Oranges and Lemons
One Sunday morning, the outspoken Speaker of the House of Commons steps out of his front door only to be crushed under a mountain of citrus fruit. Bizarre accident or something more sinister? The government needs to know because here's a man whose knowledge of parliament’s biggest secret could put the future of the government at stake.
It should be the perfect case for Bryant & May and the Peculiar Crimes Unit, but unfortunately one detective is in hospital, the other is missing and the staff have all been dismissed. It seems the PCU is no more. But events escalate: a series of brutal crimes seemingly linked to an old English folk-song threatens the very foundation of London society and suddenly the PCU is offered a reprieve and are back in (temporary) business!
And if the two elderly detectives, ‘old men in a woke world’, do manage to set aside their differences and discover why some of London’s most influential figures are under life-threatening attack, they might not just save the unit but also prevent the entire city from descending into chaos . .
I have read a couple of the early Bryant and May and have a bit of catching up to do with the others.
I think you could have read it as a stand alone book, but background to the characters would help.
It does get a bit rambling at times as Arthur Bryant does tend to wander off in his thought processes.
Lots of little bits of quirky and sometimes random bits of London history are thrown into the narrative.
For a mystery series that is supposed to be humorous, there are an awful lot of murders!
I did find it a little confusing at the end, but it was still a good read and I look forward to reading the rest of the series.
Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for my ARC in return for an honest review.