Two children playing the game "Witch Hunter" near St. Bride's Church put a curse on a woman who enters the church and dies of an unknown cause. The case is so baffling, it's sure to be given to the Peculiar Crimes Unit, an unconventional group of investigators, led by Arthur Bryan and John May, who are assigned the really unusual murder cases.
Instead, PCU is given an even more perplexing assignment when their supervisor and longtime nemesis in the Home Office, Oskar Kasavian, asks for their help. His young wife is suffering behavioral problems and is becoming a security risk. Her personality dysfunction started six weeks ago, and now she's convinced her life is in danger. Even after she's confined to a clinic for mental evaluation, her paranoia does not dissipate. When a news photographer assigned to cover her at public appearances is brutally murdered, the case takes on new dimensions.
Bryant and May are doing everything they can solve their boss' dilemma, but dealing with so many politicians soon puts them and the PCU team in eminent danger. And the complexity of the case makes traditional investigative approaches ineffective. Discovering an unusual link between the two cases has Bryant and May at odds with their supervisors as the truth finally reveals itself in a most bizarre way.
THE INVISIBLE CODE by Christopher Fowler is another great addition to this clever and enthralling series. Bryant, May and their PCU colleagues are smart and resourceful as they deal with some of the most inexplicable and tricky murder cases in London.
London's craftiest and boldest detectives, Arthur Bryant
and John May, are back in this deviously twisting mystery
of black magic, madness, and secrets hidden in plain sight.
When a young woman is found dead in the pews of St. Bride's
Church, alone and showing no apparent signs of trauma,
Arthur Bryant assumes this case will go to the Peculiar
Crimes Unit, an eccentric team tasked with solving London's
most puzzling murders. Yet the city police take over the
investigation, and the PCU is given an even more baffling
and bewitching assignment.
Called into headquarters by Oskar Kasavian, the head of
Home Office security, Bryant and May are shocked to hear
that their longtime adversary now desperately needs their
help. Oskar's wife, Sabira, has been acting strangely for
week, succumbing to violent mood swings, claiming an evil
presence is bringing her harm, and Oskar wants the PCU to
find out why. And if there's any duo that can deduce the
method behind her madness, it's the indomitable Bryant and
May.
When a second bizarre death reveals a surprising link
between the two women's cases, Bryant and May set off on a
trail of clues from the notorious Bedlam hospital to
historic Bletchley Park. And as they are drawn into a world
of encrypted codes and symbols, concealed rooms and high-
society clubs, they must work quickly to catch a killer who
lurks even closer than they think.
Witty, suspenseful, and ingeniously plotted, The Invisible
Code is Christopher Fowler at the very top of his form.
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