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Ten Second Staircase (Bryant & May #4)
It’s a crime tailor-made for the Peculiar Crimes Unit: a controversial artist is murdered and displayed as part of her own outrageous installation. No suspects, no motive, no evidence–it’s business as usual for the Unit’s cantankerous founding partners, Arthur Bryant and John May. But this time they have an eyewitness. According to twelve-year-old Luke Tripp, the killer wa...more
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(first published 2006)
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c2006. Enjoyed it and finished it but London seemed to have taken a bit of a back seat in this book. Oh, there is still mention of the various parts and history weaved in through the plot but just didnt feel it so much this time. Perhaps it was because I was anxious about the closure of the Unit - ridiculous as it sounds as I know that there are more books in the series - but there you go. "Mr Bryant and Mr May are entirely decent men," said Land. "Their intentions are honest, if ...more
This is my first Bryant & May mystery, but it won't be my last. So funny.
The Peculiar Crimes Unit (PCU) is assigned to the case of a woman who was dunked into a vat of formaldehyde filled with floating fetuses. This was her provocative art piece, and provoke it did. The PCU is in danger of being closed down, but if they can solve this case, they can stave off closure. Their only witness, a young boy who was at the museum on a school trip, describes the killer as a 19th century highwayman o...more
The Peculiar Crimes Unit (PCU) is assigned to the case of a woman who was dunked into a vat of formaldehyde filled with floating fetuses. This was her provocative art piece, and provoke it did. The PCU is in danger of being closed down, but if they can solve this case, they can stave off closure. Their only witness, a young boy who was at the museum on a school trip, describes the killer as a 19th century highwayman o...more
The fourth Bryant and May mystery, set in the present. A rash of baffling murders strikes grade-C celebrities who have fallen from public favor. The methods of execution are meticulously planned and theatric, and witnesses seem to point to a horseman in a cape, mask, and tricorn hat. Dubbed the Highwayman by a tabloid that adds fuel to the fire by glorifying the crimes, he leads Bryant and May toward crimes from the past, while forcing them to adapt to the brutal present as well.
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This is the fourth book I've read in the Bryant and May mystery series. The two elderly detectives face a threatened closure of the Peculiar Crimes Unit. At the same time, they're also faced with a series of killings by a murderer styled as a classic Highwayman targeting celebrities. As a media frenzy rises, Bryant and May are faced with a series of killings that may be beyond their understanding and ability to solve.
In previous books, London has carried the atmosphere, whether it...more
In previous books, London has carried the atmosphere, whether it...more
I’m beginning to think the very first book in this series (which I’m sadly reading out of order) was the best. All of the books center on May and Bryant, two close to retiring (in age if not in desire) detectives of London’s Peculiar Crimes Unit, i.e. the weird stuff that no one else wants to do. (Sort of like if Mulder and Scully had been through WWII and are now trying to adapt to the modern day of computers and cell phones).
I know that British vs American mysteries have a d...more
This is another enjoyable Bryant and May adventure, though far darker and more cynical than the previous novels. (And I found Bryant's quasi-Situationist commentary surprising.) However, given what unfolds, that darkness and cynicism is easy to understand and even share to some extent.
(This next bit isn't a spoiler; it's apparent on the book's back cover.) The only part of the book that annoyed me was the looming threat that the PCU would be closed down. That sort of drama often occu...more
(This next bit isn't a spoiler; it's apparent on the book's back cover.) The only part of the book that annoyed me was the looming threat that the PCU would be closed down. That sort of drama often occu...more
Another enjoyable mystery featuring the eccentric detective Arthur Bryant and his somewhat more "normal" partner, John May. In this story minor celebrities are being murdered and the assignment to solve this crime is given to the soon to be closed Peculiar Crimes Unit. The two lead detectives play off one another delightfully and Bryant's unusual methods continue to baffle nearly everyone in the PCU. The reader is lead through a romp that is humorous and at the same time requires some ...more
This is more like it. Again the mystery is current with roots in the past. The solution is somewhat ingenious, though I figured it out long before the police did and wonder why they were so dim. The antics of Arthur Bryant are getting a bit repetitive, which is a risk with series mysteries. Of course, the repetitiveness is more noticeable reading the series so close together, but thankfully it's nothing like the egregious Kinsey Millhone's cutting her hair with fingernail scissors which she did ...more
Throughout the Bryant & May or Peculiar Crimes Unit series, many fascinating past cases are alluded to, such as the Dartford Demon, the Leicester Square Vampire, etc. The Vampire figures in a major way with one of the detectives' own story, but you are only given fits and starts of the story throughout the series until much later.
This novel has a similar villain, a Highwayman, and it seems like you know WHO the Highwayman really is, but then he does things you can't figure out, like...more
This novel has a similar villain, a Highwayman, and it seems like you know WHO the Highwayman really is, but then he does things you can't figure out, like...more
Another story with the brillant but weird Bryant and May detectives. An old killer is resurrected, the Leicester Square Vampire.Or is he? People are randomly being killed in bizarre ways that do not match each other. Each time someone sees a hooded figure wearing a tricorn hat. Bryant and May are tasked with discovering the killer and also finding out who the Vampire was, a cold case. Unknown to the powers that be who gave them the cold case to solve or be closed, the two cases turn out to b...more
I enjoy the May/Bryant series quite a bit. The language can be thick, which is perfectly in keeping with the characters' age and experiences. I enjoying reading about the more obtuse histories and places in London, a place I've never visited myself. Whenever I do manage to go, I'd like to tour the place a la Bryant.
The mystery was interesting, but even moreso I was captivated by the characterizations and their relationship not only to each other but to the events. I'm looking forwar...more
The mystery was interesting, but even moreso I was captivated by the characterizations and their relationship not only to each other but to the events. I'm looking forwar...more
In this fourth installment involving London's Peculiar Crimes Unit, especially the unit's two elderly icons, Arthur Bryant and John May, the team is fighting for their literal lives as higher-ups plot to close the unit down. Unconventional methods and scads of broken rules and laws are frequently employed by Bryant and May, although their younger co-workers tend to do things a little more conventionally. A controversial artist is murdered right in her own display--fetuses floating in a tank of c...more
Fourth in this rather bizarre mystery series, Ten Second Staircase finds our somewhat rather unorthodox detectives Bryant and May facing the possible end of the Peculiar Crimes Unit (now with a new member -- May's agoraphobic granddaughter April) just when they become involved in a series of improbable and impossible crimes -- you know, the ones just up their alley. This time, they are faced with a villain they call The Highwayman, because an eyewitness to the murder of an artist saw a man dr...more
TEN-SECOND STAIRCASE (Police Proc-London-Cont) – G+
Fowler, Christopher – 4th in series
Doubleday, 2006- Hardcover
*** Arthur Bryant and John May, the oldest working members of the London Police and the heads of the Peculiar Crimes Unit are on the hunt for a murder of some of London’s minor celebrities. Their witness to the first murder being a 12-year old student who swears he saw someone dressed as a Highwayman of old. Adding to the pressure is the assurance that the PCU will ...more
Fowler, Christopher – 4th in series
Doubleday, 2006- Hardcover
*** Arthur Bryant and John May, the oldest working members of the London Police and the heads of the Peculiar Crimes Unit are on the hunt for a murder of some of London’s minor celebrities. Their witness to the first murder being a 12-year old student who swears he saw someone dressed as a Highwayman of old. Adding to the pressure is the assurance that the PCU will ...more
I can't get enough of this series of books featuring the Peculiar Crime Unit headed by the geriatric detectives, Bryant and May. In this entry, as in all the books, the crimes are bizarre and somehow connected to the history of London.
Three semi-celebrities are murdered respectively by immersion in formaldehyde, electrocution on a rowing machine, and immolation in a shower and the Unit has no clues except the sighting of a man dressed as a highwayman. To add to the mystery, there seems t...more
Three semi-celebrities are murdered respectively by immersion in formaldehyde, electrocution on a rowing machine, and immolation in a shower and the Unit has no clues except the sighting of a man dressed as a highwayman. To add to the mystery, there seems t...more
I had previously read the 2nd book (The Water Room) by this author and gave it 3 stars. This one (the 2nd I've read) I give 4 stars. It dragged in places, but had a good plot and the ending wasn't too bad. I don't know what the author's third book was about, but this one seemed in time to follow almost immediately after the The Water Room. (I somehow missed why the story is called the Ten Second Staircase. There are staircases in it, but why ten seconds?)
This book had some fantastic lines, most of which were uttered by curmudgeonly Arthur Bryant. My favorites:
"Whenever the English build something enormous, the first thing they always do is have dinner inside it"(50).
"Don't be obsequious, Banbury, nobody likes a creep"(114).
"I dont think of Alma as a woman; she's my housekeeper and merely happens to be of the female gender, like a ship" (272).
It was a couldn't-put-it-downer for me because of...more
"Whenever the English build something enormous, the first thing they always do is have dinner inside it"(50).
"Don't be obsequious, Banbury, nobody likes a creep"(114).
"I dont think of Alma as a woman; she's my housekeeper and merely happens to be of the female gender, like a ship" (272).
It was a couldn't-put-it-downer for me because of...more
Christopher Fowler once again produces a rip-roaring page-turner of a novel. It perhaps lacks a little of the complexity of some of the earlier novels and I did guess the villain early on but after the frustrations of Seventy-seven Clocks (basically a rewrite of Darkest day which I wasn't aware of until I started reading it) this is a return to form.
PS Darkest Day is a brilliant book so don't get me wrong but I do object to paying twice for essentially the same book.
PS Darkest Day is a brilliant book so don't get me wrong but I do object to paying twice for essentially the same book.
I liked this much better than the last in the series - while the ending was a bit sad (commentary on where our society is headed) it was at least interesting. There is a running second story regarding a decades old case that has haunted the PCU and it is somewhat resolved through this case - used more as a red herring than anything else but resolved nonetheless.
I must admit I get a bit confused with the jumping around as this book is set in this decade and the book prior was set a f...more
I must admit I get a bit confused with the jumping around as this book is set in this decade and the book prior was set a f...more
As always, Bryant and May provide a terrific read. This is my fourth to read an each book is as enjoyable as the last. Although I must say, the new trade paperback cover art doesn't seem to fit the nature of the series. I much prefer some of the older covers for the atmospheric quality that matches the tenor of the stories much better.
After enjoying The Victoria Vanishes I thought this would be a quick, fun read, but instead it was heavy going. The plot never grabbed my attention and I figured it out pretty early on. I'm not sure why I kept going, but it did turn out to be good for curing insomnia!
Yay! Finally a new series to love (hopefully). This was the first for me, but I'm already moving on to the next. Such lovely old farts, if I may, these two unlikely heroes. I liked them and the writing and the plot and the idea. So yeah. I can finally move on from rereading Agatha Christie. Yay.
Really 3 1/2 stars... While I didn't enjoy this as much as other Bryant & May cases, it was very interesting. As always, it makes me want to wander off into some tangential sphere - this time, famous British highwaymen.
An artist is found dead in her own installation. A D-list celebrity is electrocuted at his gym. And the murders keep on coming!
The only witness to the artist’s demise has described a perp that is outfitted like a highwayman. Can Bryant and May find the highwayman before he strikes again?
Also, there is a strange connection between the highwayman and the notoriously unsolved Leicester Square vampire murders. Not only will we learn about the murder of May’s daughter (o...more
The only witness to the artist’s demise has described a perp that is outfitted like a highwayman. Can Bryant and May find the highwayman before he strikes again?
Also, there is a strange connection between the highwayman and the notoriously unsolved Leicester Square vampire murders. Not only will we learn about the murder of May’s daughter (o...more
Another new series for me. Set in modern England, the main detectives are elderly. The plots are different, as are the characters.
It seems to be hit or miss with this series. The stories are either wonderfully twisted, almost Sherlockian in scope, or so completely dense that I am left with no clue as to the killer, her motivation, or why I should care. Happily, this was not one of those cases.
Extremely clever tittle!! it only comes in a the end, but I LOVE it when the tittle actually means something to the story.
Good writing, occasional phrase that made me laugh out loud.
But I knew "who did it" from the very first.
But I knew "who did it" from the very first.
I just couldn't get into it.....and ended up giving up and not reading it past the first 70 or so pages.
Wonderful and slightly off-kilter this is farther down in the series than I normally like to start reading, but was wonderful and has made me want to read all of them starting at Full Dark House.
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Christopher Fowler is an English novelist living in London, his books contain elements of black comedy, anxiety and social satire. As well as novels, he writes short stories, scripts, press articles and reviews.
He lives in King's Cross, on the Battlebridge Basin, and chooses London as the backdrop of many of his stories because any one of the events in its two thousand year history can...more
More about Christopher Fowler...
He lives in King's Cross, on the Battlebridge Basin, and chooses London as the backdrop of many of his stories because any one of the events in its two thousand year history can...more
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“It was true that the city could still throw shadows filled with mystifying figures from its past, whose grip on the present could be felt on certain strange days, when the streets were dark with rain and harmful ideas.”
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3 people liked it
“Statistics show that the nature of English crime is reverting to its oldest habits. In a country where so many desire status and wealth, petty annoyances can spark disproportionately violent behaviour. We become frustrated because we feel powerless, invisible, unheard. We crave celebrity, but that’s not easy to come by, so we settle for notoriety. Envy and bitterness drive a new breed of lawbreakers, replacing the old motives of poverty and the need for escape. But how do you solve crimes which no longer have traditional motives?”
—
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