Full Dark House (Bryant & May 1)
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The story opens with a member of one of London's most unusual police units being blown up in his office. He is John May, partner to Arthur Bryant, who now starts to investigate his death. The search takes Bryant back to the time of their first meeting in 1940. London is struggling to survive the Blitz when a beautiful dancer is found without her feet. Bryant and May's investigation uncovers a weird gothic mystery, involving a killer who appears to be faceless. In the present day, May speculates whether that old adversary might be the killer. He needs to solve a riddle that began more than 50 years earlier. It is a tense, clever novel which keeps one riveted from the first page.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Bookseller June 2003
`An assured move into crime and mystery by the acclaimed dark horror writer.`
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
39 of 39 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
If you were to take one Agatha Christie crime novel, a couple of episodes of the X-Files and the two crabbit auld geezers from "The Fast Show" and whizz them in a blender, the result would be very similar to this book.
The "misfit" section of the Metropolitan Police is called the PCU (Peculiar Crimes Unit), and its creation during the Second World War led to the working partnership of Arthur Bryant and John May. Their very first case (theatrical serial killer) comes back to haunt the unit with a vengeance, when Arthur is believed murdered in a bomb blast 50 years later. The plot twists and turns very satisfactorily throughout the book and the switches between present day and the past are well handled.
The background of London during the Blitz is very convincingly written, and is fascinating and challenging to a younger generation who may have only read the historically sanitized versions.
This is a good old-fashioned crime novel, and I would thoroughly recommend it to anyone who may have bemoaned the fact that all the best crime novelists are dead (Christie, Sayers, etc). Christopher Fowler promises that we will hear more from his detectives, Arthur Bryant and John May (who have appeared already in "Rune") and I'll certainly be looking forward to that.
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a very enjoyable book; Bryant and May are offbeat, eccentric but ultimately believable characters. The book is set both in present day London and the London that was being devastated by World War Two.
The author paints a vivid picture of turbulent times and has obviously done a great deal of research to make sure that period details are correct, particularly the descriptions of the backstage areas of theatres and the varied staff and procedures for putting on a show.
The premise that the Met should have a department specially set up to investigate peculiar crimes is sheer brilliance and will hopefully lead to a further outing for Bryant and May.
25 of 26 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
if you are a regular christopher fowler reader you would have come across the 'decrepit detectives' Arthur Bryant and John May and their adventures in the North London Peculiar Crimes Unit.This novel takes us back to the beginning of their investigations which started in 1940 as two young policemen seconded to the newly opened unit.The story flashes back between 1940 and the present day and is the usual mix of the weird and wonderful that graces a Fowler book.
The story concerns the mysterious murders that happen during the rehersals and opening for a show of Orpheus at the Palace Theatre (the one where Les Mis plays).the characters are well drawn and fufill their roles well and the good thing is that you find out how some of the other characters that inhabit the Bryant and May universe came to be.This book is part mystery,part horror and part hisory guide with the descriptive writing that Fowler uses to give us the flavours of London 1940.The goods thing is that after a couple of appearances before this looks like the first in a continuing series of B&M novels which in my opinion would make a great tv series(any commissioning editors out there take note Fowlers works would make GREAT tv !!)
A well written book that is definitely worth reading and hopefully this being the first of many.
The story concerns the mysterious murders that happen during the rehersals and opening for a show of Orpheus at the Palace Theatre (the one where Les Mis plays).the characters are well drawn and fufill their roles well and the good thing is that you find out how some of the other characters that inhabit the Bryant and May universe came to be.This book is part mystery,part horror and part hisory guide with the descriptive writing that Fowler uses to give us the flavours of London 1940.The goods thing is that after a couple of appearances before this looks like the first in a continuing series of B&M novels which in my opinion would make a great tv series(any commissioning editors out there take note Fowlers works would make GREAT tv !!)
A well written book that is definitely worth reading and hopefully this being the first of many.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Not a good start
Having read a couple of later volumes in this series I thought I'd better go back to the first to see how they started out. Read more
Published 14 days ago by Elaine B Reader
Bryant and May get what they deserve: much success!
My ever-expanding search for new and different mystery series seems never-ending! A new series (for me) is the Peculiar Crimes Unit (PCU) myteries by Christopher Fowler. Read more
Published 14 days ago by Billy J. Hobbs
Plot and characters both fascinating - great series opening!
It's rare that a series opener can get away with killing off a main character, but Christopher Fowler pulls off exactly this. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Mrs. B. S. Kemp
Bryant and May the beginning.
The first book in the Bryant and May series. Bought to read on my Kindle. An excellent introduction to the two detectives. Read more
Published 1 month ago by sopranogirl
Matchless
Bryant and May are both in their early twenties when they join the newly formed Peculiar Crimes Unit during the Second World War. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Clive A. H. Still
Tense, free-flowing crime thriller with a great cast
A bomb at the Mornington Crescent headquarters of the Peculiar Crimes Unit destroys more than just the offices, it kills Arthur Bryant, one half of the Unit's original, and still... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Mick Read
funny and mysterious
Ihad not read anything by this author previously but having read some of the reviews here decided to treat myself by ordering this on my new Kindle. Read more
Published 4 months ago by sass
Full Dark House
Bryant and May at their best. Both laugh out loud in places to poignant in others. The tale takes us back to the start of their long, long partnership. Read more
Published 5 months ago by kate
Full Dark London
There is nobody who writes with a greater passion, a greater humour and verve about London than Christopher Fowler. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Mr
Sustained applause for Full Dark House
Having originally read 'White Corridor', in the same series, by the same author and while on holiday, I seem to have turned up in the middle of the party and then ventured back to... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Michael Field
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