A Peculiar Crimes Unit Mystery, No 9
Christopher Fowler
Bantam
March 27, 2012 / ISBN: 0345528638
British Police Procedural [Review 1]
Amazon
Reviewed
by Brenda Weeaks
Fowler's ninth mystery involves a new theatre and a complicated
cast of characters. The owners - and his trophy wife - are celebrating
their current play, The Two Murderers. During the party,
their son is murdered and all that's found in the locked room is
a crib and a life size Punch puppet (Punch & Judy). Even weirder
-- they do an autopsy-of sorts on Punch. Senior detectives (in more
ways than one) Arthur Bryant and John May work together but with
opposite theories.
The two follow a peculiar path set up by the killer, who leaves
a PCU business card at the second murder. And with nary a break
in the case, Bryant decides to throw a party
. Entwined in
the current case are the ongoing threads of Bryant and his memoirs
and pressure to close the unit. Fair warning: although the mystery
is light in violence it has the occasional "macabre" moment.
The Memory of Blood is my introduction to the Peculiar
Crimes Unit. I know, skipping through a series is not wise, but
I was in desperate need of a "comfort read" and that's
what a British mystery is to me. To say the book cover blurb looked
promising is an understatement. After reading the "Undated
Wikileaks document: A Guide to the Peculiar Crimes Unit, It's Staff
and Aims" and the first chapter, I was in comfort heaven. The
writing, the sly humor, the characters and the purpose of the Peculiar
Unit all took me by surprise. It felt like I was back on my couch
watching BBC America's long forgotten Monday Night Mysteries again.
I did not want it to end. And even better I found the first eight
in the series at a good price - a smorgasbord of comfort reads.
I have to say this is an entertaining series with unique main characters.
Bryant and May are seasoned, hard-to-forget characters. PCU is a
crime unit you'll look forward to visiting again and again. Highly
Recommended.
Reviews
of other titles in this series
Full
Dark House #1
The
Water Room #2
The Memory of Blood # 9 [review1]
[review
2] [review
3]
Invisible Code #10 [review
1] [review
2]
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