Bryant & May’s Peculiar London

Christopher Fowler

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English

Transworld
27 June 2023

Public buildings: civic, commercial, industrial; City & town planning - architectural aspects; History; British & Irish history; Travel writing; Street maps & city plans

The nation's longest-serving detectives, Arthur Bryant and John May, guide readers around the extraordinary city that's been at the heart of their 20 book career. Here are London (and some of its citizens) in all their eccentric, elusive, fascinating and often peculiar glory as they've never been seen before . . .

As the nation's oldest serving detectives, we know more about London than almost anyone. After all, we've been walking its streets and impulsively arresting its citizens for decades. Who better to take you through its less savoury side?

We'll be chatting about odd buildings, odder characters, lost venues, forgotten disasters, confusing routes, dubious gossip, illicit pleasures and hidden pubs. We'll be making all sorts of odd connections and showing you why it's almost impossible to separate fact from fiction in London.

With the help of some of our more disreputable friends, each an argumentative and unreliable expert in his or her own dodgy field, we'll explain why some streets have genders, why only two Londoners got to meet Dracula, how a department store and a prison played tricks on your mind, when a theatre got stranded in the past, how a building vanished in plain sight, what excited Charlotte Bronte about the city and where the devils hide in London.

We hope to capture something of the city's restless spirit by wilfully wandering off course, and it goes without saying that we'll bluff and bamboozle you along the way but that's all part of the fun. History is what you remember. London is what you forget (and we've forgotten a lot). So please do join us on this magical mystery tour of our city. Who knows where we'll end up?

By: Christopher Fowler
Imprint: Transworld
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 198mm, Width: 127mm, Spine: 24mm
Weight: 273g
ISBN: 9781804990933
ISBN 10: 1804990930
Pages: 400
Publication Date: 27 June 2023
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Christopher Fowler is the multiple award-winning author of almost fifty novels and short story collections, including the Bryant & May mysteries. His other novels include Roofworld, Spanky, The Sand Men and Hot Water. He has also written two acclaimed memoirs, Paperboy (winner of the Green Carnation Prize) and Film Freak, plus The Book of Forgotten Authors. In 2015 he won the CWA 'Dagger in the Library' for his body of work. He lives in London and Barcelona, and blogs at www.christopherfowler.co.uk. Twitter- @Peculiar

Reviews for Bryant & May’s Peculiar London

One of the glories of the modern crime fiction field? The deliriously eccentric books by Christopher Fowler. -- Barry Forshaw * FINANCIAL TIMES * Devilishly clever . . . mordantly funny . . . sometimes heartbreakingly moving. -- VAL McDERMID If you have never entered the curious world of Bryant and May, you're in for a treat. * THE TIMES * One of the glories of the modern crime fiction field? The deliriously eccentric books by Christopher Fowler. -- Barry Forshaw * FINANCIAL TIMES *