Christopher Fowler writes one of my favorite book series. The series is known both as the Bryant and May mysteries as well as the Peculiar Crimes Unit mysteries. I have noticed, as I have recommended the series to many people, that readers seem to be along the lines of "love it or hate it" and that there don't seem to be any in between opinions. In my case, I love it.
Arthur Bryant and John May are detectives based out of London's Peculiar Crimes Unit. The Unit was founded, if memory serves, during WWII out of the government's desire to keep panic out of the public eye. They did so by giving publicly sensitive cases with the potential to cause mass panic to the specialized and "experimental" unit called the Peculiar Crimes Unit. In one of the prior books in the series it is joked that the unit was originally called the Particular Crimes Unit and only ended up being called Peculiar by accident and joke.
The two main characters, Arthur Bryant and John May, in this case are looking back at a case from their past. A very well to-do family with pedigree and influence, the Whitstables, have become the focus of a string of murders. We start with the death of a family lawyer, Max Jacob, who was murdered quietly in the lobby of a posh hotel. The detectives must figure who and what killed him as he died alone in plain sight of the entire hotel lobby.
The initial killing is followed by the deaths of three members of the Whitstable family. William, Peter, and their sister Bella. William is blown up in a public place without harming any of the people who are physically near to him, Peter's throat is cut at the barber's in the same posh hotel as the business man was killed in, and Bella is poisoned at a play surrounded by at least a dozen people including Mr. Bryant. How are these deaths occurring?
We follow Bryant and May as they trudge through the case, digging up clues with the help of a mildly annoying teen. You get absorbed as a young child of the Whitstable family is kidnapped, become disturbed when another family member is attacked within the family mausoleum, and either gasp in shock or are utterly bewildered by the cause and purpose of these deaths.
The conclusion is most entertaining and positively weird, so I won't give it up here. Overall, the book is fascinating. My only real complaint is the annoyance factor of the teenage girl that helps Bryant and May on and off throughout the story. Honestly, what teenage girl isn't a bit of an annoyance from time to time? I'd give the story four and a half cups of Earl Grey out of five.
Consider reading the rest of the Bryant and May series:
Full Dark House
The Water Room
The Ten Second Staircase
White Corridor (my personal favorite)
The Victoria Vanishes
On the Loose
Off the Rails
The Memory of Blood
In light of upcoming Valentines Day, I decided to review a romance novel. I had originally chosen a murder mystery but thought this would be entirely more appropriate, if less fun.
It's a good bet every single one of you know this author. She's nearly impossible to avoid now that she is in both the romance and mystery sections. Roberts is an author with a plan. One that she repeats in nearly every novel or series she writes. Mind you, that's not altogether a bad thing. Honestly, what woman hasn't got lost in a good romance novel or movie when she's feeling blue?
Savor the Moment is part three of Roberts' Bride Quartet series. I picked this one because of the main character, Laurel. She is feisty and blunt and I figured that would take some of the frilly edge off of "I love you!" and "Oh God! I love you too!"
The plot takes on that of any romance novel, just in a different setting. You do come to like Laurel and her friends Mac, Emma, and Parker who run a venue that hosts and organizes weddings. Laurel makes cakes and it's a perfect literary world, so of course each and every cake is beautiful and perfect. Laurel falls for Del, Parker's brother, who is a lawyer and a bit of a bossy and overbearing individual.
You walk with Laurel through the discovery faze, hurt for her during the falling out, and are happy for her when it all works out in the end. Isn't that the point of a book, though? To make you feel for the character? Nora Roberts is a gem at this, she has her formula and works it. I won't deny that I enjoyed the book however it's something to be enjoyed over a box of donut holes, a bottle of wine, and under a snuggley blanket. I'd give this book, and the the whole Bride Quartet series, three and a half cupcakes out of five.
First off, I love this book. I've read it twice now (as I do all books) and liked it even better the second time. I kept thinking, "If I had to be stuck in time somewhere, I'd be okay with being there." I could see the circus beautifully inside my head, but at the same time bits of it were fuzzy which gave it that magical feeling.
Morgenstern painted a wonderful picture inside my head of the venue. The black and white tents, fascinating performances and performers, and even describing the wonderful smells wafting between the tents. The descriptions are so well written, if I close my eyes I can go there in my mind. Walking amongst the tents with a glossy caramel apple in my hand, reading the carefully hung signs that give only hints of what is to be found inside each tent. The world in which the author takes you is beautiful and wondrous, my bowler off to you Ms. Morgenstern.
I will admit though, the story is a bit slow moving. For being nearly four-hundred pages you can easily fit the summary into one or two paragraphs. The first time I read the book through I put it down often because I'd tire of some scene or another and wonder when that section would end. The description and content of each scene is glorious, there is just too much of it at times.
My other complaint of the book is jumping around through time frames. You read one chapter and get a good sense of the characters and what their purposes are and what is going on with the backstory. Then in the next chapter, it is a year later or ten years earlier and you are given no ruler to measure this time jump by. Only dropped hints such as "I was sad when he died last year" are there to give you a marker as to when it is during the story. If it continued to be foreword moving, I would not have a problem with it. However, sometimes a chapter will hop into the backstory some ten years prior to the main story in the previous chapter and you feel off kilter. It distracted from the story in general.
Mind you, despite these little complaints, the story is truly wonderful. If you are the kind of person that enjoys a fast paced, get things done and move on kind of story this book probably would not be for you. But if you want to wander through a magical world filled with interesting characters and a strange if sometimes confusing plot, this is the book for you. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I'd give the story four bowler hats out of five.
