal window with his back to them, his hands locked together, a tall black outline seen against a penumbra of dusty afternoon sunlight."Say what?? No sunlight, but then there is sunlight? How is the reader supposed to keep the scene straight in his/her mind if the writer can't?
Later, there's Arthur's meeting with his old flame and they rehash a meeting that was supposed to have taken place years ago--a miscommunication put them each in the wrong spot. What? The impression is that they have seen each since and just now they are going over this? Trite and overwrought and completely unnecessary.
And then there's the bad guy who runs through a barbed wire fence. Yes, he runs through it. Not only does he rip through it as though it were a tape at a finish line, parts of it stick to him and he has to pull them off as he continues running. I don't know about the quality of barbed wire sold in the UK, but over here, you don't run through it!
Then there's the biggest irk. The series of paintings Fowler refers to over and over and over again as The Rake's Progress is A Rake's Progress . The Rake's Progress is a ballet, an opera, and a film, but NOT a series of paintings. If a writer makes a painting or series of paintings an important part of the plot, the least he can do is check that he's referring to it correctly. Not to do so is lazy, inept, and insulting to his readers--one of which I shall never be again.
January 3, 2013
IT IS easy to envy the reader who had yet to encounter Bryan & May, the splendid old codgers who work for the Peculiar Crimes Unit in London. And if you have never heard of this particular branch of the Metropolitan Police, that is because it is the invention of Christopher Fowler.
What undiscovered joys await such a lucky reader, for there are nine other Bryant & May mysteries – all of them great fun, enjoyably preposterous yet copper-bottomed with pieces of historical fact.
In The Invisible Code, Bryant & May want to investigate the inexplicable death of a woman inside St Bride’s Church. She was alone in the church and no one else had entered the building. Instead, they are forced to investigate why the wife of their greatest enemy has begun to behave oddly and embarrassingly.
As you might expect, unconnected events reach out to each other, as Arthur Bryant, as fantastically infuriating as ever, scurries between Bedlam and Bletchley park in search of an answer hidden in London’s strangest relic. The solution is neat enough when it comes, but really it is the fun of the search that matters – and the great characters. Another fantastic read, and laugh-out-loud funny too at times.
What undiscovered joys await such a lucky reader, for there are nine other Bryant & May mysteries – all of them great fun, enjoyably preposterous yet copper-bottomed with pieces of historical fact.
In The Invisible Code, Bryant & May want to investigate the inexplicable death of a woman inside St Bride’s Church. She was alone in the church and no one else had entered the building. Instead, they are forced to investigate why the wife of their greatest enemy has begun to behave oddly and embarrassingly.
As you might expect, unconnected events reach out to each other, as Arthur Bryant, as fantastically infuriating as ever, scurries between Bedlam and Bletchley park in search of an answer hidden in London’s strangest relic. The solution is neat enough when it comes, but really it is the fun of the search that matters – and the great characters. Another fantastic read, and laugh-out-loud funny too at times.
October 18, 2018
I love the Bryant and May series but this one just didnt hit the spot. The big reveal at the end just seemed rushed as though Fowler changed his mind about the plot. 3.5
I missed the banter between B &M as well, it all seemed a bit forced. Not one of his best.
I missed the banter between B &M as well, it all seemed a bit forced. Not one of his best.
June 14, 2019
Recently I have given up super scary mysteries that keep me awake at night. And I also need to like my detectives or general mystery solvers. Of course I always love Brunetti (Donna Leone's Viennese
man) but I have recently discovered the books by Christopher Fowler about the Peculiar Crimes Unit of the London Police and its eccentric lead man Arthur Bryant. Bryant's methods are original and the characters that he visits to help him solve crimes are crazy--to say the least. There is a straight man, John May, who tries to keep Bryant on tract, but admires his boss because in the end he solves the 'peculiar" crimes they are given.
In this episode the Romanian wife of the Head office seems to be going crazy. She does not fit in with the other wives of the unit who unite against her and try to get their husbands to make the Head's life miserable. Meanwhile two children are playing Witch Hunt and find a suspect sitting on a bench in the park. They follow her into a church after they a spell. She is dead.
Surprisingly these two themes come together and at the last minute the crime is solved and the PCU is saved again.
Fowler has written many of these mysteries and I am now reading another which is equally entertaining
man) but I have recently discovered the books by Christopher Fowler about the Peculiar Crimes Unit of the London Police and its eccentric lead man Arthur Bryant. Bryant's methods are original and the characters that he visits to help him solve crimes are crazy--to say the least. There is a straight man, John May, who tries to keep Bryant on tract, but admires his boss because in the end he solves the 'peculiar" crimes they are given.
In this episode the Romanian wife of the Head office seems to be going crazy. She does not fit in with the other wives of the unit who unite against her and try to get their husbands to make the Head's life miserable. Meanwhile two children are playing Witch Hunt and find a suspect sitting on a bench in the park. They follow her into a church after they a spell. She is dead.
Surprisingly these two themes come together and at the last minute the crime is solved and the PCU is saved again.
Fowler has written many of these mysteries and I am now reading another which is equally entertaining
February 7, 2020
Another good addition to the PCU. Witchcraft and witches were the theme in this one and it was well incorporated into the plot.
When I can't settle to read anything I usually find I can enjoyably read these books anytime. Looking forward to the next!
When I can't settle to read anything I usually find I can enjoyably read these books anytime. Looking forward to the next!
March 27, 2020
Another belter.
June 23, 2018
"People are always fascinated by the character of Lady Macbeth, but for me it was always about the witches." Madness and witchcraft interweaves as a woman is seemingly hexed to death in a church by two children, while wonder of wonders, Oskar Kasavian himself asks PCU's help to deal with his wife who was increasingly growing paranoid. The plot is convoluted as it ties up to the unsolved death of Bryant's biographer, the mention of which crops up now and then in the previous books. The investigation seemed tedious in the middle but the reveal made up for it.
December 11, 2019
Excellent as always
October 28, 2013
A young woman is sitting outside St Bride’s church, reading. However, when she is first annoyed by two children and then stung by a wasp, she moves inside a church where, moments later, she collapses and dies. The death is declared natural but Arthur Bryant of the Peculiar Crimes Unit, thinks differently. However,when he asks to take over the investigation, he is denied.
When he and his partner, John May, are called into the office of Oskar Kasavian, their powerful arch-nemesis, they assume it is another attempt to shut down the unit. Instead Kasavian wants them to look into the strange behaviour of his young and beautiful Albanian wife. She is clearly terrified of something but is afraid to say what. As her actions become increasingly more paranoid and violent and she is finally institutionalized, Bryant is the only one who thinks she isn’t crazy and sets out to prove it. Soon, the unit is enmeshed in a deadly government coverup which has far-reaching implication, the deaths of a whistleblower and a journalist, not to mention the over-arching ambitions of the rich and bored political wives who lunch.
This is the tenth book in the Bryant and Mays series but it is my first. The two protagonists are not your usual police heroes. They are both past the first bloom of youth; in fact, Bryant is clearly way past the age of retirement. He is eccentric in the ways that only elderly people in British novels can be eccentric, muddle-headed on the surface but with a whole lot of smarts and insights going on underneath. May, on the other hand is much more logical and less prone to leaps of intuition. He’s a great proponent of the theory of Occam’s Razor ie the simplest solution is usually the right one but is willing to follow where Bryant leads even into some of the strangest places London has to offer. Despite their differences, the two work well together.
The Peculiar Crimes Unit takes on cases which are deemed more than a little strange and the pair are willing to follow leads which take them to odd places and to deal with odd characters including a ‘white witch’ and a man who has the uncanny ability to control others just by touch but, despite this, the book is more Agatha Christie than Dan Brown. There is no sense that the author, Christopher Fowler, expects the story to be taken seriously, rather that he is out to entertain and that he does.
This was a fun book with lots of strange twists and turns, elements of the macabre, and some eccentric but interesting characters. It was topical while retaining the feel of a British cosy despite the London setting. I also loved the glimpses into some of the less touristy but equally fascinating sites in London. The Invisible Code is the kind of book you can happily curl up to if you enjoy a nice cosy mystery and appreciate a bit of the supernatural thrown into the mix.
When he and his partner, John May, are called into the office of Oskar Kasavian, their powerful arch-nemesis, they assume it is another attempt to shut down the unit. Instead Kasavian wants them to look into the strange behaviour of his young and beautiful Albanian wife. She is clearly terrified of something but is afraid to say what. As her actions become increasingly more paranoid and violent and she is finally institutionalized, Bryant is the only one who thinks she isn’t crazy and sets out to prove it. Soon, the unit is enmeshed in a deadly government coverup which has far-reaching implication, the deaths of a whistleblower and a journalist, not to mention the over-arching ambitions of the rich and bored political wives who lunch.
This is the tenth book in the Bryant and Mays series but it is my first. The two protagonists are not your usual police heroes. They are both past the first bloom of youth; in fact, Bryant is clearly way past the age of retirement. He is eccentric in the ways that only elderly people in British novels can be eccentric, muddle-headed on the surface but with a whole lot of smarts and insights going on underneath. May, on the other hand is much more logical and less prone to leaps of intuition. He’s a great proponent of the theory of Occam’s Razor ie the simplest solution is usually the right one but is willing to follow where Bryant leads even into some of the strangest places London has to offer. Despite their differences, the two work well together.
The Peculiar Crimes Unit takes on cases which are deemed more than a little strange and the pair are willing to follow leads which take them to odd places and to deal with odd characters including a ‘white witch’ and a man who has the uncanny ability to control others just by touch but, despite this, the book is more Agatha Christie than Dan Brown. There is no sense that the author, Christopher Fowler, expects the story to be taken seriously, rather that he is out to entertain and that he does.
This was a fun book with lots of strange twists and turns, elements of the macabre, and some eccentric but interesting characters. It was topical while retaining the feel of a British cosy despite the London setting. I also loved the glimpses into some of the less touristy but equally fascinating sites in London. The Invisible Code is the kind of book you can happily curl up to if you enjoy a nice cosy mystery and appreciate a bit of the supernatural thrown into the mix.
April 2, 2014
First sentence: There was a witch around here somewhere.
A young woman dies in St. Bride’s Church—there is no apparent cause of death. Bryant and May are called to the office of Oskar Kasavian; the man determined to shut down the Peculiar Crimes Unit. However, that’s not why they were summoned. Instead, he wants them to find out why his wife, an Albanian Muslim, has been acting strangely. A second death seems to link the two situations and sends Bryant and May on a fascinating trail.
From the very first, you know you’re in for something unusual and quite delightful. However, light soon turns to dark and a sense of dread.
Although the PUC and filled with interesting characters, this book puts a greater focus on Arthur Bryant, the eldest and most peculiar of the PUC. He is well described as being…”as much a part of London as the hobbled Tower raven, a Piccadilly barber, a gunman in the Blind Begger, and he would not be moved from his determined path. He was, everyone agreed, an annoying, impossible and indispensible fellow who had long ago decided that it was better to be disliked than forgotten.” Bryant often seeing things in situations that others do not.
Crime Scene Manager/Info Tech Dan Banbury also receives more time in this book. It is fascinating to follow him through his Sherlockian forensic evidence search.
There are interesting observations on class barriers and on poverty. Fowler perfectly captures the snarkiness of which the wives of important men are capable and building their own hierarchy based on their husband’s success.
Fowler very cleverly takes seemingly disparate threads and slowly weaves them together. Even though the plot may seem to wander a bit, there is method to the madness as it slowly circles nicely around and ends with a very satisfactory close.
“The Invisible Code” is a delightful mystery filled with humor, fascinating details and a very good surprise at the end.
THE INVISIBLE CODE (Pol Proc-Bryant and May-England-Contemp) – VG+
Fowler, Christopher – 10th in series
Bantam, 2013
A young woman dies in St. Bride’s Church—there is no apparent cause of death. Bryant and May are called to the office of Oskar Kasavian; the man determined to shut down the Peculiar Crimes Unit. However, that’s not why they were summoned. Instead, he wants them to find out why his wife, an Albanian Muslim, has been acting strangely. A second death seems to link the two situations and sends Bryant and May on a fascinating trail.
From the very first, you know you’re in for something unusual and quite delightful. However, light soon turns to dark and a sense of dread.
Although the PUC and filled with interesting characters, this book puts a greater focus on Arthur Bryant, the eldest and most peculiar of the PUC. He is well described as being…”as much a part of London as the hobbled Tower raven, a Piccadilly barber, a gunman in the Blind Begger, and he would not be moved from his determined path. He was, everyone agreed, an annoying, impossible and indispensible fellow who had long ago decided that it was better to be disliked than forgotten.” Bryant often seeing things in situations that others do not.
Crime Scene Manager/Info Tech Dan Banbury also receives more time in this book. It is fascinating to follow him through his Sherlockian forensic evidence search.
There are interesting observations on class barriers and on poverty. Fowler perfectly captures the snarkiness of which the wives of important men are capable and building their own hierarchy based on their husband’s success.
Fowler very cleverly takes seemingly disparate threads and slowly weaves them together. Even though the plot may seem to wander a bit, there is method to the madness as it slowly circles nicely around and ends with a very satisfactory close.
“The Invisible Code” is a delightful mystery filled with humor, fascinating details and a very good surprise at the end.
THE INVISIBLE CODE (Pol Proc-Bryant and May-England-Contemp) – VG+
Fowler, Christopher – 10th in series
Bantam, 2013
February 6, 2014
From the syntax, to the humor, and the subject matter, this is thoroughly British, not one of the washed out versions we are used to seeing portrayed by American television or books. Detectives Arthur Bryant and John May work for the Peculiar Crimes Unit. They get involved in cases that are, how shall we say, out of the ordinary. This is rather fitting for Detective Bryant, as he is a bit out of the ordinary himself. Unlike his partner May, Bryant is older, pushing the boundaries of retirement. He is subject to memory lapses and gastric eruptions. His thought processes are a mystery to most of his colleagues, but his successes in solving the strangest cases are legendary. He will need all of this as his long time nemesis, Oskar Kasavian, head of Home Office Security, has called him in on a private investigation. Kasavian's trophy wife, Sabira, is having manic episodes, lashing out at the wives of her husband's colleagues. She believes she is being stocked and that her life is in danger. . Detective Bryant is astounded that Kasavian would even consider asking the Peculiar Crimes Unit to help him, but Kasavian's job as head of Home Office Security is in the balance. Bryant also suspects there may be a connection with the mysterious death of a young woman in a local church. There are no clues to the cause of her death, but the woman was acting strangely just prior to collapsing in the church, a perfect case for the Peculiar Crimes Unit. Are the two cases connected? Detective Bryant is sure to find out. The book is good fun with some winning characters. Provided for review by Bantam Books.
March 21, 2015
I really enjoyed this one. I feel it's one of the better books. More humor, more mystery, mayhem and madness! I really thought I had it figured out! There are a few loose threads, I'm wondering if it will be tied up in the next book. Love how Crippen is included.A nice little of history of Bedlam is included.
One thing I've noticed and enjoyed, is how each chapter seems to start out with a description of the sky or weather. An exmaple: The clouds looked like they had fallen down a flight of stairs and badly bruised themselves. and phrases like squalls of disappointment, intermittent outbursts of gloom...love it!
And then there is description of men: brandy snifters, and smelly old geezers bottom-trumpeting in wing backed armchairs. LOVE his descriptions!
One thing I've noticed and enjoyed, is how each chapter seems to start out with a description of the sky or weather. An exmaple: The clouds looked like they had fallen down a flight of stairs and badly bruised themselves. and phrases like squalls of disappointment, intermittent outbursts of gloom...love it!
And then there is description of men: brandy snifters, and smelly old geezers bottom-trumpeting in wing backed armchairs. LOVE his descriptions!
March 1, 2015
This is my second Bryant and May novel, and again, I am impressed by Fowler's story telling and skill as a writer. Entertaining, exciting, intelligent, and flawless. His writing has a way of being circuitous, starting off and following the proverbial rabbit, only to end at the beginning. And you wonder how it is that you didn't see it in the first place, or perhaps how you forgot that you had suspected the conclusion from the start. That being said, it's well done enough that even if it is predictable, you didn't quite notice.
With a dry British humor, a smooth writing style, charming characters, and mysteries that are all too common place wrapped inside an element of peculiarity, Fowler has created a very lovely dynamic duo, and I plan to follow all of their hijinks.
With a dry British humor, a smooth writing style, charming characters, and mysteries that are all too common place wrapped inside an element of peculiarity, Fowler has created a very lovely dynamic duo, and I plan to follow all of their hijinks.
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