London Bridge is Falling Down by Christopher Fowler

Reviewed by Jeanne

Once again, the Peculiar Crimes Unit—an office devoted to investigating incidents that other departments don’t want to deal with—is threatened with closure.  Since this happens on a fairly regular basis, the motley crew of non-conformists aren’t overly concerned, at least until workers come and start removing all the furniture and fixtures.  It seems that the Powers That Be are serious about shutting them down this time. This can’t be done until the last case the unit is working on is cleared, however. 

The problem is they aren’t working on a case, but they need to find one and fast.

Hence their initial interest in the death of ninety-one year old Amelia Hoffman who was found dead in her apartment, apparently due to appalling neglect.  Bryant and May, the two unorthodox detectives that head the PCU, begin to notice some things that don’t quite add up about Amelia’s death.  It turns out that she was once a government worker with a high-level security clearance and there are indications that she never quite stopped working.

It soon becomes apparently that there’s something nefarious going on, and only the PCU can stop a disaster.

This is the final novel in the long-running PCU series.  While some series seem to lose steam and inspiration, this one never did. I found this last novel to be brilliant in terms of characters, plot, insights, and the series’ trademark humor.  All the elements I love are here: eccentric characters, fascinating history, a complex plot, laugh-out-loud lines, but most of all heart. I’m reminded of Terry Pratchett in the underlying themes about humanity and social contracts, of looking out for one another.  The PCU seems chaotic in their disregard for authority and failure to do things by the book, but they are deeply dedicated to truth and justice.

And I so admire how Fowler manages to upend expectations.  For example, Amelia Hoffman seems at first to have been a frail, fragile old woman, a pathetic victim. Instead, she turns out to have been one very strong, very resourceful individual.

The books are also very, very funny without being silly. The humor lightens the darkness, because the cases they investigate can be very dark indeed.  Practically every page has a line or two that begs to be read aloud and I will confess to walking around, book in hand, looking for likely listeners.  Since I have trouble reading the sections aloud without giggling incoherently, most people suddenly remember urgent appointments as far away from me as possible.

While this can certainly be read as a standalone, I think it would be better enjoyed if one or two other books in the series were read first.  I am certainly going to read the titles I’ve missed because I love not only the characters but the folklore and history of London that Fowler weaves into the narrative.

This book is definitely my cup of tea.

A Grim Reaper’s Guide to Cheating Death by Maxie Dara

 

Reviewed by Kristin

Nora Bird has always been cautious in life. She and her twin brother Charlie lost their parents in an accident when they were six. Nora knows exactly how dangerous life is, and she is well prepared for almost any emergency that might come up. Choking? Nora knows the Heimlich maneuver. Fire? Nora has several routes out of the building. Poison? Nora probably knows all the antidotes you might possibly need.

Charlie, on the other hand, is a little more laid back. He’s more likely to accept rides from suspicious looking strangers and take in stray animals, no matter whether rabies or bird flu is in the offing.

Nora is such an expert on death that she was a natural fit for a career at S.C.Y.T.H.E., Secure Collection, Yielding, and Transportation of Human Essences. She’s an administrative assistant, but she sees every file that goes out to the various agents tasked with escorting newly departed souls to the afterlife. One morning, she sees that Charles Ezra Bird is due to be collected at 11:15 a.m. after a car accident.

Charles Ezra Bird. Charlie.

Nora grabs the file and runs.

Once she has convinced Charlie of the extreme urgency of her mission, Nora leads them off to try to escape death. But, wait! After 11:15 a.m. passes uneventfully and Nora takes a second to breathe, the cause of death in Charlie’s file changes: Choking. (Charlie, put down those Doritos!)

With visions of black clad S.C.Y.T.H.E. agents chasing after them, Nora does her absolute best to protect her brother. They travel to a remote location where they find more than they expected. And yes, the cause of death keeps changing, as Charlie and Nora have more close calls than one might expect on their twenty-sixth birthday.

This was a delightful mystery that kept me guessing to the very end. Plus, there is a foul mouthed parrot named Jessica to add even more comic relief. This is the second in the series, following A Grim Reaper’s Guide to Catching a Killer, but each book has a different S.C.Y.T.H.E. employee as the protagonist, so they can definitely be read as stand-alones. I look forward to the next book due out in November 2026, A Grim Reaper’s Guide to Living Twice.

How to Kill Your Family by Bella Mackie

 

Reviewed by Kristin

*Please note that this is not an instruction manual.

Grace Bernard’s father is a real jerk. He’s married, but not to Grace’s mother, Marie. He’s rich, but couldn’t be bothered to contribute financially or to take Grace in when Marie asked as she lay dying. Grace is a perfectly lovely person, but let’s just say that she doesn’t forgive. Or forget. She is ready to make her father rue the day that he rejected his mistress and daughter.

After Marie’s death, teenage Grace is taken in by the parents of a friend. They are do-gooders and fairly well-off, so caring for the poor little orphan just makes them feel better about themselves. They have no idea that she is plotting the misery and murder of her remaining biological relatives.

Grace begins her story while in a London jail for murder. However, not for one of the six murders she actually committed. She is rather indignant to have been blamed for the other death. But a claim of innocence stating “I wouldn’t have been nearly so careless if I wanted to murder her” is not likely to be taken well, so Grace didn’t bother saying it at all.

Grace is smart, organized, and probably a psychopath. She is a clever antihero who I find rather likeable, (as long as I remember that this is fiction and I’m not cheering on an actual person to make her father pay dearly for his heartlessness.) The end has a bit of a twist with another voice adding to Grace’s story. Not everything went according to plan. But, close enough.

Others have called this debut novel “compulsively readable” and I definitely agree. It’s darkly funny and an enjoyable ride. I look forward to more from Bella Mackie.

Three Graves Full by Jamie Mason

Reviewed by Jeanne

Jason Getty doesn’t like to think of himself as a murderer.  Sure, he killed a man and buried him in his back yard, but the guy just really needed killing.  Really.  For the longest time the deed haunted Jason’s every waking moment and a good number of his dreams.  Then he began to forget, just a little.  Oh, he still winces every time he sees the neighbor’s dog with something in its mouth and breaks out into a sweat when a police car goes by but little by little he’s starting to relax. 

But there’s the problem of the unkempt yard.  He must do something about it before the neighbors start to complain, so he finally hires a landscaping company and gives them very specific instructions about where to dig.  And very specific instructions about where NOT to dig.

Then the landscaper comes to the door, pale-faced and horrified.  They’ve found something awful.  

 It’s a body.

A body Jason knows nothing whatsoever about.

I have to say that this was one of the best premises I’d come across in a long time.  How could I resist?  The book is funny but quite dark in places.  I made the mistake of reading it at lunch, where one section in particular made me regret that I was having noodles that day.  Jason is an eternal loser, the guy who has sand kicked in his face at the beach, and who apologizes when someone else jumps in front of him in line.  The rest of the cast includes a savvy cop who suspects Jason is guilty of something and Leah the long suffering girlfriend of the guy who was found (not the one Jason killed) who just wants some closure, and the guy Jason did kill, whom we meet in flashbacks. 

Oh, and then there’s the other killer, the one who put not one but two bodies in the yard.

I thought this book was a lot of fun, but I admit there were a lot of times I cringed as well.  To be honest, I didn’t really like the hapless Jason, but then again I don’t know that we were supposed to like him.  I was much more sympathetic to Leah.  There’s a whole macabre slapstick sequence involving a body that I did not read very carefully at all. (See noodles, above.) In some ways it reminded me a bit of “The Trouble With Harry,” an Alfred Hitchcock film about the problems of a dead body.  I always thought “Harry” was a hoot, and this is a more graphic and somewhat less benign version. If dark humor is your thing, then you’ll probably love Three Graves Full with its entertaining set-up and clever plotting.

(I also recommend “The Trouble with Harry.”  It stars Shirley MacLaine, John Forsythe, Edmund Gwenn and Jerry Matthews aka The Beaver and is set in a glorious New England autumn.)