Bryant & May and the Memory of Blood

Nov 1, 2024 2:31 AM

Author:Christopher Fowler

The defenestration of a ruthless theatre impresario's young son was definitely not the best way to end the play's first night party. And the crime scene itself was most unusual: a locked bedroom, with no sign of forced entry, no prints or traces of blood, just a sinister, life-size puppet of Mr Punch lying on the floor...

Everyone at the party - from the dodgy producer and rakish male lead to the dour set designer and the assistant stage manager (the wild daughter of a prominent civil servant) - is a suspect.

It's a perfect case for Bryant and May and the Peculiar Crimes Unit but the Home Office, wary of the PCU's eccentric methods and intensely aware of the potential political embarrassment, wants them off the investigation.

The elderly detectives are not so easily deterred, however. Delving into the history of London theatre and the gruesome origins of 'Punch and Judy', they uncover a maniacal killer is at work - one who must be caught before it's curtains for everyone!

Reviews

Excellent... plotted with wit and intelligence

—— THE TIMES

A sense of the macabre combined with laugh-out-loud moments and eccentric characters are set against a lovingly realised London backdrop

—— DAILY TELEGRAPH

Charming and quirky... a pleasurably intelligent read

—— FINANCIAL TIMES

Headstone is one of the year's best reading pleasures

—— David J. Montgomery, Crime Fiction Dossier

Bruen is threatening to become a mass cult figure in the US as well as a critical favourite

—— Allen Barra, The Atlantic

A nonstop rampage of intrigue, mayhem, lunacy and dark-dark-dark humour

—— Shelf Awareness

Only one's dreams after a champagne-fuelled night at the Follies Bergere have quite the same nightmarish-but-entertaining quality as Vargas's delightful crime novels

—— Jake Kerridge , Daily Telegraph

Gripping

—— Guardian

[Vargas is] one of the most exciting, addictive and inventive purveyor of classy crime fiction currently pounding the publishing beat... It it a highly entertaining policier but more importantly, as with Conan Doyle, the wacky world Vargas shapes is oddly reassuring: a great remedy to a grey day

—— Christian House , Indepedent on Sunday

A thrilling read

—— Sunday Times

A beguiling story

—— Independent on Sunday

A sinister, beguiling tale that brilliantly evokes a childhood world

—— Woman and Home

Brilliant and nightmarish, this modern fairytale is beautifully written

—— Eve Magazine

Phantom will maintain Jo Nesbo’s unstoppable momentum.

—— The Independent

The king of Nordic crime – and his haunted protagonist Harry Hole – returns with this tightly plotted thriller which pitches Hole deep into the murky underworld of Oslo’s heroin market.

—— Metro

Jo Nesbo is at the top of his game... The must-read thriller of 2012.

—— Bella

Phantom leaves us reeling, with a storyline and ending that hurts us almost as much as it hurts the protagonists... The twists and turns show Nesbo at his complicated, yet utterly accessible best, and Hole at his undeniably brilliant but self-destructive worst.

—— The List

Jo Nesbo is a master of his craft. His latest novel, Phantom, is world-class crime writing. Phantom is a crime novel that pleases on every level.

—— Dagbladet (Norway)

Harry Hole is back only to find that the case he wants to investigate is already closed

—— Observer

Jo Nesbo has done it again with Phantom, his seventh gripping novel featuring Inspector Harry Hole... Tense and compulsive Phantom will have you jumping out of your seat

—— Hannah Britt , Daily Express

King of Scandinavian crime... A writer at the top of his game

—— Deirdre O’Brien , Sunday Mirror

Riveting reading from page one

—— My Weekly

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