annieb123's Review of Bryant & May: Peculiar London (Peculiar Crimes Unit)

by Christopher Fowler

Thinking of a jaunt to England? Let Arthur Bryant and John May, London's oldest police detectives, show you the oddities behind the façades of the city in this tongue-in-cheek travel guide.

"The best fun is running all over the city with these amiable partners." —The New York Times Book Review, on Bryant & May: The Lonely Hour

It’s getting late. I want to share my knowledge of London with you, if I can remember any of it.

So says Mr. Arthur Bryant. He and John May are the nation’s oldest serving detectives. Who better to reveal its secrets? Why does this rainy, cold, gray city capture so many imaginations? Could its very unreliability hold the key to its longevity?

The detectives are joined by their boss, Raymond Land, and some of their most disreputable friends, each an argumentative and unreliable expert in their own dodgy field.

Each character gives us a short tour of odd buildings, odder characters, lost venues, forgotten disasters, confusing routes, dubious gossip, illicit pleasures, and hidden pubs. They make all sorts of connections and show us why it's almost impossible to separate fact from fiction in London.

Originally posted on my blog Nonstop Reader.

Bryant & May: Peculiar London is an exceedingly fun diversion in the Bryant & May PCU series by Christopher Fowler. Due out 6th Dec 2022 from Penguin Random House on their Bantam imprint, it's 496 pages and will be available in hardcover and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.

One of the things (and there are many) which I adore about the PCU series and of course Arthur Bryant himself are the wonderfully random side trips to obscure locations and the bizarre books to which he refers along his travels in London and environs. The books which make up the central parts of the series are generally heavy on plot with only judicious sprinkles of tantalizing tidbits which Bryant pulls out of his dubious overcoat pockets seemingly at random. I've read all the canonical books several times and always found myself wishing for more of the background locations and stories. This is that book. There's very little plot here, it's just full of the mad (and apparently at least mostly true) factoids which make the series books a joy to read.

Five stars. Highly highly recommended for extant fans of the series. For readers unfamiliar with the series, I strongly recommend starting with some of the central titles (the first book is Full Dark House). There are now 18+ books in the series with at least one more planned, so it's a great choice for a long and delightfully bizarre binge read.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes

Reading updates

13 November, 2022: Started reading

13 November, 2022: Finished reading

13 November, 2022: Reviewed