Although I enjoy the banter between the two old codgers, Bryant and May, I occasionally found the plot of this #3 in the series tiresome, and had great difficulty believing that the culprit(s) would have enough expertise to commit such elaborate crimes. And I haven't a clue as to why it was entitled "Ten Second Staircase"!Nevertheless, I think I will continue with the following novels, in case I learn something ;-)

I’m beginning to think the very first book in this series (which I’m sadly reading out of order) was the best. All of the books center on May and Bryant, two close to retiring (in age if not in desire) detectives of London’s Peculiar Crimes Unit, i.e. the weird stuff that no one else wants to do. (Sort of like if Mulder and Scully had been through WWII and are now trying to adapt to the modern day of computers and cell phones).I know that British vs American mysteries have a different take on th...

Christopher Fowler has a spectacular eye for labyrinthine Gothic absurdity, and when he turned it to the police procedural he conjured up Bryant and May, octogenarian detectives dealing with London’s most peculiar crimes, the ones that attract attention, instil fear and panic and turn on a form of perverse celebrity. In their fourth outing, we find minor celebrity as the target, fame as the goal, London’s psycho-geography as the weapon in a caper linking vampires, highwaymen, the Knights Templar...

Bettie's Books

This was *ok* but not as good as the previous couple. I struggled to maintain interest in the middle when it seemed to be bogged down in wild goose chases and red herrings. But at least the PCU lives to fight another day (with increased budget!)

My first in this series. I think I will read #1 then drop it. There's some good wordplay here, carefully used and not in the style of other authors I know. The plot was engaging as it developed, if a bit slow. I found the "imminent closing" annoying and I've only read the one book. Did anyone really think they'd shut down at page 200 and everyone would just slope off down the pub and drop the case?I'm with the other reviewers who mentioned that the who-did-what-and-how didn't turn out in a belie...

Definitely an improvement over #1 in the series. Bryant is Changing, or at least attempting change in his attitude toward technology and the modern world...but not so much so that he cannot continue to balance May with his intuitive motive-oriented approach. Some new characters enter (or maybe they entered in books 2 and 3 which I haven't read yet) and jazz up the scene - I feel sure that these will continue so I guess I'm hooked. The two "academic" detectives meet some actual academics and stud...

3.5 stars. Pretty good addition to the series, as Bryant and May struggle to close both a current case and one of their cold cases while the Home Office looks for ways to shut down the Peculiar Crimes Unit.

Fourth in the Bryant & May mystery series set in London and revolving around two past-retirement-age detectives with an alternative style. Events take off in October.My TakeYou can't help but fall in love with these two. Bryant is such an eccentric, and Fowler shows it with how the rest of the team copes with him, indulges him. Followers of CSI-oriented programs will go absolutely spare reading about Bryant's total disregard for evidence. Turns out one of the reasons for the transfer of the PCU

Another crazy whirlwind of a mystery romp, complete with humor, whimsy, as well as forensic detail and police procedures which turn the genre upside-down. In this one, set in London, the elderly, frumpy, yet genius-like Arthur Bryant, and his partner, the more meticulous and self-ordered John May, investigate the death of a performance artist found dead in a tank of formaldehyde. Wow, the beginning is just so...So wonderfully depicted. A young and somewhat controversial concept artist is found f...

Excellent!Great plot,plus insightful social commentary,plus wonderful history lessons.

Christopher has captured me with his idiosyncratic Bryant and May characters. I rarely undertake to read a series - but here I go! Started book 5 today.

Another suspenseful story, Bryant and May’s PCU is headed for the chop. Of course there are weird murders, odd characters, plus this time, school students. The plot explores the bloody past of Clerkenwell and Smithfield, adding moral questions about celebrity and death. A main feature I enjoy about this series is the quality of the writing: beautiful, fully developed rich images and descriptions, broad vocabulary, words I’ve never come across before. There’s plenty of action, nothing that needs

I love te series and I love this book too.For me it is so much more than just another crime case.This is a book about London, about history, about people coping with age in a changing world.I highly appreciate the character development. Maybe that has something to do with my own age. I'm not sure if I would have like the story in the same way when I have been thirty years younger.

I enjoyed Ten-Second Staircase very much. Like all of Christopher Fowler’s books it is amusing, gripping, thoughtful and full of fascinating historical details.This time the scene is set with an impossible murder in an art gallery in which an artist is drowned in her own installation with no apparent means of entry or escape for the murderer. More crimes follow, while the Peculiar Crimes Unit itself is under threat from enemies in the Home Office...in other words, pretty much business as usual f...

Weird ... here it is almost Hallowe'en and guess when the book ends? Hallowe'en. I didn't plan it that way. I have been reading this off and on for apparently 4+ years. Not sure why it took so long. I do enjoy this series. It is so off-beat.

First, an announcement: I genuinely like, and enjoy the Bryant and May series. I hate to give this book a low rating, but, quite frankly, it's just not up to snuff. If I had only read this one of the series, I would probably not continue. However, I know the series stays good (I accidentally started the 6th one, and had a hard time putting it down), so I will keep reading, I promise.I found this book just a bit tedious, overall. I can't put my finger on it exactly, but here are a few thoughts:Th...

I can't get enough of this series of books featuring the Peculiar Crime Unit headed by the geriatric detectives, Bryant and May. In this entry, as in all the books, the crimes are bizarre and somehow connected to the history of London.Three semi-celebrities are murdered respectively by immersion in formaldehyde, electrocution on a rowing machine, and immolation in a shower and the Unit has no clues except the sighting of a man dressed as a highwayman. To add to the mystery, there seems to be a c...

Found this series recommended on Audible by someone I follow there. At first, the grumpy octogenarian's ramblings had me smiling and agreeing, but the narrator was SO SLOW and the story arc looked like it was heading in a direction that completely turned me off. I sped up the listening speed to twice the normal speed to just get it over with and which didn't sound at all ridiculous because of the SLOW, LETHARGIC narration. Instead of giving up, I used it as background narration while I worked on...

Ten-Second Staircase is another cracking read from the pen of Christopher Fowler and featuring the superb pairing of Arthur Bryant and John May, the elderly founders of the Peculiar Crimes Unit (which always lives up to its name). It features some very peculiar crimes indeed (an artist drowned in her own installation) as well as some just horribly brutal ones as well. Aside from the main crime that they have to solve in this book they are also thrown back into a previously unsolved case from the...