The Invisible Code

Starred review from October 7, 2013
London’s perpetually-in-jeopardy Peculiar Crimes Unit gets a reprieve in Fowler’s excellent 10th mystery featuring senior detectives Arthur Bryant and John May (after 2012’s The Memory of Blood). Oskar Kasavian, the Home Office security supervisor who oversees the PCU, hires Bryant and May unofficially to deal with a personal problem. His much-younger wife, Sabira, has begun acting strangely, and with Kasavian due to take the helm of a major European antiterror initiative, it’s vital that any scandal be avoided. When Sabira insists that devils are out to get her, the two sleuths take her fears seriously. They look into a possible tie to the death of Amy O’Connor, who dropped dead in a church from unknown causes shortly after two children identified her as a witch and plotted to kill her. In the light of the challenges that Fowler has given his heroes in prior books, it’s particularly impressive that he manages to surpass himself once again. Agent: Howard Morhaim, Howard Morhaim Literary Agency.

December 15, 2013
Two cases, from different but equally unexpected quarters, emerge for the staff of London's Peculiar Crimes Unit. Beloved of fans but reviled by the Home Office, the PCU is being systematically starved for cases by Oskar Kasavian, the security supervisor hoping to diminish its capacity to bring scandal on her majesty's government. So naturally, Arthur Bryant, the irascible polymath who's one of the team's senior members, goes out hunting for cases on his own. He's fascinated by the death of Amy O'Connor, a part-time bar manager who was found in St. Bride's Church after suffering a fatal heart attack with no apparent cause. This is the sort of thing we should be investigating, he tells his more sedate counterpart John May. Before they can establish their authority to intervene in a case that's officially none of their business, another mystery arrives courtesy of none other than Oskar Kasavian, whose much younger Albanian wife, Sabira, is convinced she's being hounded by evil spirits. Promised the moon (honors and titles, long-range security, freedom from ritual attempts to shut them down or zero out their budget) if they can figure out what's tormenting Sabira, the PCU team sets to work. But Sabira's behavior becomes increasingly erratic--she keeps insulting the well-bred wives of her husband's Home Office colleagues in distressingly public settings--till she finally turns up dead in Sir John Soanes' House, the legendary London museum, beneath one of the paintings in William Hogarth's series The Rake's Progress without a mark on her to indicate how she died. What can her death possibly have to do with Amy O'Connor's? Mr. Bryant and a covey of diverse experts expatiate informatively on witchcraft, code-breaking and national defense. But there's less warmth or humor or real mystery than in The Memory of Blood (2012) and other recent PCU outings.

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November 15, 2013

In this latest volume of the adventures of London's Peculiar Crimes Unit (after The Memory of Blood), Detectives Bryant and May, who have been with the unit since its founding during the Second World War, are looking for a new case to work on. The unexplained death of a young woman in one of the city's many churches holds promise, but the elderly sleuths are summoned to the office of their unit's unsympathetic overseer. He is concerned about his younger immigrant wife. She is having "episodes," raving about witches and conspiracies, and drinking too much in public, none of which is to the benefit of a husband in the highest ranks of the civil service. The two sleuths cautiously investigate, expecting a trap, as they know their unit has made many enemies over the years. May begins interviewing suspects and collecting evidence while his partner uses a more holistic approach, visiting some of his more esoteric friends: amateur historians and a white witch among them. VERDICT Fowler continues his series of thoughtful and rollicking mysteries, providing twists and turns and much information about the offbeat history of one of the world's greatest cities. Newcomers to the series may struggle to catch up with the relationships among the characters, but longtime fans will be thrilled and satisfied by this latest offering.--Dan Forrest, Western Kentucky Univ. Libs., Bowling Green

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