This is the memoir Christopher Fowler always wanted to write about 'writing'.
It's the story of how a young bookworm growing up in a house where there was nothing to read but knitting pamphlets and motorcycle manuals became a writer - a 'word monkey' - and pursued a sort of career in popular fiction. And it's a book full of brilliant insights into the pleasures and pitfalls of his profession, dos and don'ts for would-be writers, and astute observations on favourite (and not-so-favourite) novelists.
But woven into this hugely entertaining and inspiring reflection on a literary life is an altogether darker thread. In Spring 2020, just as the world went into lockdown, Chris was diagnosed with terminal cancer. And yet there is nothing of the misery memoir about Word Monkey. Past and present intermingle as, in prose as light as air, he relates with wry humour and remarkable honesty what he knows will be the final chapter in his story.
Deeply moving, insightful and surprisingly funny, this is Christopher Fowler's life-affirming account of coming to terms with his own mortality.
'A delight . . . a glorious, witty and life-affirming ragbag of autobiography, cultural commentary and hard-won wisdom.' ANDREW TAYLOR, author of The Shadows of London
'Perceptive, wise and illuminating . . . an unmissable farewell.' Barry Forshaw, FINANCIAL TIMES
'The most hilarious, life-affirming book you'll read this year.' SAGA magazine
The unthinkable has happened at London's Peculiar Crimes Unit. In the depths of winter, a member of staff has been found murdered, and everyone who works there is suddenly a suspect. But Arthur Bryant and John May, the eccentric elderly detectives who run London's strangest crime division, aren't on hand to solve the crime. They've ventured into the heart of the English countryside, only to become stranded on a desolate snowbound section of road. As the blizzard worsens, Bryant and May attempt to solve the crime long distance using only their mobile phones. Unfortunately, their situation is about to get very much worse...
Best-selling author Christopher Fowler has won a widespread following for his senior-citizen detectives Arthur Bryant and John May. Here a woman is found drowned in her basement-with nary a drop of water to explain the crime.
One night, Arthur Bryant witnesses a drunken lady coming out of a pub. The next morning, she is found dead at the exact spot where their paths crossed. Even more disturbingly, the pub has vanished and the street has changed. Bryant is convinced that he saw them as they looked over a century before - is elderly detective losing his mind? Then it becomes clear that a number of women have met their ends in London pubs and the likeliest suspect seems to be a mental patient. 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...
Welcome to the Sounds of Crime, an exclusive collection of five brand new short stories by some of the best crimewriters around. Using the theme of 'audio', this unique collection features brand new stories by Lawrence Block, Peter James, Val McDermid, Mark Billingham and Christopher Fowler. By turns gripping, puzzling and sinister, the Sounds of Crime will chill your blood from the first spoken word to the last... Track Listing: Dolly's Trash and Treasures by Laurence Block narrated by Buffy Davis CD1 Track 2 - Track 12 Meet Me at the Crematorium by Peter James narrated by Eve Karpf CD 1 Track 13 - CD 2 Track 7 Happy Holidays by Val McDermid narrated by Mike Grady CD 2 Track 8 - End of CD 2 The Walls by Mark Billingham narrated by Eric Meyers CD 3 Track 1 - CD 3 Track 9 The Deceivers by Christopher Fowler narrated by John Hasler CD 3 Track 10 - End of CD 3 Edited by Maxim Jakubowski.
There's method in the madness of a murderer who strikes in the night's darkest hour....
On a rainy winter night outside a nightclub in London, four strangers meet for the first time at 4:00am. A few weeks later a body is found inside a willow tree on Hampstead Heath. The Peculiar Crimes Unit is called in to investigate. When another victim seemingly commits suicide, it becomes clear that in the London night is a killer who knows what people fear most. As they explore a night city where all the normal rules are upended, Bryant and May are drawn deeper into a case that involves murder, arson, kidnap, blackmail, bats and the psychological effects of loneliness on Londoners. It's a trail that takes them from the poorest part of the East End to the wealthiest homes in North London - an investigation that can only end in tragedy...
It is said a legend is just a beautiful lie...
In the second half of the first millennium, the legends say that London disappeared for over four hundred years. We know almost nothing about what happened during that time. But if we could shine a light on the city's ruined walls, we would be in for a shock.
For here the Romans are long forgotten. King Scarabold now rules what little remains of the city, together with his over-entitled daughter Giniva, her effete brother Leperdandy and their wayward, lunatic relatives - all squabbling and fighting amongst themselves for the future of their corrupted dynasty while trying to hide their most terrible secret.
And opposing Scarabold and his wayward family is a horde of bitter enemies - the eerie Sheathwing, Earl of Beetles, the warlike nuns of Étranges Cadeaux, M'Lin the ape, Orobus the serpent, the terrifying Mater Moribund and the sinister child-spies Spackle and Peut - united in their desire to bring the king's troiubled reign to a bloody end.
But it's the arrival of a mysterious outsider into the midst of the beleaguered Scarabold's court that seems to offer a semblance of hope. The stranger's name is Watborn and he is a birdcatcher - strong, silent, he will infiltrate the royal family for a purpose that is all of his own . . .
As fiendishly-armed warriors gather beneath the walls, the battle for London, its body and its soul is about to begin - and who will be left unscathed at the field's end?
An artist is found dead in a gallery with locked doors and windows. A television presenter is struck by lightning while indoors. Two seemingly impossible crimes that only Arthur Bryant and John May of the Met's Peculiar Crimes Unit might be able to solve. But Bryant has lost his nerve and May is fighting to keep the unit from closure. Worse still, an unsolved mystery from the past has returned to haunt them...
British sensation author Christopher Fowler pens bestselling crime novels that draw readers into the investigations of Arthur Bryant and John May of Scotland Yard's Peculiar Crimes Unit. Here, an aging attorney becomes the first victim in a series of poisonings that may be the work of a family of cultists.
Christopher Fowler's memoir captures life in suburban London as it has rarely been seen: through the eyes of a lonely boy who spends his days between the library and the cinema, devouring novels, comics, cereal packets - anything that might reveal a story.
Caught between an ever-sensible but exhausted mother and a DIY-obsessed father fighting his own demons, Christopher takes refuge in words. His parents try to understand their son's peculiar obsessions, but fast lose patience with him - and each other. The war of nerves escalates to include every member of the Fowler family, and something has to give, but does it mean that a boy must always give up his dreams for the tough lessons of real life?
Beautifully written, this rich and astute evocation of a time and a place recalls a childhood at once entertainingly eccentric and endearingly ordinary.
One Sunday morning, the outspoken Speaker of the House of Commons steps out of his front door only to be crushed under a mountain of citrus fruit. Bizarre accident or something more sinister? The government needs to know because here's a man whose knowledge of parliament's biggest secret could put the future of the government at stake.
It should be the perfect case for Bryant & May and the Peculiar Crimes Unit, but unfortunately one detective is in hospital, the other is missing and the staff have all been dismissed. It seems the PCU is no more. But events escalate: a series of brutal crimes seemingly linked to an old English folk-song threatens the very foundation of London society and suddenly the PCU is offered a reprieve and are back in (temporary) business!
And if the two elderly detectives, 'old men in a woke world', do manage to set aside their differences and discover why some of London's most influential figures are under life-threatening attack, they might not just save the unit but also prevent the entire city from descending into chaos . . .
'The most consistently brilliant, entertaining and educational voice in contemporary British crime fiction.' CATHI UNSWORTH, author of That Old Black Magic
