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First Published:
Jun 2005, 368 pages
Paperback:
Mar 2006, 512 pages
They are detection's oddest couple: two cranky detectives whose professional partnership dates back half a century. Now Arthur Bryant and John May return in a case of multiple murder that twists through a subterranean course of the secrets, lies, and extreme passions that drive even ordinary men and women to the most shocking crimes….
They are detection's oddest couple: two cranky detectives whose professional
partnership dates back half a century. Now Arthur Bryant and John May return in
a case of multiple murder that twists through a subterranean course of the
secrets, lies, and extreme passions that drive even ordinary men and women to
the most shocking crimes….
They are living legends with a reputation for solving even the trickiest cases
using unorthodox, unconventional, and often completely unauthorized methods. But
the Peculiar Crimes Unit headed by Detectives John May and Arthur Bryant is one
mistake away from being shut down for good. And when the elderly sister of
Bryant's friend is found dead in the basement of her decrepit house in Kentish
Town, they find themselves on the verge of making exactly that mistake.
According to the coroner, Ruth Singh's heart simply stopped beating. But why was
a woman who rarely left the house fully dressed for an outing? And why was there
river water in her throat? Convinced that the old lady didn't die a natural
death, the detectives delve into a murky case with no apparent motive, no
forensics, and no clues. And they've barely launched their investigation when
death claims another victim. Suddenly they discover some very unnatural behavior
surrounding Ruth Singh's death by "natural" causes–from shady real estate
developers and racist threats to two troubled marriages, from a dodgy
academician working London's notorious "grey economy" to a network of
antiquities collectors obsessed with Egyptian mythology. And running beneath it
all are the sweeping tentacles of London's vast and forgotten underground river
system. As the rains pour down and the water rises, Bryant and May must rely on
instinct, experience, and their own very peculiar methods to stem a tide of evil
that threatens to drown them all.
1
A CHANGE IN THE WEATHER
Arthur Bryant looked out over London and remembered.
Fierce sunlight swathed Tower Bridge beyond the rockeries of smouldering
bomb-sites. A Thames sailing barge was arriving in the Pool of London
with a cargo of palm kernels. Its dusty red sails sagged in the
afternoon heat as it drifted past Broadway Dock at Limehouse, like a
felucca on the Nile. Dairy horses trotted along the deserted Embankment,
empty milk cans chiming behind them. Children swam from the wharves
below St Paul's, while carping mothers fanned away stale air from the
river steps. He could smell horse dung and tobacco, meadow grass, the
river. The world had once moved forward in single paces.
The vision wavered and vanished, displaced by sun-flares from the sealed
glass corridors of the new city.
...
Trivia: Bryant & May matches have been a household
name in Britain from the 1860s until the present. The
oldest surviving animated film is an advertisement for
Bryant & May matches from 1899 asking the audience to
donate one guinea so that the company can give a free
box of matches to every British soldier fighting in the
Boer War! Considering Fowler's background in the
film industry I wonder if this little piece of
silver-screen trivia influenced his choice of
detectives' names?
...
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