Bryant & May: Strange Tide
A Peculiar Crimes Unit Mystery
-
- $10.99
Publisher Description
London’s most brilliant but unconventional detectives, Arthur Bryant and John May, must plumb the depths of a particularly murky mystery.
The Peculiar Crimes Unit faces its most baffling case yet—and if Bryant and May can’t rise to the challenge, the entire unit may go under. Near the Tower of London, along the River Thames, the body of a woman has been discovered chained to a stone post and left to drown. Curiously, only one set of footprints leads to the tragic spot. “The Bride in the Tide,” as the London press gleefully dubs her, has the PCU stumped. Why wouldn’t the killer simply dump her body in the river—as so many do?
Arthur Bryant wonders if the answer lies in the mythology of the Thames itself. Unfortunately, the normally wobbly funhouse corridors of Bryant’s mind have become, of late, even more labyrinthine. The venerable detective seems to be losing his grip on reality. May fears the worst, as Bryant rapidly descends from merely muddled to one stop short of Barking, hallucinating that he’s traveled back in time to solve the case. There had better be a method to Bryant’s madness—because, as more bodies are pulled from the river’s depths, his partner and the rest of the PCU find themselves in over their heads.
Fiendishly fun and rich in London lore, Bryant and May: Strange Tide is Christopher Fowler at his best, delivering more twists and turns than the Thames itself.
Praise for Christopher Fowler’s ingenious novels featuring the Peculiar Crimes Unit
“Fowler, like his crime-solvers, is deadpan, sly, and always unexpectedly inventive.”—Entertainment Weekly
“An imaginative funhouse of a world where sage minds go to expand their vistas and sharpen their wits.”—Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times Book Review
“[Fowler] takes delight in stuffing his books with esoteric facts; together with a cast of splendidly eccentric characters [and] corkscrew plots, wit, verve and some apposite social commentary, they make for unbeatable fun.”—The Guardian
“Mr. Fowler’s small but ardent American following deserves to get much larger.”—Janet Maslin, The New York Times
“The most delightfully, wickedly entertaining duo in crime fiction.”—The Plain Dealer
“Captivating.”—The Seattle Times
“Dazzling.”—The Denver Post
“Thrilling.”—Chicago Tribune
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Can the eccentric London Peculiar Crimes Unit carry on without one of its stalwarts, Arthur Bryant, who seems to be suffering from dementia? That's the opening challenge for Bryant's long-suffering partner, John May, and the rest of the PCU, in Fowler's twisty 13th series whodunit (after 2015's Bryant & May and the Burning Man). While Bryant is on medical leave, his colleagues investigate the case of a 24-year-old woman who was found drowned in the Thames, chained to a post by a killer who apparently left no footprints. Bryant, who believes the cure for his ailment can be found in a treatise titled Diseases and Treatments of Congolese Tribal Elders 1870 1914, sneaks his way back into the saddle to help out. Sections depicting the shady career of Libyan refugee Ali Bensaud, who, after making his perilous way to England, begins running a series of confidence schemes, tantalize the reader. Fowler once again perfectly balances farce and deduction.