β Scribed by Fowler, Christopher
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
Arthur Bryant and John Mayand their team of proud eccentrics in the Peculiar Crimes Unithave been given only one week to hunt down a murderer theyve already caught once, but who somehow escaped from a locked room and killed one of their best and brightest. Facing a shutdown, Bryant and May, men of opposite methods, learn that their nemesis, expertly disguised, has struck againand now he is luring them down into the vast labyrinth of tunnels and dark shadows of the London Underground. But soon they will discover a fresh mysteryone as bizarre as anything they have ever faced.
Starred Review. British author Fowler's outstanding eighth Peculiar Crimes Unit mystery (after 2009's Bryant & May on the Loose) easily conveys the main characters' rich backstories in the course of a typically bizarre series of puzzles. In the previous book, the PCU, spearheaded by elderly senior detectives Arthur Bryant and John May, apprehended the King's Cross Executioner (aka Mr. Fox), who beheaded his victims, but failed to keep him in custody. In making his escape, Fox killed a police constable. In order to continue being funded, the team now has a week to recapture the fugitive. A series of mysterious events in the London Underground may also be Fox's work: the fatal fall of a single mother down a flight of stairs and the disappearance of a drunken social engineering student after boarding a late-night train. Fowler has few peers when it comes to constructing ingenious and intricate plots--or integrating contemporary technology into a golden age mystery plot.
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Starred Review The death of a fellow member of the Peculiar Crimes Unit sends senior (as in old) detectives Bryant and May in search of a subway killer in this eighth entry in Fowlers consistently entertaining series. Bumbling and disheveled Arthur Bryant is inclined to unorthodox methods, which include dabbling in the occult. His partner, John May, is fastidious and plays strictly by the book (Arthur drives him nuts!). But they set aside their differences in hopes of solving their most difficult case yet. There is no method to the Tube killers madness, and nothing to link his victims, who include a cosmetics salesgirl who plummeted down the subway stairs and an unprepossessing student who boarded the train and never got off. The London subway system is rich with history, lore, and ghost stories, and native son Fowler clearly enjoys regaling the reader with tales of the citys underbelly. Even when the investigation falters and the body count climbs, the author keeps readers spirits up with plenty of Bryant and May hijinks, among them Bryants relentless efforts to perform card tricks (hard to do when ones not playing with a full deck . . . ). Clever, comical, and suspenseful, this latest installment is great fun from page one. --Allison Block
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Arthur Bryant and John Mayβand their team of proud eccentrics in the Peculiar Crimes Unitβhave been given only one week to hunt down a murderer theyβve already caught once, but who somehow escaped from a locked room and killed one of their best and brightest. Facing a shutdown, Bryant and May, men o
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