Bryant & May: Hall of Mirrors

This new entry in the Bryant & May Peculiar Crime Unit mystery series was an ER book. It's one of the best by Fowler that I've read in a while. Can a murder mystery be a romp? This one was. Over the top and funny - and you find out why it's over the top at the end, in yet another clever twist.

This is a series' prequel, with the two detectives at their careers' start in 1969. Bookish, portly Bryant and slim, fashionable May complement each other in their very different detecting techniques, and this one finds them in a country house mystery in Kent. (What?!!) They're far from the normal urban operations of the Peculiar Crimes Unit.

They're baby-sitting an annoying businessman for the weekend, prior to his expected testimony against a show more cheapskate contractor whose building collapsed and killed people. There's a "can't miss" get-together at Tavistock Hall, and the ensuing dark doings seem to target the businessman, but inexplicably, other attendees as well. Our heroes recognize that they've apparently walked into an Agatha Christie novel. “If it’s a proper country house murder it needs to follow country house rules”.

Parody, banter, and slapstick abound. Sinister forces come into play. The two must sort out Lady Beatrice Banks-Marion and her stoner son (who finances a hippie encampment on the grounds), an American millionaire and his wife, a button-downed lawyer, a toothsome nightclub singer, an interior decorator, a mystery novelist, and various staff who have gleaned much while serving the house. If the two don't figure out what connects seemingly disparate clues and avoid the red herrings, death will have its way. This one was a fun read. show less

Arthur Bryant has been writing his memoirs, and his publisher has asked him for additional stories. Bryant recalls a case from 1969 in which he and his partner, John May, go undercover at a country house weekend in Kent to protect a witness who is about to testify in a major bribery trial. The house is on the verge of being sold by a drug-addled, hippie aristocrat and his widowed mother to a reclusive millionaire and his wife. Also among the houseguests are a famous mystery author, a nightclub singer, and a priest along with several others. Army maneuvers have closed the roads surrounding the house, and all ten houseguests and staff are unable to leave. Bryant and May seem powerless to protect Monty Hatton-Jones, who meets with accident show more after accident, but at least he hasn’t been murdered like another one of the guests whose mangled body parts have been found. This may be the last case for the detectives if they are unable to protect Hatton-Jones and solve the murders.

I’m slowly making my way through this series, which is highly entertaining. Bryant and May are the main detectives in the Peculiar Crimes Unit, which was set up during WWII to take on cases that were too quirky, weird or complex for Scotland Yard. Arthur Bryant is abrasive but a genius with an incredible memory for obscure facts, while John May is the charming, “normal” one. In Hall of Mirrors, each of the chapter titles is a song from the ’60s except one, and the author has challenged readers to guess which chapter is the odd one out and why. Fowler writes with a quirky sense of humor, yet there is a seriousness in each of the mysteries in his books. His work is reminiscent of the Golden Age of Detection, yet with a twist. This one is Christie country house pastiche as only Fowler could do it. show less

Christopher Fowler has dropped his Peculiar Crimes Unit detectives into a superb English manor house mystery story. It's set in 1969 when "England Swings" was the mantra as the country enjoys a renaissance from WW2 and its aftermath. Readers get a younger set of detectives too. Bryant and May are closer to the beginning of their careers with the PCU.

Bryant is a lost soul for most of the book because he is outside of his City comfort zone: he does not know or like the countryside. He is separated from his books and his other resources. On the other hand, May is at home with the country house weekend party crowd.

May & Bryant are tasked with keeping an eye on a Crown witness over a weekend. The witness is ready to testify against an show more aristocrat businessman accused of fraud and his evidence is key to a conviction. However, he insists on going to a country weekend party hosted by the wealthy financier and drags the detectives along with him. Upon arrival at the manor we meet what will become the suspect pool. It's a quirky bunch of people and readers soon learn several of them are hiding something. Halfway through the book, there's a murder. It's the standard country house trope in spades, but the addition of Bryant and May make it a standout.

All in all, I found this one of the best Bryant and May PCU novels. show less

After a first volume of memoirs sells reasonably well, Bryant’s publisher asks for more. This request leads Bryant on a trip down memory lane - specifically, to 1969, when he and May are assigned to keep watch over the star witness in a case where a shady builder has used shoddy materials and buildings have collapsed, killing people. But said witness insists on attending a country house party over the weekend, so the ultra-urban detectives are forced to put on mud boots and travel to the dreaded countryside. Unbeknownst to them, the Army happens to be taking that particular weekend in that particular part of the countryside to stage maneuvers using live ammunition…. This is Christopher Fowler’s take on the famed country house show more murder trope so specific to England, and as such it’s quite wild; the above description leaves out hippies, secret passages, a mythical beast, a blond nightclub singer and much, much more. One thing I’ve loved about the Bryant & May series is that the lead characters are old men (i.e., in their 80s), but this story describes their evolving methodology (and friendship) at a much younger age. As a result, this could well be the perfect introduction to these characters, because almost all of the other characters are not germane to the rest of the books. I believe that once a reader discovers these two detectives, s/he will want to know more, so go ahead and give it a try! Recommended. show less

My favorite geriatric duo is at it again—this time solving a “locked door” style mystery colorfully set in the late 1960s. The book begins with Arthur Bryant's publisher asking him to offer up another unusual case (this is the 15th entry in the series) from the archives of the Peculiar Crimes Unit. The reader is transported back to the ‘60s when Bryant and May were young and inexperienced detectives and London was in its flower power, swinging ‘60s era. Early in the book Bryant and May are involved in an episode involving a flare gun and the unfortunate sinking of a barge which leaves the two of them being told that they will never work in the PCU again. While their future hangs in the balance they are asked to protect Monty show more Hatton-Jones, a key government witness in the corruption trial of a shoddy developer, on behalf of the Crown Prosecution Service. Monty, anxious to get out of London, insists on attending a country house party. The detectives are forced to accompany Monty to Kent to keep an eye on him. The other guests are like something out of an Agatha Christie novel, the run-down house is about to be sold to an eccentric millionaire who appears to be hiding from his fellow guests, and the odd owner spends most of his time smoking pot with his fellow hippies in a private retreat he’s set up in the garden. This has all the makings for a grisly murder or two, with Bryant and May required to use all of their keen insights and intelligence to eventually unmask the murderer.

I thoroughly enjoyed Hall of Mirrors which had me chuckling from start to finish as I enjoy the dark British humor the author so deftly presents. I marvel at Bryant’s brilliant and unorthodox but somehow logical methods of detection, and May’s long-suffering common sense while dealing with his partner. They are clearly the original odd couple that somehow makes their partnership work. Watching these two city slickers floundering in the countryside with a particularly gruesome murder and learning the backstory of so many long-running, humorous elements of the PCU that appear in most books in the series makes the book a delightful and enjoyable read. The latest Bryan and May entry is definitely worth buying and reading. show less

This is the first Bryant & May book I've read in print - I've listened to about five others on audiobook, and I was surprised to find that I actually enjoyed reading this series more than listening. It felt like I could pace the story better, go back and reread sections I thought might be important based on later developments. As in true Bryant & May fashion though, this was a thoroughly entertaining story. Unusually for the series (at least of the books I've read), the story takes place in 1969, and seeing Bryant & May as young men is unexpectedly fun. The setting is a large country estate (similar sounding to Downton Abbey, but on its last leg), which allows servants and the house itself to be engaging background characters. An show more isolated weekend with miserable weather and dishonest guests - not to mention a band of hippies - makes working out the details of the crime extremely difficult, but funny all the way through. show less

Hall of Mirrors takes us back to one of Bryant and May's earlier cases. They were young men in the sixties and their partnership was still developing. You see personal habits they have as elderly officers were present even in the beginning, such as Bryant's habit of keeping what he sees to himself, shutting out (and infuriating) his partner.

The story is a well done tongue-in-cheek homage to Agatha Christie and all the 'manor house' mysteries of the Golden Age, along with a lot of crazy stuff that one thinks might have been a little outside Christie's norm. Everything is here: the manor shut off from the rest of the world, complete with a wide range of guests right down to the vicar. A guest which Fowler points out, is necessary in a show more manor mystery.

I think I enjoyed this more because I had already met Bryant and May as old men than I would have reading it first. show less