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Bryant & May: London Bridge Is Falling Down:…
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Bryant & May: London Bridge Is Falling Down: A Peculiar Crimes Unit Mystery (edition 2021)

by Christopher Fowler (Author)

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1195231,615 (4.25)3
"The brilliant duo of Arthur Bryant and John May uncover a nefarious plot behind the seemingly innocuous death of an old lady--and when the case leads them to the London Bridge, it all comes down on the Peculiar Crimes Unit. Ninety-one-year-old Alice Hoffman died alone in her top-floor flat. Social services say she slipped through the cracks in a failing system. But detectives Arthur Bryant and John May of the Peculiar Crimes Unit have their suspicions. Mrs. Hoffman was not as innocent as she appeared. A former government security expert, she had once worked for their own unit, but there's no one left who can remember her. And when they uncover a link between her and a diplomat desperate to leave the country, it begins to look as if someone might have committed an impossible murder. But Mrs. Hoffman wasn't acting alone. Arthur Bryant is convinced that a group of talented women have been working together for decades and now the others are in danger. With the help of some of his more certifiable contacts and historical experts, he and John May embark on an investigation that will lead them down forgotten alleyways to riverside buildings and on to the city's oldest bridge. But just when the case appears to have been solved and unit chief Raymond Land can congratulate everyone on ending a threat to international security, the detectives discover that they've been the victims of the biggest deception of all. For even after her death, Mrs. Hoffman would prove too clever for them . . . Bryant and May's twentieth-anniversary case brings an ending and a new beginning to London's most peculiar crimes unit and all who work there"--… (more)
Member:Brenda_mytrivo
Title:Bryant & May: London Bridge Is Falling Down: A Peculiar Crimes Unit Mystery
Authors:Christopher Fowler (Author)
Info:Bantam (2021), 444 pages
Collections:Currently reading, To read, Read it, Your library
Rating:
Tags:03-family-library, 0a-collection, 1-ebook, 14-hubbys-books, mystery, 0d-dptr

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Bryant and May: London Bridge Is Falling Down by Christopher Fowler

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Showing 5 of 5
RIP, Chris Fowler and Arthur Bryant...I will miss you. :( ( )
  tloeffler | Jul 21, 2023 |
> ‘You can’t smell that?’ asked PC Shamar, rubbing a hand across his nose. ‘I can’t smell anything,’ said PC Richards. ‘I fell off a trampoline when I was a nipper.’ ‘OK, I’m getting an uncooked-leg-of-lamb-left-out-of-the-fridge-for-a-month smell with top notes of pear drops. Eau de Dead Person.’

> The sky over Greenwich was determined to be interesting. There were bruised blue cumulonimbi above the red-ball pinnacle of the Royal Observatory, white cotton balls over the masts of the Cutty Sark, ripples of grey cirrus beyond the Isle of Dogs and patches of sunshine scudding across the sloping grasslands of the park. Nobody looked up. Changeable British weather was not news.

> The man never stopped eating. He ate so much seafood you could have used him as a thermometer.’ ‘What?’ ‘Mercury. Stay with me ( )
  breic | Dec 27, 2021 |
The Peculiar Crimes Unit is dead - decommissioned, pensioned off, its building to be readied for other purposes - or is it? Arthur Bryant is determined to have one last case to send the team off, although his choices are slim; he settles on the case of an old lady who slipped through the seams of the social safety net and died of starvation alone in her flat. Or did she? The more he digs, the more he uncovers a hotbed of espionage, intrigue, and the fallout from government secrets held from World War II…. This is the final Bryant and May book (excepting perhaps a kind of coda that has been rumoured about), and a fine send-off it is, too! The elderly detectives, the slovenly Arthur Bryant and his dapper companion John May, along with their team of loyal sidekicks, find themselves passing through a crash course in diplomatic history while attempting to solve a string of seemingly unrelated deaths; this being Bryant & May, of course there are many side roads and comedic moments along the way. A truly fine way to end the series - but you certainly must start at the very beginning (“Full Dark House”) to understand any bit of what’s going on! Highly recommended - the whole series, that is! ( )
  thefirstalicat | Dec 17, 2021 |
I've been aware of the Bryant and May mystery series for quite some time, but London Bridge is Falling Down is the first one I've read. It's also, or so the ending suggests, the final volume in the series. I can happily report that, not only are 17 more volumes available for new-to-the-series people like me, this final volume is perfectly comfortable as a stand-alone read. So while one can search all the titles out to be read in order, starting from any random spot in the series is also a solid reading strategy for these books.

Here's what I enjoyed most about London Bridge is Falling Down: it offers both a compelling mystery and hilarious social commentary. Sort of like that old peanut butter cup commercial where guy-with-peanut-butter bumps into other-guy-with-chocolate and they realize that having both at once is genius. I like a laugh in my mysteries, but too often getting that laugh feels like an either/or proposition: laugh OR well-plotted mystery, but never both. Bryant and May are definitely a peanut butter cup quality team.

The story and the cast of characters are complex enough that they're not worth trying to summarize, but, trust me, you'll be able to follow what's going on and will enjoy doing it. When you need a bit of pick-me-up reading, Bryant and May are good folks to turn to.

I received a free electronic review copy of this title from the publisher via NetGalley. The opinions are my own. ( )
  Sarah-Hope | Dec 2, 2021 |
senior-citizens, senior-sleuths, situational-humor, verbal-humor, false-information, family, friendship, law-enforcement, cryptography, multigenerational, murder, murder-investigation, inconvenient-people, eccentric, spies, historical-figures, historical-places-events, historical-research, detective, England, London*****

The Peculiar Crimes Unit???
Yes, it appears to be overlong AT FIRST. AND it SEEMS to have an irrelevant beginning. AND Bryant and May are so ancient that they noticed the "girls" working at Bletchley Park. BUT their sheer doggedness and meticulous attention to fine detail takes this from a seeming attack on the NHS care of the elderly to a truly diabolical murder plot!
This purports to be the end of series, but since it is my introductory read I have the delight of going to the beginning!
I requested and received a free ebook copy from Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Bantam via NetGalley. Thank you! ( )
  jetangen4571 | Oct 5, 2021 |
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» Add other authors (2 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Christopher Fowlerprimary authorall editionscalculated
Cunningham, CarolineDesignersecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Schindler, MaxCover artistsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
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"The brilliant duo of Arthur Bryant and John May uncover a nefarious plot behind the seemingly innocuous death of an old lady--and when the case leads them to the London Bridge, it all comes down on the Peculiar Crimes Unit. Ninety-one-year-old Alice Hoffman died alone in her top-floor flat. Social services say she slipped through the cracks in a failing system. But detectives Arthur Bryant and John May of the Peculiar Crimes Unit have their suspicions. Mrs. Hoffman was not as innocent as she appeared. A former government security expert, she had once worked for their own unit, but there's no one left who can remember her. And when they uncover a link between her and a diplomat desperate to leave the country, it begins to look as if someone might have committed an impossible murder. But Mrs. Hoffman wasn't acting alone. Arthur Bryant is convinced that a group of talented women have been working together for decades and now the others are in danger. With the help of some of his more certifiable contacts and historical experts, he and John May embark on an investigation that will lead them down forgotten alleyways to riverside buildings and on to the city's oldest bridge. But just when the case appears to have been solved and unit chief Raymond Land can congratulate everyone on ending a threat to international security, the detectives discover that they've been the victims of the biggest deception of all. For even after her death, Mrs. Hoffman would prove too clever for them . . . Bryant and May's twentieth-anniversary case brings an ending and a new beginning to London's most peculiar crimes unit and all who work there"--

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