Showing posts sorted by relevance for query fowler. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query fowler. Sort by date Show all posts
October 11, 2013
Friday Book Blogging
It was another two-book week. I'm hoping I can get up to three again soon. So the big winner this week was Christopher Fowler's The Memory of Blood. Arthur Bryant and John May of London's Peculiar Crimes Unit solve the bizarre and unusual crimes. Bryant's arcane and esoteric knowledge always plays a part in the solution. This one features Punch (of Punch and Judy fame). Fowler manages to impart quite a bit of trivia about Punch and his cohorts while still telling a decent locked-room mystery.
February 26, 2010
Friday Book Blogging
No contest this week. Of the six books I read, Christopher Fowler's The Water Room was by far the best. This is the third of his Bryant and May mysteries I tackled. They are remarkable stories combining quirky camaraderie, arcane London history, and well-plotted whodunits. I've thoroughly enjoyed all and plan to put my hands on the rest in good time.
The Water Room has the quintessential grumpy old men, Arthur Bryant and John May, detecting a bizarre series of deaths that are somehow connected with London's underground rivers. In creating Bryant and May, Fowler has imbued them with so much humanity that I imagine I could travel to London and stop by Morningside Crescent for tea and get a boiled sweet from Mr. Bryant as he rattles on about Roman pagan cults and their relation to the London Underground or some other esoterica.
For someone like me who loves history and mysteries, Bryant and May are tops in their field.
The Water Room has the quintessential grumpy old men, Arthur Bryant and John May, detecting a bizarre series of deaths that are somehow connected with London's underground rivers. In creating Bryant and May, Fowler has imbued them with so much humanity that I imagine I could travel to London and stop by Morningside Crescent for tea and get a boiled sweet from Mr. Bryant as he rattles on about Roman pagan cults and their relation to the London Underground or some other esoterica.
For someone like me who loves history and mysteries, Bryant and May are tops in their field.
April 17, 2009
Friday Book Blogging
Of the six books this week (and I may take GIMCD's suggestion to list them, but I may not. I've yet to decide.), I liked Christopher Fowler's Full Dark House the best. This is the first of Fowler's Bryant and May mysteries and, somewhat incongruously, begins with the death of Arthur Bryant.
Turning the plot on its head, the reader is towed backward in time to the origin of the Peculiar Crimes Unit and Bryant and May's first case. Naturally, the bomb that begins the book is tied to the twisted murders that occurred back at the end of WWII. Amazingly, the convolutions to get to that link don't seem a bit outlandish.
Turning the plot on its head, the reader is towed backward in time to the origin of the Peculiar Crimes Unit and Bryant and May's first case. Naturally, the bomb that begins the book is tied to the twisted murders that occurred back at the end of WWII. Amazingly, the convolutions to get to that link don't seem a bit outlandish.
September 26, 2014
Friday Book Blogging
On a Friday!
My favorite of the week was Christopher Fowler's The Invisible Code featuring Bryant and May. This is the fifth time I've tipped Fowler for his Bryant and May series. At this point in time, my concern isn't that I won't love one of the stories, but that the characters will die of old age ending the series.
The stories are excellent, the plots are sufficiently convoluted. But the best thing about them involves the tidbits of London history and folklore peppered throughout.
My favorite of the week was Christopher Fowler's The Invisible Code featuring Bryant and May. This is the fifth time I've tipped Fowler for his Bryant and May series. At this point in time, my concern isn't that I won't love one of the stories, but that the characters will die of old age ending the series.
The stories are excellent, the plots are sufficiently convoluted. But the best thing about them involves the tidbits of London history and folklore peppered throughout.
March 19, 2010
Friday Book Blogging
A paltry four books went back to the library this week. (Obviously, a bit too much of the traditional alcohol on St. Patrick's Day.) Of the four, my favorite was another Bryant and May story, Ten-Second Staircase. You might remember three weeks ago, my pick of the week was Christopher Fowler's earlier book, The Water Room.
I still love the grumpy old men. While Ten-Second Staircase is darker and more psychological than previous books, I liked the viciousness of the criminal. Yet somehow, despite the guilt and confusion the solution brought about in our heroes, their spirits triumph. Or at least slog on, which is a form of triumph.
I still love the grumpy old men. While Ten-Second Staircase is darker and more psychological than previous books, I liked the viciousness of the criminal. Yet somehow, despite the guilt and confusion the solution brought about in our heroes, their spirits triumph. Or at least slog on, which is a form of triumph.
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