Bryant & May and The Memory of Blood – The Review
Written by Nikki-ann on Thursday, 29 December , 2011 at 8:59 pm
Author: Christopher Fowler
Publisher: Transworld Publishers
ISBN: 9780857520494
Having spotted a signed copy of Christopher Fowler’s Bryant & May and The Memory of Blood in Blackwell’s Bookshop in London, I had to snap it up. I do enjoy the Bryant & May novels!
Aging detectives Arthur Bryant and John May return in their latest case: The Memory of Blood.
A young baby, Noah Kramer, has been strangled and thrown through an open window from a locked room on a went night in London. The culprit is found lying next to the child’s cot, seemingly a grotesque antique puppet of Mr Punch – the marks of his hands found clearly on the baby’s throat.
It’s the perfect case for Bryant & May and the Peculiar Crimes Unit, but with family having hosted a party that night, the suspects mount up and it’s not going to be an easy case to solve, especially when they’re against the clock.
Adding to Bryant’s troubles, his biographer suddenly dies and he feels compelled to investigate her timely, though seemingly natural, death too.
This is almost familiar territory for regular Bryant & May readers as this isn’t the first case to feature the world of theatre. This time the detectives delve into the world of Punch & Judy, automata (think of the “Zoltar Speaks” machine in the film Big starring Tom Hanks), stagecraft, effects and illusions.
I very much enjoyed the “Eyes Only” Guide to the Peculiar Crimes Unit, Its Staff and Aims at the start of the book.A quick note before the “Guide” tells us it can be read before the case, skipped or used for reference. However, I think it should be read… It gives the reader an internal view of the workings of the PCU and its staff. So if you’re a regular reader of the Bryant & May series you can get a quick reminder (though the main characters have a tendency to stay with you) or newcomers can get a good idea of what kind of characters they are in for!
Bryant & May are curious characters. They’re akin to Poirot and that kind of character, but Bryant & May are very much a double act. Even if you’ve not read any of the other books in the series, you’ll have a real feel for the main characters just a few chapters in.
I have quite a soft spot for Arthur Bryant. He’s a unique old character with a pretty unique thought pattern. Bryant provides the comedy for the Bryant & May novels, while John May is his straight man. Several parts of the book got me chuckling and it was usually something to do with Bryant (like when May discovered Bryant was wearing pajamas underneath his trousers just as they’d knocked on the door of a suspect!).
The Bryant & May books are a wonderful series of mystery novels and they’re written in such a way that you can dip in and out of the series without worry. For example, I started the series with Bryant & May On The Loose and then Bryant & May Off The Rails (books 7 & 8 – though I do think these two are best read in order), before going back to the start of the series and then returning to Bryant & May and The Memory of Blood, the latest Bryant & May. I had absolutely no problems in getting “into” the books.
The Bryant & May books aren’t thrillers but mysteries that will have you pointed one way and then another, and The Memory of Blood is no different. It’s entertaining mystery that will keep even the author’s fans on their toes. The Bryant & May books are novels that can be enjoyed by anyone, not just fans of crime fiction.
This is possibly my last review of 2011, but it is definitely one of my favourite books of the year.
Buy Bryant & May and The Memory of Blood by Christopher Fowler.
Christopher Fowler is an award-winning British author from London.
This is the 27th book I’ve read for the British Books Challenge.
Comments (2)
Category: Books,British Books Challenge,Crime,Reviews
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Comment by Kathleen
Made Thursday, 29 of December , 2011 at 9:42 pm
I do love mysteries so this would be a good one to try!
Comment by Yvonne
Made Thursday, 29 of December , 2011 at 10:40 pm
Hi Nikki,
Great review, as always, although this is yet another author that I already have on my reading list, but have yet to read.
I really do want to try a couple of these books before too long, as I am ‘on a roll’ with mysteries at the moment and in some respects I am enjoying them more than the heavy thriller genre.
I do chuckle when I see books from this series reviewed, as I cannot help but recall the matches called ‘Bryant and May’, which together with ‘Swan Vestas’, were all the rage when I was a youngster. I guess it’s just an age thing!!
I hope that you and your family enjoy a happy and healthy 2012.
