Bryant and May, like Holmes and Watson, Morse and Lewis or Poirot and Hastings are a detailed and engaging pair.  This time they investigate a murder in connection with a pub that does not exist.  Part fascinating London history, part social commentary, wholly enjoyable, this, like all Fowler’s mysteries, keeps you guessing and leaves you longing for the next one.  If you don’t know this cantankerous pair it is time you were introduced.

Comparison: Reginald Hill, Douglas Adams (Dirk Gently series), Conan Doyle (Sherlock Holmes).

Synopsis

One night, Arthur Bryant witnesses a drunk middle-aged lady coming out of a pub in a London backstreet. The next morning, she is found dead at the exact spot where their paths crossed. Even more disturbing, there's a twist: the pub has vanished and the street itself has changed. Bryant is convinced that he saw them as they looked over a century before, but the elderly detective has already lost the funeral urn of an old friend. Could he be losing his mind as well?
Then it becomes clear that a number of women have met their ends in London pubs. It seems a silent, secret killer is at work, striking in full view...and yet nobody has a clue how, or why - or where he’ll attack next. The likeliest suspect seems to be a mental patient with a reason for killing. But knowing who the killer is and catching him are two very different propositions. As their new team at the Peculiar Crimes Unit goes in search of a madman, the octogenarian detectives ready themselves for the pub crawl of a lifetime, and come face to face with their own mortality…

About the Author

Christopher Fowler is co-founder and co-creative director of Creative Partnership. He also writes novels, screenplays and short story collections, and has had over twenty books published to date. His story The Master Builder was a CBS movie starring Tippi Hendren. Another, Left Hand Drive, won Best British Short Film in 1993. Others have been published in Time Out, The Big Issue, the Independent On Sunday and the Mail On Sunday. He was the 1998 recipient of the BFS Best Short Story Of The Year for Wageslaves. His first novel, the bestseller Roofworld, has been developed as a film for producer Marc Samuelson. Subsequent novels include Darkest Day, Spanky, Psychoville (film rights owned by Jude Law and Sadie Frost), Soho Black, Calabash and the two Bryant & May mysteries, Full Dark House and The Water Room. More books by this author Author 'Like for Like' recommendation