Review of FULL DARK HOUSE by Christopher Fowler (see his website)

THE FIRST BRYANT & MAY MYSTERY

Bantam, 2003 (U.S. June 2004)

World War II rages and London shudders under the blitz, but the public must be assured that things are normal, that crime doesn't pay, and that the police are on the job. One police group, the Peculiar Crimes Unit is established to handle the odd and different cases and staffed by one of the most peculiar of England's police--Arthur Bryant. When new detective John May joins, the two set off in search of a body missing its feet and discover a theater production set to explode.

With a modern wrapper centered around a bombing that destroys the Peculiar Crimes building and survivor John May's attempts to make sense of his partner's death--a death that seems linked to their first case together, FULL DARK HOUSE spends most of its time in the past--when May and Bryant were young, when censors could still close down plays for showing too much of a chorus-girl's thighs, and when people could lose themselves in London and only be found when they decided themselves.

Author Christopher Fowler combines straightforward police procedural investigation with a bit of mysticism, numerous allusions to classical mythology, and a strange theater that truly becomes a character in this strange story. May and Bryant's differences (May is logical, Bryant a believer in the occult) deepens their partnership and allows the two of them to argue their way to a solution to the strange crimes. Because the severed feet are only the beginning of the deaths associated with this play.

I thought FULL DARK HOUSE went a little slowly from time to time and I'm still not sure that the modern 'wrapper' added a lot to the story, but May, Bryant, their unfortunate love lives, and the oddly haunted theater add up to solid entertainment.

See more BooksForABuck.com reviews of mysteries by Christopher Fowler.

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