Product Description

Originally built to house the workers of Victorian London, Balaklava Street is now an oasis in the heart of Kentish Town and ripe for gentrification. But then the body of an elderly woman is found at Number 5. Her death would appear to have been peaceful but for the fact that her throat is full of river water. It falls to the Met's Peculiar Crimes Unit, led by London's longest-serving detectives, Arthur Bryant and John May, to search for something resembling a logical solution. Their initial investigations draw a blank and Bryant's attention is diverted into strange and arcane new territory, while May finds himself in hot water when he attempts to save the reputation of an academic whose knowledge of the city's forgotten underground rivers looks set to ruin his career. In the meantime, the new owner of Number 5 is increasingly unsettled by the damp in the basement of her home, the particularly resilient spiders and the ghostly sound of rushing water...Pooling their information to investigate hitherto undiscovered secrets of the city, Bryant and May make some sinister connections and realize that, in a London filled with the rich, the poor and the dispossessed, there's still something a desperate individual is willing to kill for - and kill again to protect. With the PCU facing an uncertain future, the death toll mounts and two of British fiction's most enigmatic detectives must face madness, greed and revenge, armed only with their wits, their own idiosyncratic practices and a plentiful supply of boiled sweets, in a wickedly sinuous mystery that goes to the heart of every London home.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #35284 in Books
• Published on: 2005-09-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 432 pages

Review
'Atmospheric, hugely begulling and as filled with tricks and sleights of hand as a magician's sleeve...this is English gothic at its eccentric best; a combination of Ealing comedy and grand opera: witty, charismatic, occasionally touching and with a genuine power to thrill' - JOANNE HARRIS 'An evocatively reverential tribute to the genre...the clash of temperaments between Bryant and May makes them great detectives' - TIME OUT 'The striking gothic setting of London under fire proves fruitful ground for a bizarre dark comedy of an investigation...bawdy, unpredictable and at times hilarious, with a cast of wonderful grotesques' - Maxim Jakubowski, GUARDIAN

From the Back Cover
An oasis in the heart of Kentish Town, Balaklava Street is ripe for gentrification. But then the body of an elderly woman is found at No. 5. Her demise seems to have been peaceful but for the fact that her throat is full of river water…

For the Met’s Peculiar Crimes Unit, led by London’s longest-serving detectives, Arthur Bryant and John May, this curious death marks the beginning of a distinctly sinister investigation. And the new owner of No. 5 is understandably unsettled by the damp in the basement of her home, some particularly resilient spiders and the ghostly sound of rushing water.
Unearthing hitherto undiscovered secrets, the two octogenarian policemen learn that, in a London filled with the rich, the poor and the dispossessed, there’s still something a desperate individual is willing to kill for. And kill again to protect.
Armed only with their wits, their own idiosyncratic practices and a plentiful supply of boiled sweets, Bryant and May come face to face with madness, greed and revenge in a wickedly sinuous mystery that goes to the heart of every London home.

The Bryant & May novels:

‘Witty, charismatic, occasionally touching and with a genuine power to thrill’
Joanne Harris

‘Fowler shocks and frightens…original, erudite and exciting’ Good Book Guide.

About the Author
Christopher Fowler is co-founder and co-creative director of Creative Partnership. He also writes novels, screenplays and short story collections, and has had over twenty books published to date. His first novel, the bestseller Roofworld, has been developed as a film for producer Marc Samuelson. Subsequent novels include Darkest Day, Spanky, Psychoville (film rights owned by Jude Law), Soho Black, Calabash and the two Bryant & May mysteries, FULL DARK HOUSE and THE WATER ROOM.

Customer Reviews

Even paced, slow burn mystery
The latest of the Bryant and May novels brings a nice mix of modern and ancient London.

The ongoing partnership between the 2 main characters (Bryant a rule breaker, lateral thinker and a forgetful mind - May a steady hand concerned with following protocol) eases us gently into a new story with all the depth and intrigue of "Full Dark House".

A modern London street with all its neighbours and domestic quarrels is set against a slow discovery of the original waterways of old London town. The story develops steadily and purposefully with an ending that is hard to guess.

My only minor niggle - is that it is a bit too slow for me. Maybe my attention span approaches that of Arthur Bryant ?

Bryant & May are back !
Interesting, intriguing, intelligent - just what we'd expect from Christopher Fowler. Enjoy !

A Book with Hidden Depths!
Bryant and May's second outing is even better than their first in Full Dark House.

We have swapped the intricacies of theatre architecture for the underworld passages that carry London's lost rivers under the capital. The action is set against an exceedingly wet London autumn and as with other of Christopher Fowler's books the detailed descriptions of the city that he loves shines through, at times his imagery is almost on a par with Peter Ackroyd.

The narrative twists and turns like the rivers he is describing and never fails to surprise and delight.

As exceedingly enjoyable book that can only herald more outings of the Met's strangest duo!