Bryant & May On the Loose

Bryant & May: Peculiar Crimes Unit #7

by Christopher Fowler

Long regarded an anachronism and a thorn in the side of its superiors, the Peculiar Crimes Unit is to be disbanded. For octogenarian detectives Arthur Bryant and John May, it seems retirement is now the only option. But then a headless body is found in a freezer, and on the perimeter of a massive construction site near King's Cross, a gigantic figure has been spotted - dressed in deerskin and sporting antlers made of knives and suddenly, with limited resources and very little time, the PCU are back in business. In the panoply of great fictional detective duos, Bryant & May rank alongside (and somewhere in between) Holmes & Watson and Mulder & Scully.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Crime, Detective, London, Audiobook, Mystery Thriller

352 pages, Hardcover

First published July 16, 2009

About the author

Librarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name

Christopher Fowler was an English writer known for his Bryant & May mystery series, featuring two Golden Age-style detectives navigating modern London. Over his career, he authored fifty novels and short story collections, along with screenplays, video games, graphic novels, and audio plays. His psychological thriller Little Boy Found was published under the pseudonym L.K. Fox.
Fowler's accolades include multiple British Fantasy Awards, the Last Laugh Award, the CWA Dagger in the Library, and the inaugural Green Carnation Award. He was inducted into the Detection Club in 2021. Beyond crime fiction, his works ranged from horror (Hell Train, Nyctophobia) to memoir (Paperboy, Film Freak). His column Invisible Ink explored forgotten authors, later compiled into The Book of Forgotten Authors.
Fowler lived between London and Barcelona with his husband, Peter Chapman.

Reviews

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another good entry in the series. I am, most definitely, on a roll here. Once again the members of the PCU are called upon to solve a strange murder but this time there are some major catches to the case. Before the case is in fact acknowledged to be just that, the Unit has ceased to exist for the first time in over 50 years, it's members disbursed, unhappily and unsuccessfully, around London.

Now the Peculiar Crime Unit will be allowed to exist on a very short leash. They can have a week; no one must know they are working; they have no support staff nor do they have access to any of the police system's modern contraptions---like computers! So personal laptops and print copies will have to do.

Anyway, the crew is back.

Fowler has presented two (among many) short character sketches that caught my eye and I felt worth including here as examples of his style.
The first re: town planning officer Tremble.


...if Camden Council was a boring place to be when there
were desperados waiting to be apprehended, Ed Tremble
looked like the most boring of council officials... No man
seemed riper for retirement. Bryant could almost see the
weeks, days and hours counting down on his face.Tremble
appeared to be having trouble remaining upright. The
solicitor looked like he was covered in dust: baggy grey
suit, thin grey face, thinning grey hair. On closer
examination he actually was covered in dust, having just
returned from the basement archive where he had been
digging up information for the insistent detective...
Tremble had a secret, however. Underneath his dreary
exterior, he was quite interesting. When his penchant for
investigating the area's past was indulged, a light shone
in his eyes and he became almost passionate, which was why
his wife kept a stack of local history books on her
bedside table. (p 201)


The second concerns one Marianne Waters, head of a powerful development corporation.


Marianne Waters had a corner office with floor-to-
ceiling glass overlooking a steam-colored courtyard lined
with chrome uplighters and silver birches. She was a strong-
looking woman, Bryant decided, studying her tight black
suit. Hard-bodied and muscular, without a centimetre of
body fat. He tried to imagine her saying silly words like
'ping-pong' and 'hippopotamus,' but the image wouldn't
spring to life. (p 205)


Two very different characters reveal themselves so intimately. One of the reasons I enjoy this series so much.

Recommended, but I do suggest reading the books in series order.

[Jaksen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful book, wonderful characters, dialogue, action, mystery, locales. (Ohmygoodness I love the descriptions and places this series is set in! I'll never get to London, but what a treat to read about the buildings, streets, waterways, etc., all set on top of old Roman ruins, temples, architecture, etc.)

In this one the PCU, or Peculiar Crimes Unit, has been officially disbanded. Sent out to pasture. Kicked under the bridge. Knocked overboard. You get it, it's GONE. The unit's team, scattered to the four winds, lost, uncertain, angry, forgotten. This unit, formed just after WW2, works on investigations that might embarrass the government, or which are unusual, weird, or strange. (I LOVE that part of this series.) The plots twist and turn and take sudden dumps, as if you were walking up a creaky staircase in the dark - as I have done - and when you take your next step, it isn't there! (Yeah, done that, too, in a belfry or bell tower. But that's my story...)

This is the novel's story. As the members of the PCU try to find work, or themselves, or what to do now that they no longer have a 'home' at PCU, a series of strange events happen. This all involves a huge, construction work site funded by a conglomerate-type entity - government, business, big money - that will transform an older part of the city into an uber-modern shopping and residential district. At this site, someone is running around wearing a stag's head and frightening people. Worse, people are turning up dead - and decapitated. WTH?

Well, leave it to the elderly, yet handsome and urbane John May, and his partner, also elderly, but certainly less-urbane (frumpy?) Arthur Bryant, lead detectives of the (former) PCU to sort this one out. Bringing together their old unit, and with the reluctant help of their former supervisor, they set out to discover who's wearing the stag's head and solve the murders.

It's intricate, and sometimes confusing, especially when Bryant gets all involved with his penchant for working with witches and various other 'weird' acquaintances. This is NOT a supernatural series, though the history, legends and folklore of London - and its past - often figure into a Bryant and May book.

Loved it!

Five stars.

[Jan Rice · Rating 4 out of 5]

Catching sight of himself in the dressing table mirror, he was repelled by the scrofulous old hermit he found staring back. If I get any wrinklier I'll be mistaken for a shar-pei, he thought. His eyes were red on the outside, worse on the inside. His white tonsure stuck up around the ears. He looked like a frightened monk.

That is one of the unlikely main characters, both of whom, with a handful or so of other colleagues, are detectives in the Peculiar Crimes Unit (known as the PCU), tasked with solving crimes that don't really fit anywhere else in the force and, anyway, that no one else would want to touch with a ten foot pole. As the book opens, the unit having incurred the displeasure of superiors and in fact having been disbanded, is called back together to solve a murder that is threatening to interrupt a major urban redevelopment project. The crime bears the marks of pagan legend and could spook the construction workers, many of whom are of eastern European vintage. The PCU is to produce results rapidly and under less than ideal circumstances, or their reprieve will be short-lived.

Oh, yes--the setting is London.

And Arthur Bryant, the gentleman described in my opening quotation, is in dire straits due to the forced retirement he had been undergoing. He desperately needs to be back in the hunt, less as therapy than as a sort of redemption.

On some unconscious level, Bryant knew that the only way to pull himself out of his self-pitying nosedive was to try and solve a murder that no-one else in the Central London area was equipped to handle. The effort of succeeding was possibly the one thing that could restore his self-esteem.

He chafes at the bit when routine threatens to bog him down.

Bryant wanted to be outside digging up corpses and chasing (as much as his bad leg would allow) unscrupulous but fiendishly brilliant villains through the back alleys of the city. Instead he was meeting a clerk about forgotten bits of paperwork.

The dry humor isn't limited to the senior detective but is in evidence throughout.

...(T)he...unit's Crime Scene Manager and IT expert...pushed back the door of the little red-painted shop on Camden High Street. Yield to the Night was named after a noir film starring buxom British sex-bomb Diana Dors, and sold clothes from the 1950s and 1960s. Its windows displayed the kind of sequined battle-dresses that could transform a shy, slightly overweight woman into a hard-bitten, sexy nightclub hostess.

But funny though it may be, the book is not just a send-up of the detective genre. It's serious as a heart-attack, or rather as a series of grisly murders that look to be inspired by the ancient mythology lurking just under the thin veneer of modern civilization.

Could such mythologies really maintain their grip on the present? There were those who believed they did. This is the world of London before history, he told himself. It doesn't matter if such things really happened, only that somebody out there still believes in them.

The author can evoke a sense of place (or, maybe, the essense of a place), for example, as with this series of descriptions from throughout the book:

'...To my mind the symbol of King's Cross is a sturdy drain-fed weed sticking out of a sheer brick archway, something that can survive in the most inhospitable circumstances. An honest area, in the sense of being without hypocrisy, and a true test for the urbanite. The buildings will rise and crumble to dust, but the people won't change.'

...But he knew that no matter how hard you tried to change a place, it would find a way of reverting to its historical character.

The rain was descending in misty swathes across the ripped-up fields behind the railway line. Dozens of seagulls stood motionless in the rain beside the natural ponds that had formed in the soil dips. The perimeter fence was illuminated by tall neon lamps that created corridors of silver needles. It was still difficult to believe that such a desolate spot had sprung up in the heart of the city.

Somewhere I saw the series of which this book is a part compared to Jasper Fforde's novels (for example, The Eyre Affair, and Lost in a Good Book), but the one of those I read struck me as silly. This book, Bryant & May on the Loose, was on the level.

I happened to read about a more recent book in the series in this New York Times book review and became intrigued. so when I saw No. 7 on sale in the Daedalus remainders catalog, I jumped on it.

The first sixty pages went well, but then real life slowed me down. Reading in fits and starts, I had a little difficulty keeping the characters straight--in part, no doubt, from jumping into the middle of the series. Fortunately, in a pretext that fit the plot, the author had a little list right at the front of the book. Both the humor and the insights--the zingers--stood up to the interference, though.

If I have any criticism it's that these characters are so British that it's as though there is no other history, no other context, but the one that involves them, so there are a few subtle little missteps along those lines to which they are oblivious. I'm talking about words that are in usage and are in the dictionary but whose history nevertheless relates to past domination and colonialist attitudes. Or not even words--just an unawareness that not everyone is part of the same history. The author despite his precision does not quite plumb the universal. Of course I'm talking about the author, the creator of these characters. But never mind; I enjoyed the book even though Christopher Fowler is not my beloved Alexander McCall Smith. If I come across another one of his books, this series or otherwise, I'll read it, too, and I do recommend trying one!

A little local color:



The plot of this book involves a man with a stag's head. In my home city of Atlanta there is a neighborhood called Buckhead. Supposedly the area used to be called "Irbyville," after the man who founded it in 1838. He established a tavern and general store, marking the spot with the head of a deer he'd killed. In time the area became known as "Buckhead," and the nickname stuck. The sculpture in the picture was commissioned in 1998. I got this information from various sources, including a 4/1/14 story from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in its "Actual Factual Georgia" section, but the picture is from Wikipedia's entry on "Buckhead Village." At first I forgot to include this local connection--even though we had dinner in Buckhead last night.

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very well written, absorbing crime novel with some fantastic twists and some excellent London history.
There is nothing better than reading something set in your home town and knowing every road and alley.

[Bettie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bettie's Books

[Paula · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm running out of adjectives and hyperbole with this series.Brilliant,and a love song to London too.A delight.

[Sid Nuncius · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this was another very enjoyable instalment in the Bryant & May series. That’s probably all that really need be said, but for the record:

The Home Office has finally succeeded in disbanding the Peculiar Crimes Unit – as though that makes any difference when a strange, Herne-like figure is seen on a prestigious construction site in King’s Cross and a curious murder is discovered. Needless to say, Arthur and then John and the whole team are drawn into the unofficial investigation and the usual combination of an intricate plot, lots of fascinating history (this time of King’s Cross) and plenty of humour follow.

It’s classic Fowler: erudite, witty, readable and exciting. I would strongly advise starting at the beginning of this excellent series, which will explain a lot of the background to the characters, but it works as a stand-alone novel, too. Warmly recommended.

[Nigeyb · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first book I have read by Christopher Fowler and so (obviously) the only book I have read in the Bryant & May series. It is the seventh of the ten (so far) books and, if this book is indicative of the quality, then it is an excellent series.

Click here to read the History Of Bryant & May on Christopher Fowler's website.

The story is an enjoyable tale of a ritualistic killer who appears to be evoking pagan rites in the Kings Cross area of London whilst the area is going through an important period of major redevelopment. Modern day London is brilliantly evoked, and there is plenty of historical detail along with old myths and legends. The Peculiar Crimes Unit (or PCU) for whom Bryant and May work, was disbanded shortly before this story starts so there is also a sub-plot around getting the old team back together.

There are some great twists and turns and a surprisingly dark ending too. An entertaining, intriguing, wry, well written detective novel that made me feel very keen to read more of the Bryant and May books.

4/5

[Will Hogarth · Rating 2 out of 5]

On the whole I enjoyed this book. The main characters were well formed and there was enough to the supporting characters that kept the real enough. The plot is enjoyable and it all moves along at a nice pace

I was close to giving it 3 or 4 stars instead of the 2 I ended up awarding it. That was all the way to the end of the book.

Then the end left me feeling cold and cheated ... not something that happens to often ... but in this case that's how I felt and to a point I almost felt like I would have been better off not reading it.

[Kathy Davie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Seventh in the Bryant & May detective mystery series revolving around two past-retirement-age detectives and the unit they've inspired. Based in London and taking place before the 2012 Olympic Games.

My Take
This series is great fun as it incorporates myths and mysteries that are “real” in our own world. Fowler makes it even more of a twist with Bryant’s biggest weakness being his need to pull everything around myth and magic. It’s also his greatest strength. Although May’s mention of the 900- hotline is a crack-up. It's amazing how Fowler manages to tie all together: the blend of history, myth, modern corruption, and all those red herrings.

Shutting down the PCU is such a very government thing to do. A police unit with a very high success rate in solving crime. Oh, no. Can't have that… Do be sure to read the note for the incoming team. It is too, too funny, and if I were them, I'd head for the hills before I went into the former PCU offices, ROFL. They might want to consider wearing wearing haz-mat suits!

I had to laugh even more as some of the more reluctant members of the PCU team admit to missing the unit. Yup, even Renfield!! Who knew he had the heart of a romantic beneath that exterior.

May does a nice snow job on Faraday to get the unit provisionally back. Nothing appeals more than the threat of money *shakes her head* It sure does make a crazy reversal at the end. Of course, Faraday has to make it near impossible, which in turn makes for a crazy new office set-up.

The office location isn't the only change. The characters are having all sorts of epiphanies.

I totally understand Xander's anger. Unfortunately, ADAPT's practices are too prevalent in the business world…right along with the connivance of government.

The ending made me nuts. It hasn't actually resolved anything, and I'll have to dive into Off the Rails to find out if they get reinstated or what!?

The Story
PCU, especially Bryant and May, are under investigation for a number of illegal activities. And with the unit broken up, the team are each wandering off on their own job hunts. Until.

Colin's latest job turns up a headless corpse and Meera's bar-hopping ends with Herne the Hunter. Are they connected…? Bryant certainly believes so.

Giles doesn't help when he states that "you've got the same man dying twice in two separate places, days apart". It's a menace that is threatening one of the biggest redevelopment projects in London. One that government is desperate to see succeed.

The Characters
Former Senior Detectives Arthur Bryant and John May (recovering from a cancer scare) are coping in different ways. Bryant has fallen into depression and won't see anyone. May is considering a private detective career. Without Bryant. Brigitte is the new love in May's life. Alma Sorrowbridge is the technical owner of the "loft" she shares with Bryant in the old toothbrush factory…and they're about to be homeless.

"He's right, Bryant thought. I'm always drawn to the other side, the spiritual, the instinctive. If we're to survive this, I need to do something practical and useful. I think I need to see a witch."

The Peculiar Crimes Unit (PCU) was…
…a specialty unit formed at the start of World War II to handle crimes outside the usual that could affect morale. It cannot, however, survive the bureaucracy and hidebound thinking of today's governmental idio… power-hungry bureaucrats.

Detective Sergeant Janice Longbright is now working in a vintage clothing shop; she channels Diana Dors in her own sartorial style. Raymond Land, the former acting temporary chief, took early retirement and is stuck with Crippen, the office cat while his wife, Leanne, is taking all sorts of lessons from young studly men. The socially incompetent and former crime scene manager (with a preternatural skill at knowing what happened at a crime scene) and IT guy, Dan Banbury appears to be in demand. He also seems to be back with his wife. Giles Kershaw somehow landed on his feet and is still able to work in forensic pathology as the St. Pancras coroner. April May, John's granddaughter and their former office manager, is struggling against her agoraphobia again. Detective Sergeant Jack Renfield, a.k.a., Captain Bringdown, returns to the Met, dissatisfied; if he wants to keep his job, he'll have to spy on the team. Detective Constable (DC) Meera Mangeshkar is avoiding Colin's drunken calls. DC Colin Bimsley slips into alcoholic anger and takes on a number of odd jobs in between the fights he seeks out.

Police Constable Liberty DuCaine had tried to join PCU and instigates a new interest that Longbright reciprocates. Liberty's siblings include Equality and Fraternity. PC Darren Purviance is from Camden and reluctant to do his job. Rosa Lysandrou is the secretary (??) at the St. Pancras coroner's office. Professor Marshall, the previous coroner, had some kind of breakdown.

Maggie Armitage is a white witch and the leader of the St. James the Elder Coven. She's also an excellent friend of Bryant's and looks like "a deckchair piled with seaside knickknacks". She tells Bryant about the former tenants of their new "office". The young Rufus Abu is one of May's Haphazards and absolutely brilliant with computers. Sashi is one of Meera's friends. Mr. Hawker is an estate agent. Alfie Frommidge runs the Café Montmartre (formerly Alf's Cafe). Being so much fancier, Alfie is now charging double.

"'People want something classier.' Alfie wiped his hands on his apron and headed back to the kitchen to throw a fistful of parmesan shavings onto his instant mash."

The Home Office has…
…oversight of PCU, and its Security Supervisor Oskar Kasavian has been doing all he can to shut them down. Most of it illegal. Leslie Faraday is the HO Police Liaison Officer. An idiot with a photographic memory. Janet Ramsey, the editor of Hard News, was the woman with whom Kasavian had had the affair ( Ten Second Staircase , 4).

Camden Council is…
…where Ed Tremble works as the town planning officer who is fascinated by his area's history.

Rafi Abd al-Qaadir is trying to open a shop and needs a hand with renovations. Izabella and Piotr are dating. The pregnant Lizzi is getting fed up with her activist boyfriend, Xander Toth, the leader of the Battlebridge Action Group.

St. Pancras Old Church is…
…near King's Cross and has a long, long history. The Reverend Charles Barton is the vicar. Austin Potterton has been hired to photograph and catalogue the graveyard for the diocese. Dr. Leonid Kareshi is an archivist hired to supervise a dig in the vault.

"Trust a man of the cloth to think the worst of other people."

Albert Dock Architectural Partnership Trust (ADAPT) is…
…developing a huge part of London. Marianne Waters is one of the senior partners. (Some interesting bits about Margaret Thatcher and Lady Porter, London's arch-villainess.) Maddox Cavendish is one of the original architects — and her hatchet man. Chris Lowry is the senior public relations officer. Joseph is one of the janitors. Clive is the chief electrician. Constantin "Dinu" is his trainee.

K & D Decorating is…
…one of the companies working for ADAPT. Terry Delaney was divorced and a truly nice guy who loved his daughter. His ex, Niamh Connor, is the nurse who treated Meera's arm. Mrs. Mbele was his neighbor. Jess is one of Terry's co-workers. Casey was Terry's girlfriend.

Mr. Fox is an invisible sociopath who soaks up knowledge from all whom he encounters. Mac is a young boy he takes under his "wing". Herne the Hunter is a man in a costume wearing a headdress of riveted knives.

1940, the Blitz
Ethel, a cleaning lady, is helping out next door at Bea and Harold Barker's when the bomb hits. Alf is Ethel's husband. Keith Barker is Harold's son. Mrs. Irene "Auntie Reeny" Porter is the next-door neighbor. Her husband, Thomas, didn't survive. Their son, William, survived and had a daughter, Ellen.

Footwear Intelligence Technology (FIT) is a database system of shoe print types.

The Cover and Title
The cover is a grayed and speckled teal background with the title and author's name in a black script at top and bottom, respectively. The graphic centers around a dilapidated cardboard moving box around which swirls representative examples of Bryant's interests: a skull, a mask, a knife, and his trilby. The British flag reminds us of the story's setting, and the "Moved" sign reminds us of events in The Victoria Vanishes , 6.

The title, lol, is too true, for Bryant & May on the Loose present a danger to the Home Office's peace of mind since they're the ones who freed them up.

[Jill H. · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Home Office has finally succeeded in closing the Peculiar Crimes Unit (PCU) and the team members are out of work. But wait!!!.....a headless corpse is discovered and the Unit is back in business in a wild tale of human sacrifice, old wells, and urban development. It will take four murders to bring this case to a close as Bryant and May, those lovable geriatric detectives, follow false clues and the wrong man before solving the mystery. The notorious Mr. Fox makes his first appearance in this book and will show up again in the next of the series. An unexpected murder occurs in the final few pages which causes the book to end on a down note.......but it is still an insane romp with the PCU. This book (as are all in the series) is implausible, far-fetched and total madness and I love them all to distraction.

[Dylan Lancaster · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved the opening chapter / letter and laughed out loud several times when reading it. Over the last few years that I have been reading and immersing myself in the world of these characters I have grown to know and love them. This book is a little different than the others in the series but as always a delight from start to finish. Sad to lose a loved character and was wonderful to have a little bit of romance in there for a while.

[Sallee · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful book with a great plot, fascinating characters, great writing with historical arcane details delightfully woven in with Arthur May's sleuthing. I loved it! Note; I am using a touch screen laptop for the first time so my shelf choice got a little mixed up.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

This episode takes place in St Pancras and Kings Cross, an area in complete evolution, and there were interesting snippets about it's history. The intrigue was quite entertaining but seems to overlap with the next novel in the series, so I'm off to listen to that.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Complex plot, revolving around King's Cross. The middle dragged somewhat but the end pulls you on to the next book so here I go, willy-nilly. The murderer is indeed an interesting character...

[Tim Pendry · Rating 4 out of 5]

I first came across Christopher Fowler's Bryant & May series on the horror shelves and very much enjoyed the first novels in that context. All that remains of these early efforts is the attempt to create an esoteric or supernatural backdrop to the crime (in this case, ancient paganism), a (somewhat mild) dash of the gruesome and some sense of evil (albeit now psychological).

Some agent or publisher had the bright idea of shifting the 'brand' from horror to crime and emphasising the standard ratiocination model over eldritch fears. The move involved a redraft of one horror novel into the new genre, its re-sale on the market with minimal warning that it was simply a rewrite and me paying for an inferior adaptation of something I had once enjoyed. I dumped the series in irritation and moved on.

However, I decided to try Fowler's 2009 effort 'On the Loose' to see if things had improved. No, he is still not up to that early magnificence when he played to his horror strengths but the market rules. If the public want a neat, rational solution to every problem, then it must have one.

In that light, this is a very good effort. Although it starts slowly and plods for a short while, once it is in its in stride, it is a brisk one. I can regret the lack of real supernatural goings-on in favour of the cunning evil of the psychopath - of which no more lest we produce a spoiler – but I know that I am in the minority.

This is very much part of a new sub-genre of English popular writing that crosses internal genre boundaries – i.e. the story set in a London that many of its readers will already half-know and which they see out of their offices, from buses and walking between meetings every day.

This particular story makes great play with psychogeography, a peculiar London literary phenomenon, derived ultimately from Parisian decadent culture, that imbues place with profound meaning. The present is seen as layered on many pasts all of which can affect the future. China Mieville's 'Kraken' also reviewed in our lists recently is another of this type.

Like Mieville, Fowler can write but is uneven. The early stories in the series seemed flawless but this later one can get trapped in the soap opera of his creation, the Peculiar Crimes Unit. The first third is marred by some totally ridiculous bureaucratic politics in which the fate of the PCU (presumably the denouement of the previous novel) is reversed back into operation from a previous dismantling.

The way this is achieved is clumsy and is a lot less believable than some of the more outré conduct of the odder suspects. Policing just does not work like this and the whole set-up sounds like a desperate attempt to recover ground without turning the tale into a Trollopian novel of politics – so corners are cut.

But, be in no doubt, it is very entertaining, a tale well told although non-Londoners may yawn (as, apparently, do the members of the PCU) when Bryant goes off into one of his antiquarian, if informative, accounts of old London history. A map of Kings Cross, Camden and Islington might be useful here.

Fowler is also good on the nerdish underworlds of London – another similarity with Mieville and a standard aspect of this school of London dark fantasy. This sub-genre makes heroes, villains and heroines out of the otherwise very unheroic world of geeks, nerds, neo-pagans, anarchists that populate a great swathe of the City from Camden to Southwark, from Kingston to Shoreditch. This is also a genre of back streets, allies, council estates and underground waters.

The cultural underworld of London is a social phenomenon perhaps equivalent to (though different from) the ‘otaku’ of Japan – a cultural-specific small-scale defiance of the established norms of corporate society, whether as hackers and anarchists at one end or witches and esotericists at the other. This world exists and is a vibrant wholly un-elitist demotic alternative to received high culture, one that flourishes on council estates, in pubs and in the half-way houses of the student population as a fluid culture of difference and experimentation.

Both Mieville in 'Kraken' and Fowler in this book tap into this wellspring of eccentricity that subverts the existing culture not through direct politics but through ‘absence’ – simply not participating in the world of corporations and government and only coming out to play as a situationist protest, whether online or in the streets, that disrupts and then disappears so that the authorities never can quite get to the bottom of things.

That is because there is no bottom or organization – just an attitude of dreaming time resistance to authoritarian managerialists trying to define others on their terms. It is, in many ways, a working class rebellion against middle class socialism.

Fowler and Mieville are implicit critics of this world while being sympathetic. Mieville’s is more political – that this looseness achieves nothing without organization (hence the sad little tale of the familiars’ strike in ‘Kraken’).

Fowler seems just to want a bit of integrity in public life and he puts the authorities’ case on the big development that is at the heart of the story much more from a moderniser’s rather than a traditionalist’s point of view. He is typical of that liberal-minded person who thinks bad things happen when people do not obey the rules but, through Bryant, he speaks for many such sons of reason in almost wanting the eccentric and the obscure and the esoteric to have meaning.

Such educated liberals with strong imaginations are often very jealous of the street’s ability to believe so many impossible things before lunch – instead of having an imagination, such people are their imaginations. Modern writers often yearn to suspend their reason yet are terrified of the consequences. Perhaps only Alan Moore has developed the right strategy for this dilemma – and he is an anarchist, lover of altered states and a magician as well as an artist who can meet deadlines.

What holds back Fowler and most liberal popular writers is something that so many street people willfully ignore or simply work around – the existence of the true psychopath. Fowler creates such a personality here (of which no more because of spoilers).

The strategy of the street is to observe and avoid the predator but such psychopaths, who generally prey on their own community, occasionally erupt into the higher level where they have disturbed crime writers from Christie onwards as incursions into their safe little worlds of rules and codes. The loss of traditional codes is, in itself, a sub-text of much popular literature today.

This book is culturally interesting because it tries to introduce two cultural obsessions of recent crime fiction – the unknowability of the true psychopath (which is a tiny but dangerous challenge to social definitions of goodness and order and the reason why liberals will always need the police) and the charms of the esoteric and the imaginative life lived regardless of relative poverty (which puzzles the social liberal who cannot comprehend such withdrawn acceptance of relative lower status and resources without a fight).

The social liberal, the progressive and the middle class socialist are all flummoxed both by evil (which eventually makes them into the worst sort of authoritarian) and by public passivity and disorganisation. They don’t get liberty with all its attendant risks.

Nostalgia is a constant theme – the war, the clothing preferences of one of the PCU, the lost fields and rivers of the area, community, Brighton pier, the buildings of the area that no longer stand (though of course they only stood because the fields and rivers were built over), Bryant’s waning powers. But so is progress – the case for change in King’s Cross is put fairly and the exploitation and oppressions of the area in the past are also referred to in unequivocal terms.

There is a hint of a theme in a corruption that is endemic in society in which the noble knights of the Peculiar Crimes Unit represent goodness and integrity far beyond the believable. Dynamic planning is implicitly approved of and piecemeal planning not: here is Fowler observing Brighton which stands for much of Middle England without a strong guiding hand:-

“The burghers of Brighton had neglected the parts they disliked until those parts simply went away, and had added on bits that made them money, leaving windswept concourses filled with chain stores that could be found in any town, anywhere.”

Like all popular fiction, there is a mood of the time aspect to the book – and, yes, I appear to be dumping more meaning on an entertainment than it can bear but bear with me. It represents unease about society that cannot quite be explained in simple terms. There is nostalgia for a lost community (exemplified by the early vignette of a bombed out King’s Cross home). There is an acceptance of the necessity for modernity for the sake of survival. There is the awareness that this time of transition has created opportunities for evil in the form of the psychopath inside and outside the system.

There is also a sense that systems, especially bureaucratic, planning and management systems, riddled with errors by their nature, have taken over from human relationships and the ability to be honest in admitting an error in order to correct it. Huge complex projects can collapse on tiny oversights.

And there is this sense of a wider population detached from the system – whether travelling through great transit zones like the King’s Cross complex, herds of wildebeest from which predators can pick off stragglers, or passively losing themselves, if not in consumer-led culture then in introverted magical and esoteric imaginative recreations of the world that might bring lost nature into grey council estates but which also detach people from rebuilding the older sense of community that Fowler and Bryant know has gone forever but still hope may return in the future.

Thus, Fowler’s little entertainment adds to the stockpile of evidence that England is uneasy … and that New Labour’s managerialism and communitarianism took us no further forward in building a new community after the destruction by the market of the old one. I shall certainly be looking out for the 2010 entertainment ‘Off the Rails’ …

[Margaret · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think this is a series you need to read in order, but, alas, I can't get the first few books.

[Gypsi · Rating 4 out of 5]

A mix of the esoteric and mundane, this mystery follows the PCU on a search for a decapitating murderer that may, or may not, have a historical connection with King's Cross. It is one of the better Bryant and May mysteries, with strong writing, a suspenseful plot, and a dramatic conclusion.

[WhatShouldIRead · Rating 4 out of 5]

The quirkiness of these books keep me coming back for more. I enjoy all the characters, history tidbits, recurring story line and the mystery in this one. I thought the first third was a little on the slow side but the story then picked up and captured my imagination.

[Maria Robinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant

Great read, great characters and some fascinating details. I really enjoyed this - so much so, I read it in one sitting!

[Alysan Azman · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite so far!

Only complaint is that often Arthur Bryant’s historical ramblings make my head hurt! LOL

Love the members of the PCU!

[Anne Fenn · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Peculiar Crimes Unit has been disbanded at the start of this episode but they’re back at work, sneaking office space, using secret contacts, to solve more weird cases. Kings Cross station area is the historical basis of events, so much fascinating stuff it’s hard to take in. I do know we unknowingly walked very nearby St Pancras church when arriving in London on the Eurostar .

[Nd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interestingly, I just re-read this book, thinking I hadn't read it before. Am I becoming my Aunt Mary?? In the beginning, I kept thinking, "So, they're actually closing them (PCU) down this time." That being said, there is so much history and myth of London's early centuries involved in the plot(s) and such a large, sometimes overlapping, cast of pertinent characters and locations to get to know, that reading became more about that and peripheral plots and less about solving the murders this time. At the last reading, I delayed checking out any more Bryant and May stories, so obviously I bogged down somewhere along the line and it needed a second reading. There's also a plot and/or situational similarity to a couple of BBC series mysteries, New Tricks and Midsomer Mysteries, that I watch. My previous plot-based synopsis below stands.

After a lengthy stint of being assigned and solving specialized crimes that might have become an embarrassment for London's traditional law enforcement, The Peculiar Crimes Unit's (PCU) unorthodox detecting methodology finally has them disassociated and unofficially disbanded, with their offices given to the Electronic Fraud Agency. Arthur Bryant, the most idiosyncratic of all, has fallen into deep depression with only his surrounding tomes of ancient history, mythology, and odd facts and science, and is about to be ejected from his home. John May is considering joining a small private detective agency, and other PCU members have been drifting in various directions.

PCU's Detective Constable Colin Bimsley had worked his way through anger and alcohol and began looking for odd jobs. The first he came upon was helping Rafi Abd al-Qaadir refurbish a ragged, ripped-apart corner building that he had just leased to create a corner store. The area was still ragged but up-and-coming with lots of foot traffic and a new commercial development going in nearby. New life for PCU originated when they found the working freezer with the beheaded body. Defying probability, the wishes of nemesis Home Office Security Supervisor Oskar Kasavian, and imposed time constraints, PCU began investigations. They found a decrepit building in the same area, but had virtually no resources or contacts afforded other London police. Eventually involved were two more murders, ancient history, legend, myth, and rite, St. Alban's church, underground railroads and tunnels, a villain wearing a stag's head, and Mr. Fox.

Recently, I've been watching the British tv series New Tricks, where retired police officers are called in to solve cold cases. It shares a lot of humor and similarity to Fowler's PCU. Both are great fun.

[Cynthiaj · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cliff hanger! Gotta get the next one.

[Nikki-ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Peculiar Crimes Unit has been disbanded and octogenarian detectives Arthur Bryant and John May look set for retirement. That is until a headless body is found in a freezer. A mysterious figure with antlers made of knives also catches their interest, but are the two connected? Either way, Bryant & May and the rest of the PCU are back in business, only with very limited resources and so little time.

I’d never heard of the Bryant & May series of books by Christopher Fowler until Bryant & May On the Loose was listed as part of Transworld’s Summer Reading Challenge. I was a little hesitant at reading it as “On the Loose” is the 7th book in the Bryant & May series and I hadn’t read any of the others. I needn’t have worried though as “On the Loose” stands well as a book by itself. There’s no need to have read any of the other books in the series as the main characters of Arthur Bryant and John May shine through the book and by the end you feel as if you know them very well, like old friends. I love the fact that they’ve worked together for so long that they’re almost like an old married couple!

In a way, Bryant & May and their colleagues at the PCU remind me of the BBC TV series New Tricks, I found the book to very much have that kind of feel to it.

The story is set in the Kings Cross area of London and I have a feeling the author knows the area like the back of his hand. We’re treated to the myths & legends of the area, as well as historical and architectural information... When reading this book you feel like you could be walking the very same streets or occupying the same buildings.

No part of the story is wasted, there’s no fillers, every word in this book is there for a reason. All of which makes this book a good read. It goes at a steady pace, with splashes of humour here and there, as well as action (not that you’d expect it with a pair of old codgers as the lead characters!), tension and a little bit of romance thrown in. All in all, Bryant & May On the Loose is a good “whodunnit” story. Will they get their killer? Why not read the book and see!

Please note: I received this book free from Transworld Publishers as part of the Transworld Summer Reading Challenge. However, this in no way influenced my opinion of the book.

[Pam Baddeley · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this seventh B & M mystery, it is a few weeks after the disbanding of the Peculiar Crimes Unit at the end of 'The Victoria Vanishes' by their arch-enemy Kasavian. Arthur Bryant is sinking into depression, not even wanting to see his partner May. May makes an attempt to appeal to Kasavian's subordinate, when one of the team members finds a headless body in the King's Cross area while doing some casual work, on the basis that the area is being redeveloped for the 2012 Olympics and other things, and a loss of public confidence could damage that, with investors perhaps pulling out. But he gets nowhere.

Then Bryant's interest is rekindled at the news that a man is dressing up as an antlered figure in the area and possibly assaulting or kidnapping women. Another headless body is discovered in the same area. Eventually, the unit is given a limited remit to reform, but has to manage without access to normal police facilities and set up shop in a derelict ex-warehouse that was once used by an occult society. As with other B & M's the folklore of old London, and the past is interwoven into the events of the present. The only thing that held me back from a 5 star award is the ending, although I also get the impression that the story will be followed up in a later book.

[Denise · Rating 4 out of 5]

A headless corpse in a freezer and a strange figure running around wearing deerhide and a set of antlers made from kitchen knives - if that doesn't sound like a peculiar case, what does? Unfortunately, the Peculiar Crimes Unit has just been disbanded, its leading detectives, octogenarians Arthur Bryant and John May shoved into retirement and the rest of its members scattered. Fearing the negative publicity that might arise from the case, however, the powers that be reluctantly agree to put the PCU back into business - on the sly, as it were, with barely any resources, but also a refreshing lack of oversight. They've got their work cut out for them, especially when a second headless body shows up soon after the first.

I picked this up at random from the library, never having read anything from this series before. To my great enjoyment, it turned out to be a deftly plotted murder mystery with quirky humour and quirkier characters - and I'll definitely be back for more!

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh no! The Peculiar Crimes Unit has been disbanded by order of the British Home Office. Arthur Bryant is depressed and refuses to leave home while his partner, John May, is considering becoming a private investigator. And then a headless corpse is discovered in the King's Cross neighborhood of London and May convinces the government that if the crime is not solved quickly the economic benefits of the upcoming 2012 Olympics could be impacted. As a result, the Peculiar Crimes Unit is given one week to clear up the crime without any support from official government sources. Really Arthur, it's time to take off that robe and get back to work.

[Naomi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Great if you're interested in the history of the Kings Cross area, but as a thriller it sucks.

Trouble with this series is you keep expecting the supernatural or X-files type of storyline but the author constantly shies away from it so there's nothing really 'peculiar' about their investigations; it's just an ordinary crime series. And the Bryant character is not as rude as Fowler keeps Telling the reader he is.
If you want 'peculiar' then switch to Ben Aaronovitch or Jim Butcher; their stories are far more satisfying.

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a bit of a disappointment, as I've loved all of the prior Bryant and May books.It's as if someone other than Fowler took all of the characters, endeavored to copy the structure, and left out all of the special-ness. The mystery was incoherent. There were far too few interactions between Bryant and May. Worst of all - the story is continued into the next book - which is so irritating when unanticipated that it may be some time, if ever, before I learn the outcome. Still - when a writer this talented produces the occasional clunker, you appreciate how good they are at their best.