Top positive review
4.0 out of 5 stars#14 - London parks and gardens
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 1, 2017
This is book fourteen in this series. Would I recommend that someone begin reading the series at this point? Hmm......sure, why not. But you also need to know that I never worry about that kind of thing when picking a novel to read and don't follow the advice of most who advise against jumping into a series as well established as this. It all depends on how easily you find it to work out the relationships between established characters. With this novel, though, you also have to deal with a physical condition Arthur Bryant has confronted but has not totally conquered.
One of the features I look forward to in these books is the memo Unit Chief Raymond Land posts on the notice board as the story is beginning. This is where you will find a list of the characters who make up the Peculiar Crimes Unit (hereafter referred to as PCU) even down to including the office cat - Crippen. This time there is a new name to identify a policewoman from Cologne, Germany who wanted a temporary secondment to a world-class specialist unit and got the PCU instead. The classic Raymond Land "Private and Confidential" memo doesn't come at the first of the story so you will have to wait a little while for it. The crime being investigated by our intrepid group took place not in a locked room, but in a locked garden. When the garden can only be entered through the gate and only with a key, and the gate was locked, how did the murder happen? That is only the tip of the iceberg with this mystery. Naturally author Christopher Fowler couldn't have anything so mundane as only a locked garden mystery so get ready to be entertained. The members of the PCU are always fighting to keep their unit alive. This time they may be collateral damage in a bigger political battle.
I really did enjoy this one because it covers one of my favorite London joys, their incredible parks and gardens. The story did ramble on a bit - rambling is something of a requirement with Arthur Bryant - but this one rambled almost too much for me. However, thinking back over the story I don't exactly see what could (or should) have been left out so just read it all and pay attention. I never, ever knew who the killer was and was quite surprised. That's still a good thing. I absolutely loved Arthur's little side trips into arcane slang - that was lovely. I missed Crippen and the two Daves. If you remember the origination of the names Fowler chose for his lead characters (Bryant & May) be prepared for another joke from him along those same lines. You can read about that in the Acknowledgments at the back of the book and - do as I did - smack yourself on the head for not being more aware. I like reading an author who has enough regard for his readers that he likes to play little games with them.
