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Ten Second Staircase

Ten Second Staircase, June 2006
Bryant & May Mystery
by Christopher Fowler

Bantam
Featuring: Arthur Bryant; John May
368 pages
ISBN: 0553804499
Hardcover
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"Humorous whodunit with unusual characters and witty deductions."

Fresh Fiction Review

Ten Second Staircase
Christopher Fowler

Reviewed by Morgan Chilson
Posted June 13, 2006

Mystery Private Eye | Mystery Police Procedural

Arthur Bryant and John May, Peculiar Crimes Unit, have given their lives to the police force, and they know the upper echelons are just waiting for the chance to retire them. But they're determined to go out working, solving cases because it is etched in their DNA. Now, they're on the track of the Highwayman and they're determined to stop the murderer before their bosses put them out to pasture. Working with May's agoraphobic granddaughter, April, they chase down clues and work with a 12-year-old eyewitness. This is a fascinating book with intriguing characters. Bryant and May are hilarious and downright smart. You'll enjoy this fourth Bryant and May mystery, interesting for its smart writing, unusual characters and well-done mystery.

Learn more about Ten Second Staircase

SUMMARY

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 12-year-old Luke Tripp, the killer was a cape-clad highwayman atop a black stallion. As implausible as the boy’s story sounds, Bryant and May take it seriously when “The Highwayman” is spotted again, striking a dramatic pose at the scene of his next outlandish murder. Whatever the killer’s real identity, he seems intent on killing off a string of minor celebrities while becoming one himself. As the tabloids look to make a quick bundle on “Highwayman Fever,” Bryant and May, along with the newest member of the Unit, May’s agoraphobic granddaughter, April, find themselves sorting out a case involving an unlikely combination of artistic rivalries, sleazy sex affairs, the Knights Templars, and street gang feuds. To do it, they’re going to have to use every orthodox–and unorthodox–means at their disposal, including myth, witchcraft, and the psychogeographic history of the city’s “monsters,” past and present. And if one unsolvable crime weren’t enough, this case has disturbing links to a decades-old killing spree that nearly destroyed the partnership of Bryant and May once before…and may again. The Peculiar Crimes Unit is one murder away from being closed down for good – and that murder could be their own.


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