Product Description

The unthinkable has happened at London's Peculiar Crimes Unit. In the bitter depths of winter, a key member of staff has been found murdered, and everyone who works there is suddenly a suspect. But Arthur Bryant and John May, the eccentric elderly detectives who run London's strangest crime division, aren't on hand to solve the crime. They've ventured into the heart of the English countryside, only to become stranded on a desolate snowbound section of road. As the blizzard worsens, Bryant & May attempt to solve the crime long distance using only their mobile phones. Unfortunately, their situation is about to get very much worse. Unknown to the stranded detectives, an obsessed killer has travelled from the Riviera to Dartmoor, and is stalking the stranded vehicles, searching for one particular victim, coming closer with each passing minute...As if it didn't have enough trouble, the Peculiar Crimes unit is about to receive a demanding royal visitor, and the Home Office is preparing to shut the PCU down when the visit inevitably goes wrong...Two murderers, two incapacitated detectives, just six hours to solve two crimes and save the unit. Armed only with their wits, woolly coats and a stack of dubious veal and ham pies, Bryant & May are bracing themselves for the strangest day they've ever spent, trapped inside the white corridor...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #21257 in Books
• Published on: 2008-07-14
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 368 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
If you're searching for something really different in the overcrowded field of crime writing, then do yourself a favour and pick up a novel by Christopher Fowler. The author's Bryant and May series is proving to be one of the quirkiest and most ingenious pleasures to be found in the genre: atmospheric, sardonically funny and craftily suspenseful. Of course, this will come as no surprise to those who had discovered Fowler via his earlier writing in the horror and fantasy field (another genre in which he quickly distinguished himself from most of the competition). But there is no doubt that he has really found his métier with his recent books set in the Met's Peculiar Crimes unit. The Home Office is on the point of shutting this unorthodox unit down, when an important staff member is found dead in a sealed autopsy room. Suspects are numerous, and as a wintry Britain shivers, the brilliantly intuitive detective duo who are Fowler's protagonists are hors de combat where this particular investigation is concerned; on their way to a scientific convention, they have been snowed in after a blizzard in Devon. Can Bryant and May conduct their investigations from afar? However, this is not their only problem -- a psychotic killer is haunting the Dartmoor Road, with a homicidal shopping list.

This is quite delicious stuff, delivered with all the assurance we have come to expect from Fowler. As ever, his eccentric team of ageing detectives are one of the most original creations around, and the outrageously inventive plots that Fowler conjures are a match for the characterisation. If you're beginning to feel that the crime genre is running out of steam, the slightest acquaintance with one of Christopher Fowler's Bryant and May novels will quickly disabuse you of this notion --Barry Forshaw

From the Inside Flap
As Britain experiences its coldest winter in years, the unthinkable has happened at the Met's Peculiar Crimes Unit. With the Home Office poised to close the unit down, a key member of staff has been found dead in a locked autopsy room - and the finger of suspicion points to several colleagues.

What's more, the exasperating, bickering but brilliant elderly detectives who head up this most unorthodox of crime divisions, Arthur Bryant and John May, aren't on hand to take charge. En route to an international convention of psychics, they have been caught in a blizzard of startling ferocity and are now stranded deep in the Devon countryside. Their only option is to attempt to investigate long-distance.

But as the snow thickens and temperatures plummet, things are about to get much, much worse. Among the line of vehicles trapped on this desolate stretch of Dartmoor road prowls an obsessed killer - a deranged murderer who is edging ever closer to one very particular victim.

With no official help at hand and armed only with their wits, woolly coats and a mobile phone with a fading battery, Bryant and May have only a short time in which to solve two very different crimes - and prevent the innocent white snows of winter being turned a bloody red.

From the Back Cover
Britain is gripped by its coldest winter in years. Blizzards sweep the country, trapping elderly detectives Bryant and May – en route to a spiritualists’ convention – somewhere on Dartmoor. Not the place to be when, back at the Peculiar Crimes Unit HQ in London, one of the team has been found dead in highly suspect circumstances.

But as the snow thickens and temperatures plummet, things are about to get much, much worse for the two octogenarian policemen. For along the line of vehicles stranded on this desolate stretch of road prowls a killer – a deranged murderer who is edging ever closer to one particular victim.

With no official help at hand and armed only with their wits, woolly coats and a mobile phone with a fading battery, can Bryant and May solve two very different crimes in time to prevent the pristine snow being stained blood red?

Customer Reviews

One of my favourite authors, so this review could be biased!
'The White Corridor' is the latest instalment in the Bryant and May series following 'Full Dark House', 'The Water Room', 'Seventy-seven Clocks' and 'Ten Second Staircase.'

Following the successful capture of The Highwayman plans are still afoot to shut down the Peculiar Crimes Unit, and prevent any more embarrassing press coverage. Bryant and May set off for Devon to attend a Spiritualist Conference and have a well-earned break. Whilst they're on their way they get caught in severe weather conditions and back at the unit one of the team is murdered. DS Janet Longbright is acting Head of the department and has to use everything she has learned from the elderly detectives in order to exonerate the other officers at the unit.

'The White Corridor' is different to the other Bryant and May novels in that it does not take place in London, which for some readers might detract from it's appeal. It is worth persevering though, because this is a real cracker!

Bryant is his usual self; 'He's only alive because it's illegal to kill him'!

As usual, brilliant. If you haven't read the other Bryant and May novels, it might be better to start at the beginning, so that you really understand the characters.

White Corridor - a fascinating read
"White Corridor" by Christopher Fowler carries the Bryant & May series to a further level. It is, of course, a page turner, and I found I had to put it down to avoid the disappointment of reading it all in one go. Two major crime themes are cleverly interwoven against the background of Bryant and May being away from London and their Peculiar Crimes Unit. It keeps the great English detective novel genre fully alive. I think these novels are destined to last and to be read for years. There are complex turns and surprises in the plots, and the clever use of the "White Corridor" both in the mind of the young french suspect, and the great snow that ensnares Bryant and May. Oh - just go ahead and get it and read it!

Reviewed by Nick Hackney

White Corridor - a superb book
"White Corridor" by Christopher Fowler carries the Bryant & May series to a further level. It is, of course, a page turner, and I found I had to put it down to avoid the disappointment of reading it all in one go. Two major crime themes are cleverly interwoven against the background of Bryant and May being away from London and their Peculiar Crimes Unit. It keeps the great English detective novel genre fully alive. I think these novels are destined to last and to be read for years. There are complex turns and surprises in the plots, and the clever use of the "White Corridor" both in the mind of the young french suspect, and the great snow that ensnares Bryant and May. Oh - just go ahead and get it and read it!

Reviewed by Nick Hackney