Book Review: Bryant & May and The Bleeding Heart by Christopher Fowler – number 11 in a series following the witty and quirky detectives Bryant and May and the continuing work of The Peculiar Crimes Unit

The latest Bryant & May novel starts with a memo from the hapless Raymond Land, Chief of the Peculiar Crimes Unit to his team, to help them adjust to the realities of their new masters, the City of London Police.  If you’re not sure about the whether to read the book, just start with the memo and that should be enough to help you decide.  

The Peculiar Crimes unit receives a new case – a dead man apparently rising from the grave.  If that’s not peculiar enough, one of the two witnesses Romaine Curtis is killed soon after in a deliberate hit and run.  As the investigation ramps up a second case begins when Bryant is asked to investigate the disappearance of the ravens from the Tower of London.  Despite all the security at the Tower, the ravens are well and truly gone – with all that means for the future of the realm.

All is not plain sailing as Land is forced to reprioritise by his new superior Orion Banks, whose paucity of knowledge abut policing is dwarfed by her incomprehensible management speak and MBA babble.  When Bryant is listening to Banks he is convinced his hearing aid isn’t working – “I can see your lips move but all I can hear is rubbish”.  The pressure is on for results, so Bryant makes contact with magicians, resurrectionists and other esoteric characters whose knowledge and advice he needs to solve the case.  As more bodies are dug up and other murders happen, Bryant finally tracks down the links between these events to solve these peculiar crimes, with a realistic and believable resolution.

I found this novel delightfully quirky.  It’s a fabulous blend of oddity and light hearted fun mixed with serious and unsettling crimes. You can be giggling at the characters, the office politics and the weird people that Bryant meets, but then be brought up short by the reality of another murder.  I thought Bryant a great character – a deeply thoughtful, elderly, messy, pipe smoking technophobe and well matched by his seeming opposite, May.  I also loved the way Fowler uses language so vividly and his research into the weird and wonderful aspects of London life past and present, which brings a genuine richness to the novel.

This isn’t a book I’d normally read because of the esoteric and slightly supernatural themes, but Fowler somehow makes them both believable and fun.  I’m genuinely glad I read this book and will be looking out for the next Bryant & May novel.

Romancrimeblogger