We do not have a Nevermore report for today, so we're digging into the archives for some old posts you may not have seen. This one is from 2013, with an update following the review.
Reviewed by Jeanne
Having stepped on a few toes too man, the Peculiar Crimes Unit
has been disbanded and its members scattered hither and yon—at least until a
headless corpse is discovered in a politically sensitive area at a politically
sensitive time. They have less than a
week to solve the case, and they have to do so without any real authority, no
access to official channels and an office without a working toilet but with a
rather large pentagram.
This was the first time I’d tried a book in this series and I
harbor the very strong suspicion that if I had deliberately set out to pick the
worst possible place to start, it would be this book. There are too many characters I’m supposed to
know about already and I had trouble keeping them all straight. There were a number of scenes which I knew
were probably Very Significant but I didn’t know why. On the other hand, I did keep reading because
I enjoyed the writing and the fascinating bits of London history that were
constantly being dropped. I don’t recall
ever hearing about the Saint Pancras Old Church before, but it plays a major
role in the story; if I ever get back to London, I want to pay a visit.
By the end I was admiring the way that Bryant and May both
reached a conclusion through very different routes: one from the realm of superstitions and
strange forces and the other from very solid, non-mystical means, and no way to
saying which one was right. In fact they
were both a bit right and both a bit wrong:
that’s quite a balancing act.
If you like your mysteries to be very British, with large
dollops of history, folklore, clever observations and humor, this might just be
the book for you but you probably should start with one of the earlier
books. Personally, I’m intrigued enough
to try another in the series.
2024
Update
I did indeed try more books in this series, and found them most enjoyable. I really love all the London history packed into the stories as well as mythology and folklore. I have told people that this could double as a guidebook in some instances; in fact, Fowler wrote a book entitled Bryant and May: Peculiar London which is described as “a magical mystery tour of London” which May describes as being both personal and unreliable, and which I would describe as a lot of fun. Fowler's sense of humor delights me, and his use of two elderly detectives guiding the investigations of a distinctly off-beat department charms me every time.
I am slowly reading the rest of the series. Christopher Fowler passed away in 2023, so I
am trying to make the series last. I
will be sad to read the final chapter.
Another fantasy series set in London that packs a lot of
information and folklore into its stories is Ben Aaronovitch’s Rivers of London. I would strongly suggest reading this one in
order because there is a lot of world-building involved in addition to
character growth and change.
