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  • Published: 15 March 2018
  • ISBN: 9780857503107
  • Imprint: Bantam
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 416
  • RRP: $24.99

Bryant & May - Wild Chamber

(Bryant & May Book 15)



The fourteenth novel in Christopher Fowler's gloriously inventive, imaginative series featuring detectives Arthur Bryant and John May and the Peculiar Crimes Unit is a treat for readers as murder and scandal lead the team to delve into the history of London's wild spaces, it's parks and gardens . . .

Our story begins at the end of an investigation, as the members of London's Peculiar Crimes Unit race to catch a killer near London Bridge Station in the rain, not realising that they’re about to cause a bizarre accident just yards away from the crime scene. And it will have repercussions for them all…
One year later, in an exclusive London crescent, a woman walks her dog – but she’s being watched. When she’s found dead, the Peculiar Crimes Unit is called in to investigate. Why? Because the method of death is odd, the gardens are locked, the killer had no way in - or out - and the dog has disappeared.
So a typical case for Bryant & May. But the hows and whys of the murder are not the only mysteries surrounding the dead woman - there's a missing husband and a lost nanny to puzzle over too. And it seems very like that the killer is preparing to strike again.
As Arthur Bryant delves in to the history of London’s ‘wild chambers’ - its extraordinary parks and gardens, John May and the rest of the team seem to have caused a national scandal. If no-one is safe then all of London’s open spaces must be closed…
With the PCU placed under house arrest, only Arthur Bryant remains at liberty – but can a hallucinating old codger catch the criminal and save the unit before it’s too late?

  • Published: 15 March 2018
  • ISBN: 9780857503107
  • Imprint: Bantam
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 416
  • RRP: $24.99

About the author

Christopher Fowler

Christopher Fowler is the author of more than forty novels (sixteen of which feature the detectives Bryant and May and the Peculiar Crimes Unit) and many short story collections. A multiple award-winner, including the coveted CWA ‘Dagger in the Library’, Chris has also written screenplays, video games, graphic novels, audio plays and two acclaimed memoirs, Paperboy and Film Freak. His most recent non-fiction book is The Book of Forgotten Authors. Chris divides his time between London's King’s Cross and Barcelona. You can find out more by visiting his website and following him on Twitter.

Also by Christopher Fowler

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Praise for Bryant & May - Wild Chamber

Probably the most popular detective duo since the passing of Reginald Hill’s Dalziel and Pascoe.

SHOTS magazine

I’ll make a prediction now – Wild Chamber will be in my top five books for 2017. Bryant and May continue to be at the top of their game, and in some ways the novels are improving with age . . . there’s no author quite like Christopher Fowler, and there are no characters quite like Arthur Bryant and John May. There are a multitude of facets to Wild Chamber which make it stand out . . . Fowler is London born and bred, and his love for the city and all its eccentricities clearly comes through in the narrative. .

CRIMEFICTIONLOVER

A joy to read. It's intelligent crime fiction that’s accessible to everyone.

CRIMEPIECES

Delightfully entertaining . . . I for one, think this is incredibly clever. Fowler richly deserves his CWA Library Award.

THE BOOKBAG

These books are clever, inventive and wonderfully original – and we simply can’t get enough of them. Prepare to be enchanted.

DEAD GOOD BOOKS

Fowler is, among other things, a comic genius. He mines the rich and productive seam of peculiarly English comedy which gave us George and Weedon Grossmith, J B ‘Beachcomber’ Morton, the sublime pretensions of Anthony Aloysius Hancock and the surreal world of Basil Fawlty. The book is full of great gags and very good one-liners. Such is the rich entertainment that Fowler serves up – bravura writing, poignancy, compassion, complex plotting, biting humour and a unique view of London’s landscape – that it doesn’t really matter who did what to whom, but he stays staunch and true to the crime fiction genre and gives us the answer to the intricate whodunnit he has constructed. If you love an intriguing murder plot, sparkling humour, wonderful scene-setting and brilliantly stylish writing, then get hold of a copy of this. You won’t be sorry.

FULLY BOOKED

Don’t make the mistake of thinking that these novels are on the cosy side. Despite the artful plotting, the nostalgic view of an England we have lost, the in-jokes, and the warmth Fowler shares with anyone who loves London, there is dark side. Death is a frequent caller, and when we answer the door, he is not draped in a discreet undertaker’s sheet, but is red in tooth and claw. Christopher Fowler is unique in contemporary English fiction. He blends Golden Age crime with the poetic insights of John Betjeman, the gimlet eye of Charles Dickens and Peter Ackroyd’s dark nostalgia.

CRIME FICTION LOVER