Amazon.com: Customer reviews: White Corridor: A Peculiar Crimes Unit Mystery

Top positive review

Loved it!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 25, 2018

Years ago, I read the first book in Fowler's Bryant and May series and didn't care for it at all, but always at the back of my mind, I thought there might have been extenuating circumstances. You see, I read Full Dark House while on my very first trip to the UK, and I'm pretty sure my brain was on sensory overload. I am very happy to announce that I thoroughly enjoyed this fifth book in the series, and now I'm wanting to catch up with all the adventures of these two men.

One of the small things that was so enjoyable was that Fowler increased my vocabulary. It's not often that writers use words that I'm not familiar with (and may I also add that the built-in dictionary is one of the perks of owning an eReader). Both storylines worked together extremely well. Everyone at the Peculiar Crimes Unit is used to having Bryant and May on hand to solve the crimes, but this time Sergeant Janice Longbright is in charge, and she's petrified that she's going to make a hash of it all. Then there's the young mother and son running from the homicidal maniac while the wind howls and the snow piles up. Fowler lets readers see things from several different perspectives, and my mind really got a workout trying to piece together the clues for both crimes.

As marvelous as the story is in White Corridor, the characters of Bryant and May are superb, especially if you like mysteries with flashes of brilliant humor. How old is Arthur Bryant? "Mr. Bryant is so old that most of his lifetime subscriptions have run out." One of the books in his office is Code-Breaking in Braille, and he planned the route to the psychics convention using a map printed in 1907. You'd never think in a million years that such a person could be any good at solving crimes or be allowed to get away with the things that he does. For the most part, John May is the slightly younger and steadier of the two, but at this stage of the game, May knows it's useless trying to rein in his determined partner. And as far as that "getting away with things" goes, as Fowler says in White Corridor, "The PCU got away with murder because few of their suspects ever did." And that's what it's all about, isn't it? Well, except for the fact that those two have a cell phone with a charge that seems to last till the end of time....

I am thrilled that I gave this series a second chance. Now I have fourteen books to read in order to catch up. Happy reading for me!

2 people found this helpful

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Mary S

Keep PCU in London

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 2, 2015

I'm a big fan of Christopher Fowler's Peculiar Crime Unit series. Part of its charm is that we get to learn about the history of London, and the city comes to life. But in White Corridor, the team of Arthur Bryant and John May are not in London. Instead, they are stuck in a snowstorm in Devon, and stuck they are. With endless descriptions of the weather and failed rescue attempts, the story fails to come to life. Meanwhile, in London, a second murder is being investigated by Bryant and May's peers with frequent consultations by phone with the stranded detectives. Without Bryant and May to lead the investigation, the inquiry is not as interesting. This is a really good series, and I would encourage readers to try another PCU unit. Unfortunately, this one just doesn't work.

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From the United States

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Loved it!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 25, 2018

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Shock Corridor

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 20, 2007

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WHITE CORRIDOR represents an advance on the formula of previous Bryant and May books and doesn't depend so directly on their Alistair Sim like charms and the mere fact of their being so old and stubborn. Instead author Christopher Fowler bifurcates the space of the novel into four "white corridors," each with its own puzzle. Two of these dominate most of the detective work. In one, we follow the story of Madeline Gilby, a grocery checkout girl and single mother of a restless young son Ryan. Madeline flees an abusive husband and tries to find life again in the south of France, along the Riviera, in the off season. In the warmth of the sun, Madeline comes back to life and responds to the amorous advances of Johann, sort of a Karl-Boehm-in-Peeping-Tom kind of stud who murdered his mother way back when after enduring a childhood of torment and abuse. Uh-oh, not the perfect guy for Madeline, who has incidentally tried developing her psychic powers to weaken men under the guidance of London's notorious chiseler Kate Summerton.

In the second storyline Bryant and May decide to leave the Unit for a holiday in which they plan to attend a psychics convention in the wilds of England, but the worst snowstorm ever to hit a detective story strands them on a lonely stretch of highway in conditions too perilous to proceed further in. The delicious warmth and sun of the Riviera in the first section here gives way to bonechilling cold and a creeping terror as a madman is apparently stalking the snowbound cars one by one and committing terrible murders whenever his fancy calls him. Will Bryant and May be next?

In the third plot, back home at the PCU, crotchety forensic nut Oswald Finch is found horridly murdered inside his own morgue, and all the doors locked from within. Without their two chiefs, the pressure drops on the younger members of the unit, charged with clearing up the case before the visit of a minor royal princess and a judgmental entourage out to dismantle the archaic PCU. This threat to the PCU doesn't have as much built in suspense as Fowler must think it does, for really, who cares, but in all other respects WHITE CORRIDOR is an immense improvement over last year's TEN SECOND STAIRCASE, with interesting characters, a rollicking Steve Coogan like humor, the most picturesque writing this side of William Trevor, and a genuinely new locked room problem.

I wound up giving Christopher Fowler a lathering last year when STAIRCASE, his "Highwayman" novel, failed to meet my impossibly high standards. Mr. Fowler wrote me a forgiving note that touched me, and now I regret having written from my high horse. I asked him if he were a Buddhist, since in my limited experience who else would have gotten up so amiably after having his arse kicked to the curb, but Fowler replied that he wasn't a Buddhist, only an Englishman LOL.

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Rambling Rose

Eclectic and Suspenseful

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 13, 2013

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Fowler's flirtation with the occult via detective Bryant can potentially annoy traditional mystery afficionados like myself, for we fret that the solution to the Great Crime be worked out via some Deus ex machina -- some cheap-cheat insight of a white witch type whose veiled ramblings resolve the problem. For this reason, I have always taken Fowler in small doses, reading a dozen or so other books then returning to his peculiar crimes team. On closer examination, I am discovering that the witty and literary Fowler is only playing with new age-heterodoxy, using these characters for spectacle and, moreover, as a type of chorus that only reiterate what is happening and occasionally point out a bit of emerging symbolism in case we readers miss it. As a chorus, this motley bunch also serve to enhance dramatic tension just to insure that we fret at the proper times. I am finding that the "solution" never actually comes from some medium in a trance, although this solution could lie in a mildewed tome on ancient religions or such and be found by the usual methods of reasoned inquiry. As a denizen of the Rocky Mountain West, I struggled with some of traipsing-through-snow descriptions in The White Corridor knowing too well about frostbite, hypothermia, winter survival etc.; but then I decided southwestern British snow might behave differently, and stalwart Brits soldier through better than we Yanks. All of that said, this suspenseful book is full of twists and bizarre developments. The author plays as fair with facts as any of the better mystery writers, brings forth an occasional chuckle with his word plays, and his use of language is a delight. I read as many detective novels as I can find, preferably British(our Tony Hillerman does rank among the best in the genre, however) and this book held me through the last page. I had the usual sigh that a good read was finished, and spent considerable time afterward thinking about the plot.

5 people found this helpful

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Elaine Campbell

A Unique Hodgepodge

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 20, 2011

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This is a highly unusual murder mystery. There are two murder cases here, and two elderly eccentric detectives to solve them.

What is unique here is the style, the pastiche and the wit of the writing. I've never quite read anything like it. Sort of an Ian Fleming in reverse. Not sophisticated. Not urbane in the sense that the paranormal is considered to be "bunk." We've got witches running around with detectives. And they actually seem to belong together.

So with all this flair, there is hardly a dull moment. The chapters are also short, which keeps the plots running at a fast pace. One can almost read this book as theatrical entertainment.

The two mysteries conclude very surprisingly. I personally didn't come close to guessing the resolution of either. In one a coroner is found dead in a locked room. In the other an abused child, now a grown man, tries to win the questionable hand of an elusive woman. Interspersed are massive snowstorms, seedy street scenes and a crew of professionals, many of whom have self doubts as to their actual abilities.

Unlike the books of Stuart M. Kaminsky, don't expect in-depth character depiction. Though one gets a kick out of the two elderly detectives, all of the cast of characters remain just on the edge of three dimensionality. But they don't get there.

Yet for a rip roaring good time, and an easy read of a very unusual work, this is the book.

3 people found this helpful

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Gary Griffiths

Definitive British Mystery

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 20, 2007

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If Ken Bruen's east London crime novels featuring the brutal and boorish Inspector Brant are literature as rugby, then Christopher Fowler's mysteries of the aging Brant and May detective duo are symphonies. Both entertaining, but Bruen is jarring and violent where Fowler is refined, cultured, and subtle. Fowler writes the classic British mystery: dryly humorous, understated, unadorned, and intelligent. In this outing, inspectors Arthur Brant and John May, the irascible and unorthodox heads of London's Peculiar Crimes Division, find themselves stranded in a freak blizzard on the moors of southern England, leaving Sergeant Janice Longbright in charge to solve the ultimate "murder in the inside-locked room" mystery of the team's chief forensic scientist. Meanwhile, a serial killer is on the loose in the snowdrifts, keeping our discerning duo occupied between cell phone-assist calls to Longbright and her short-handed crew. But despite facing simultaneous murder investigations and answering some nagging questions about the apparent drug overdose death of a young woman whose body occupies the morgue, the real terror facing the PCU team is the looming stationhouse tour of an insufferable princess and PCU nemesis Oskar Kasavian, the London PD bureaucrat bent on shutting the renegade crime-solving unit down.

Rich in allegory and clever forensics, contemporary crime fiction's most eccentric inspectors plough through deliciously convoluted threads of seemingly unrelated mysteries, taking a few keenly twisted turns before arriving at a clever and, at least for me, a totally unexpected climax. Brilliant character development and sharp, witty, dialogue add up for one of the year's most engaging and enjoyable crime novels. If you haven't met Brant and May yet, this is as good a place as any to start - and chances are you'll not remain a stranger.

14 people found this helpful

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scuba sally

Old Guys rule!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 21, 2012

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Arthur Bryant and John May are two octogeniarians who still solve crimes for the Home office despite much dismay from that said office. The two detectives use unconconventional and slightly illegal methods in their attempts to bring the perps to justice, however, their clear-up rate is phenonimally good as compared to the Met and this state of affairs does not sit well with the Home office who has been trying, unsuccessfully, to close down the Peculiar Crimes Unit since the end of the second world war.
In this particular episode May and Bryant are stuck, along with sundry other vehicles in a snow drift while they were on their way to a spiritualist convention. Meanwhile, back at the unit, their pathologist has been found dead in his lab under suspicious circumstances. And the team has to solve the death without the help of Bryant and May, or rather, only with the help of arcane hints sent from Arthur's cell phone. At the same time, there is someone murdering the occupants of various cars that are stuck in the same drift as Bryant and May. A very pithy puzzle to solve within an insanely short period of time and with the Home Office eagarly waiting for them to fail.
The dialogue is witty and makes for a very entertaining read.

2 people found this helpful

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Middle Bass Islander

Surprisingly, also a good locked room murder mystery

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 25, 2007

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As a fan of Christopher Fowler's Peculiar Crime Unit as well as a fan of locked room mysteries, I viewed the arrival of this book with trepidation, because there are so few good new locked room murder mysteries. The last good new one I read was Barbara Amato's "Hard Tack" back in 1991. Even when I was two-thirds through Fowler's new book, "White Corridor", the dread of an inadequate solution remained. Fowler's style is very different from that in traditional locked room mysteries such as those by John Dickson Carr, but his style is also part of his charm. Fowler doesn't have much interest in a complex technical anlaysis of the murder scene. There simply wasn't any good discussion of whether door locks, window latches and other devices could or might have been manipulated to create the illusion of a locked room.

But the ending was worth the wait. The hallmark of a new locked room murder mystery is a novel solution to the locked room problem, and Fowler succeeds on all counts here.

29 people found this helpful

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L. Fouquette

Wonderful and intelligent series

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 26, 2014

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I really enjoy this series. The characters are interesting, endearing and well-developed. The plots are intriguing and the writing is lovely. Mr. Fowler uses literary phrasing and description I've never seen in the mystery genre. He sends me to the dictionary from time to time, discovering or refamiliarizing myself with words rarely used, even in "fine literature." Far from being an annoyance, I always learn some bit of delightful cultural, historical or arcane information. Also, since the dictionary is built into the Kindle, it's instantly available. I was skeptical that the Kindle dictionary would have such esoteric or archaic words, but it hadn't failed yet. (I use the British dictionary for this series.)

I've read many of the books in the Peculiar Crimes Unit series and enjoyed them all, but this was one of my favorites. No angst-ridden, recovering alcoholic, cynical, "hard-boiled," misogynistic detectives here. No gore or disturbing sexual perversions. Mr. Fowler doesn't have to rely on formulaic, hackneyed devices. He's created a perfectly delightful, intelligent mystery series with characters who become like old friends. I highly recommend the series.

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Amazon Customer

Snowbound between London and Plymouth

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 3, 2014

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Almost every Bryant and May detective story by Christopher Fowler is set in London and environs, but this is the one exception so far. A huge blizzard closes the main highway to Plymouth in both directions as the two detectives are en route to a spiritualist convention in a van loaded with props, some of which come into play as they try not only to survive the experience of spending several days snowbound, but to solve two murders--one that has happened within the group of travelers, and one back in London as they talk by cell phone with their staff. I read this at the tail end of a long snowbound winter, and it was perfect. You might want to download it now and save it for next January.

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Late Night Reader

Crazy mixed up pair!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on September 12, 2013

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Once you are introduced to detectives John May and Arthur Bryant, and get used to their very unorthodox
method of solving mysteries, you cannot wait for the next Christopher Fowler book to come out. These
Bryant & May books are addictive because the elderly duo are so outrageous, in a very British way. They
should have been retired years ago, but they keep solving crimes for the Peculier Crimes Squad who
operate on the fringe of crime detection, but always come through with an accurate solution. Arthur Bryant
is half mad and half brilliantly clever, and his level-headed partner tries to cover up Bryant's antics while
admiring him immensely. I became addicted after reading "The Victoria Vanishes", which refers not to
the Old Queen but to a London pub which is there one day and gone the next. An enjoyable series.

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