The Bleeding Heart

October 6, 2014
In Fowler’s solid 11th Peculiar Crimes Unit whodunit (after 2013’s The Invisible Code), the unit’s unsympathetic new supervisor poses a threat to its existence after its operations are shifted from the Home Office to the City of London. Endearingly eccentric Arthur Bryant, whose reading list includes Recreating Renaissance Masterpieces with Cheese and Cross-Stitching in the Time of Edward the Confessor, and his more conventional partner, John May, have a number of odd crimes to solve. In particular, a star-gazing teen claims that one night he saw a corpse rise from the grave and incorrectly identify a constellation, an occurrence that eventually leads to murder. Meanwhile, the seven ravens of the Tower of London have vanished, giving rise to fears about the future of the realm. As intriguing as these setups are, Fowler has delivered more imaginative resolutions in previous entries. Agent: Howard Morhaim, Howard Morhaim Literary Agency.

November 1, 2014
As if London didn't provide enough live citizens to worry about, the Peculiar Crimes Unit (The Invisible Code, 2013, etc.) is presented with one at least briefly returned from the dead.Romain Curtis may be only a teenager out for a quick canoodle with Shirone Estanza, but he knows what he saw in St. George's Gardens, a city park with a few gravesites still awaiting their tenants. And what he saw is a reanimated corpse rising from the grave. He heard it speaking to him, too, before it plopped back down in the dirt. When the problem of the late Thomas Edward Wallace, a small-beer lawyer who hanged himself last week, comes to the attention of Arthur Bryant and John May, they seize it avidly-especially Mr. Bryant-as one more case that can justify their continued funding under their new patron, bureaucratic-jargon-spouting City of London Public Liaison Officer Orion Banks. As they zero in on Krishna Jhadav, the client who pulled his brokerage account from Wallace's practice shortly before the lawyer's death, another case comes equally unbidden: the disappearance from the Tower of London of the seven ravens tied by legend to England's continued safety. Dealing with reanimation, grave-robbing, ravens and the dark arts naturally brings the PCU up against several experts even more peculiar than they are, most notably the sinister academic/necromancer Peregrine Wosthold Merry. Their consultations are the comically learned high points in the team's 11th adventure. Not to worry: Everything is wrapped up logically, if not exactly convincingly, in the end. Sleep well, Your Majesty.

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September 1, 2014

In this latest series installment (after Bryant & May and the Invisible Code), the Peculiar Crimes Unit has new bosses and the staff is again under scrutiny from above. Determined to prove that they are still useful, the unit, led by the elderly Bryant and May, rush to investigate the case of a body dug up in a small London park. When one of the witnesses is later killed, the case becomes even more critical. At the same time, one of Bryant's friends asks him to help solve a mystery with potentially devastating consequences for England: the famous seven ravens are missing from the Tower of London. With plenty of detours into the hidden history of the capital, the detectives and their colleagues race to save potential victims of these new resurrection men, their unit, and maybe even their country. VERDICT Fans of the series will enjoy the continuing travails of these two long-suffering octogenerian friends and their fellow officers. Newcomers will appreciate the twists and turns of the case as well as the many details from the odd corners of one of the world's great cities. [See Prepub Alert, 6/16/14.]--Dan Forrest, Western Kentucky Univ. Libs., Bowling Green

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2014

Next in the beloved "Peculiar Crimes Unit" series starring clever detectives Arthur Bryant and John May, this work features corpses rising mysteriously from their graves and seven ravens that have gone missing from the Tower of London--and you've heard the legend that when the ravens leave the Tower, England is done for, right? Our heroes suddenly find themselves submerged in black magic and Victorian body-snatching lore so that they can find the killer--and get those ravens home.

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.