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Full Dark House: A Peculiar Crimes Unit Mystery Kindle Edition

4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 3,236 ratings

Edgy, suspenseful, and darkly comic, here is the first novel in a riveting mystery series starring two cranky but brilliant old detectives whose lifelong friendship was forged solving crimes for the London Police Department's Peculiar Crimes Unit. In Full Dark House, Christopher Fowler tells the story of both their first and last case—and how along the way the unlikely pair of crime fighters changed the face of detection.

A present-day bombing rips through London and claims the life of eighty-year-old detective Arthur Bryant. For his partner John May, it means the end of a partnership that lasted over half-a-century and an eerie echo back to the Blitz of World War II when they first met. Desperately searching for clues to the killer’s identity, May finds his old friend’s notes of their very first case and becomes convinced that the past has returned . . . with a killing vengeance.

It begins when a dancer in a risque new production of Orpheus in Hell is found without her feet. Suddenly, the young detectives are plunged in a bizarre gothic mystery that will push them to their limits—and beyond. For in a city shaken by war, a faceless killer is stalking London's theaters, creating his own kind of sinister drama. And it will take Arthur Bryant’s unorthodox techniques and John May’s dogged police work to catch a criminal whose ability to escape detection seems almost supernatural—a murderer who even decades later seems to have claimed the life of one of them . . . and is ready to claim the other.

Filled with startling twists, unforgettable characters, and a mystery that will keep you guessing, 
Full Dark House is a witty, heartbreaking, and all-too-human thriller about the hunt for an inhuman killer.

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

It's no surprise to find plenty of gothic touches in British author Fowler's debut mystery, the first in a series, given the renown of his horror fiction (Rune, etc.). When 80-year-old police detective Arthur Bryant gets blown up in an explosion at the North London Peculiar Crimes Unit headquarters, his longtime partner, John May, investigates his death. After some long, lecturing dialogue and an early chapter told from the viewpoint of a character who turns out to be of no consequence, the author reaches the core of his story—a flashback to the duo's first case during the London Blitz. In late 1940, the Palace Theatre is staging a production of Orpheus in the Underworld when the body of a dancer is found, sans feet. From this point forward, the intrigues of the theater murders, which decimate the cast, create considerable drama. The potency of Greek myth, conjured up by the opera being staged, is skillfully played out in the detectives' theories about the killer. The dynamic between May and Bryant makes for compelling reading, while the hubris of a police underling, Sidney Biddle, provides additional tension. Both past and present plots reach satisfying resolutions. Now that Fowler has set the stage, no doubt his second Bryant and May mystery will get off to a better start.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From School Library Journal

Adult/High School–This mystery features the impending retirement of a Scotland Yard detective and the death of another. When Arthur Bryant is apparently blown up, his erstwhile partner, John May, begins reflecting on their first case together more than 60 years earlier. May, a raw recruit of 19, and Bryant, a 23-year-old detective, became the core of the Peculiar Crimes Unit, created to handle cases that were too important to ignore, yet that somehow seemed disproportionately insignificant in the face of the hundreds of civilians killed each night during the Blitz. Both men had been hurried through training and were suddenly faced with the strange case of the Palace Phantom, a killer victimizing the cast in an elaborate production of Offenbach's Orpheus in the Underworld. May was both intrigued by and dismayed at Bryant's methods and seeming flights of fancy. He used everything from crime-scene forensics to spiritualists to help him build his case. Fowler skillfully shifts the action between 1940 and the 21st century, building suspense and growing awareness as each case comes to its respective climax. Not surprisingly, they are connected. The details of wartime London and the destruction and deprivation of daily life are vividly conveyed. Today's teens will identify with the young lives so drastically affected by the war while following the clues, and red herrings, to a satisfactory conclusion.–Susan H. Woodcock, Fairfax County Public Library, Chantilly, VA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B000FC1QNI
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Bantam (June 1, 2004)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ June 1, 2004
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 1457 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 496 pages
  • Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 0553385534
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 3,236 ratings

About the author

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Christopher Fowler
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Christopher Fowler was born in Greenwich, London. He is the multi award-winning author of 45 novels and short story collections, and the author of the Bryant & May mysteries. His novels include ‘Roofworld’, 'Spanky', 'Psychoville', 'Calabash' and two volumes of memoirs, the award-winning 'Paperboy' and 'Film Freak'. In 2015 he won the CWA Dagger In The Library. His latest books are 'England's Finest' and 'Oranges & Lemons'. Among his recent collections are 'Red Gloves', 25 stories of unease, marked his first 25 years of writing, and the e-book 'Frightening', a new set of short stories. Other later novels include the comedy-thriller 'Plastic', the Hammer-style monster adventure 'Hell Train', the haunted house chiller 'Nyctophobia' and the JG Ballard-esque 'The Sand Men'. Coming up in 2021 is the 20th Bryant & May book, 'London Bridge Is Falling Down'.

He has written comedy and drama for BBC radio, script, features and columns for national press, graphic novels, the play ‘Celebrity’ and the ‘War Of The Worlds’ videogame for Paramount, starring Sir Patrick Stewart. His short story 'The Master Builder' became a feature film entitled 'Through The Eyes Of A Killer', starring Tippi Hedren. Among his awards are the Edge Hill prize 2008 for 'Old Devil Moon', the Last Laugh prize 2009 for 'The Victoria Vanishes' and again in 2015 for 'The Burning Man'.

Christopher has achieved several ridiculous schoolboy fantasies, releasing a terrible Christmas pop single, becoming a male model, writing a stage show, posing as the villain in a Batman graphic novel, running a night club, appearing in the Pan Books of Horror and standing in for James Bond. After living in the USA and France he is now married and lives in London's King's Cross and Barcelona.

Customer reviews

4.1 out of 5 stars
3,236 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the plot interesting and enjoyable. They enjoy the believable characters and their development throughout the story. Readers praise the writing quality as intelligent and well-crafted, with a sense of humor that blends well with the mystery. Overall, they find the book an encouraging start to the series that keeps them hooked until the end.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

108 customers mention "Plot"86 positive22 negative

Customers find the plot interesting and engaging. They appreciate the twists and turns in the story, as well as the intriguing aspects of London's history. The book has two narrative tracks, with present-day and 1940s elements woven into the narrative. Readers find it different from typical murder mysteries, with nice bits and snatches of Savoyard trivia thrown in.

"...I loved the history, the revelation of what it must have been to live in the daily horror of bomb blasts--and best of all I loved the company of..." Read more

"...Hey! I’m missing the main point which is that these books are both good mysteries and great fun...." Read more

"...its three points for (mostly) clever writing, being funny and sometimes insightful. I may try another later...." Read more

"This mystery series has it all: clever writing, eccentric and lovable characters, rich London setting, complex and entertaining plots, and lots of..." Read more

90 customers mention "Readability"81 positive9 negative

Customers enjoy the book. They find it interesting and a page-turner with complex plots and historical details. The unique characters and lively banter between them are also appreciated.

"...Lots of plot twists and turns, murders, flights into the bowels of the old theatre, as well as into the fog of a blackout, as our detectives..." Read more

"...the main point which is that these books are both good mysteries and great fun. You’d have to be already dead not to enjoy these books." Read more

"...and lovable characters, rich London setting, complex and entertaining plots, and lots of historic and geographic detail...." Read more

"...Yes, I am. I'm also glad that I have quite a few left to read. I'm looking forward to a long and pleasurable association with Bryant and May." Read more

56 customers mention "Character development"50 positive6 negative

Customers find the characters interesting and well-written. They enjoy the introduction of the characters during WWII and the varied plots between then. The supporting cast is entertaining, and the believable pair of heroes are painted as such.

"...I certainly hope so as I am so enjoying these two marvelous fun characters who have made me laugh out loud and shiver in suspense...." Read more

"This mystery series has it all: clever writing, eccentric and lovable characters, rich London setting, complex and entertaining plots, and lots of..." Read more

"...the plots complex, but these books are also full of colorful, eccentric characters and wonderful humor. There are also two extra bonuses...." Read more

"...nice bits and snatches of Savoyard trivia, a nice instogram of Offenbach's career, and a fairly good and dramatic picture of life during..." Read more

41 customers mention "Writing quality"31 positive10 negative

Customers find the writing quality engaging with quirky characters. They describe the tale as absorbing and heartwarming, with no misplaced words or forced sentences. Readers appreciate the author's skill in conveying the overarching fear and sense of danger without being too wordy. The book is described as a quick read with great detail.

"...The author tells an absorbing tale while evoking for us the overlying fear and sense of helplessness, as well as the courage of Londoners...." Read more

"...In fact, it gets its three points for (mostly) clever writing, being funny and sometimes insightful. I may try another later...." Read more

"This mystery series has it all: clever writing, eccentric and lovable characters, rich London setting, complex and entertaining plots, and lots of..." Read more

"...It’s not even an easy read by any means as witnessed that it took me three weeks to read it...." Read more

32 customers mention "Humor"32 positive0 negative

Customers enjoy the humor in the book. They find the characters witty and humorous, with a clever dialogue and charming phrases. The book blends mystery with humor in a clever way.

"...of bomb blasts--and best of all I loved the company of those two lovable, eccentric, elderly detectives...." Read more

"...They’re all witty, sometimes laugh out so. They’re all deftly and cunningly plotted...." Read more

"...In fact, it gets its three points for (mostly) clever writing, being funny and sometimes insightful. I may try another later...." Read more

"...these books are also full of colorful, eccentric characters and wonderful humor. There are also two extra bonuses...." Read more

18 customers mention "Start"18 positive0 negative

Customers find the book a good start to the series. They praise the engaging characters and premise, and consider it an encouraging start to a delightful series. While some find it confusing at times, most are pleased with the start and look forward to more books in the series.

"...A good start of the series - their first and last cases. Now I want to read the other books in between." Read more

"This is a brilliant beginning of the Bryant and May partnership and their fledgling department The Peculiar Crimes Division...." Read more

"...to do: introduce a new cast of engaging characters and hook you on the series. Done and done." Read more

"...It is a strong start to the series, but they can be read in any order." Read more

10 customers mention "Interest"7 positive3 negative

Customers find the book captivating and detailed. They describe it as a refreshing change from the usual shoot-em-up genre.

"...interesting facets of the city of London, this one dives even deeper into particular substance with a long and detailed look at the workings of a..." Read more

"A long book, but one that keeps your interest. It jumps back and forth between modern day London and London in 1940 during the blitz...." Read more

"...the London bombings somewhat interesting, but again, it goes on an on to no apparent purpose...." Read more

"Silly yet pensive. Abstruse yet keeping my interest, which is not easy these days as I have grown exceedingly picky about my books...." Read more

24 customers mention "Pacing"15 positive9 negative

Customers have mixed opinions about the pacing of the book. Some find it fast-paced and engaging, with a good balance between Bryant's oddness and May's youthfulness. Others feel the time hopping slows the story down in places and leaves them confused by the abrupt transitions between periods.

"...They’re all witty, sometimes laugh out so. They’re all deftly and cunningly plotted...." Read more

"...this was handled in a very clever way (with flashbacks) this slowed the story in places...." Read more

"...John May, 19 going on 20, is a good balance to Bryant's oddness...." Read more

"Eccentric Bryant is eclectic in his interests, while May, relies on logic and legwork...." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on March 12, 2006
    This is a 'frame' story, one that begins and ends in the present and works back into the past of many years ago, during the blitz in London. There are returns to the present throughout, but it is the past which dominates and fascinates as we get a sense of what it must have been like during that horrific time in London history.

    The author tells an absorbing tale while evoking for us the overlying fear and sense of helplessness, as well as the courage of Londoners. The darkness that prevailed, the smell of smoke and ash, the ruins of store fronts, the gaping holes in streets...this is the backdrop as John and Arthur pursue a shadowy killer through an old dark theatre. The workings of theatre life are also well done. Given what is going on in the world, our detectives pause to wonder if one lone murderer matters very much in a London full of death and destruction, but they must stop him, nevertheless. Lots of plot twists and turns, murders, flights into the bowels of the old theatre, as well as into the fog of a blackout, as our detectives attempt to unravel the secret of the mythological clues the killer leaves behind.

    I loved the history, the revelation of what it must have been to live in the daily horror of bomb blasts--and best of all I loved the company of those two lovable, eccentric, elderly detectives. From the moment Fowler puts the thought in May's head that Bryant resembled a young Alec Guiness, he nailed him for the rest of the series. I saw him first as Guiness was in 'Great Expectations' (as Herbert Pockets), then as he was much later in 'Scrooge', and even with a hint of 'The Lady Killers' scarf-draped criminal genius. That Guiness image will stay with me as I continue to read through this series.

    I've finished 'The Water Room' and now am into 'Seventy-Seven Clocks.' Maybe by the time I have finished this one, Fowler will have a new one out. I certainly hope so as I am so enjoying these two marvelous fun characters who have made me laugh out loud and shiver in suspense. Not your traditional police procedural novels, these stories seem more character driven, yet with plenty of mystery story.
    11 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on May 12, 2021
    If the master of locked room mysteries in the 19320s and through 50s was John Dickson Carr, his clear successor is Christopher Fowler, and his mad, mad series of novels about London’s Peculiar Crimes Unit, set up to deal with the odd ones, the cases that normal Sherlock Holmesian detection simply can’t handle.
    The detectives? Arthur Bryant, an enthusiast of offbeat approaches, white witches, seances, an aged stuffed Abyssinian cat as familiar, leaking sawdust from its seams. And John May, as rational and straightforward as Arthur is off the tracks. But they work well together, aided by the other more sanely (and staidly) inclined members of the Unit. In this –I’m not sure if it’s the first in the series—Bryant is blown up in the very (first chapter and May tries to figure out what his eccentric friend and colleague was investigating, boom ,boom, when his life ended when his life ended, not prematurely, because he was in his eighties by then, but still before either he or May wanted it to end. Clues lead May back to the very first case Bryant and he, young twenties then, investigated. It was a complicated, steamy case in 1940, of the knocking off in highly referential fashion (read your Greek mythology, especially the story of Orpheus) of a string of actors and dancers in a production of Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld (1858). By the end of it, Bryant, the fey one, has advanced and been utterly crushed on two answers to the crimes. But number 3 sticks and no one else comes anywhere close to an answer. The novel advances in alternate chapters to solve what happened in 1940 to the very young and earnest Bryant and May and where they eventually stand, though much, much older, in 2000.

    I’ve read several of the books in this series, which now numbers twenty in length. I‘ve reviewed one or two of them and I’ve enjoyed all I’ve read. I’m not getting any younger so I decided now is the time to read them all in sequence.

    They’re all witty, sometimes laugh out so. They’re all deftly and cunningly plotted. Fowler’s understanding and appreciation of the geography, character and structure of mid-century London is a decided plus. Hey! I’m missing the main point which is that these books are both good mysteries and great fun. You’d have to be already dead not to enjoy these books.
    4 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on December 9, 2016
    This is not a badly written novel. In fact, it gets its three points for (mostly) clever writing, being funny and sometimes insightful. I may try another later. It is, however a very badly researched novel, and when much of the point of the story is portraying London during the Blitz, it loses a lot of points for that. Hint to the editor, who should appear in the stocks beside the author: In November 1940, with France occupied by Nazi Germany and invasion seeming imminent, theatrical companies were not lending one another players across the English Channel, nor did families pay calls. And if you need to confer with the Austrian Embassy, you'll need a Tardis. Austria ceased to exist in March 1938, and won't be resurrected until 1945. It's no good trying to sound authoritative about bombings, ration books and air raid precautions. Once you blunder on that scale, no one's going to trust the other details.
    Oh. The mysteries. There's a 1940 and a c. 2004. The 1940 solution struck me as arbitrary. I knew the answer to the 2004 at no more than 15% into reading the novel, and I'm not that good. Try one, but if the characters and the style of writing aren't attractive to you, don't hang around for the history or the mystery.
    86 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

  • C.Jam
    5.0 out of 5 stars My second B&M
    Reviewed in Germany on January 9, 2017
    Fantastic books, great storylines and best of all plenty of nonsical history about London, I simply could not put these down and was somewhat sad when I had finally completed the whole series.
  • John McNally
    4.0 out of 5 stars No Idea till the End!!
    Reviewed in Australia on February 7, 2017
    I really enjoyed this book. It was suspenseful and kept me guessing till the very end as to "who done it!!". I am now very much looking forward to Bryant and May book 2.
  • S. Burden
    5.0 out of 5 stars A good read
    Reviewed in Canada on January 8, 2016
    This is the first book I have read in the Full Dark House series, and I look forward to reading all of them.

    A very cleaver use of the two main characters and such an enjoyable read. Teenagers and adults alike will enjoy this book.
  • Mr
    5.0 out of 5 stars Full Dark London
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 10, 2011
    There is nobody who writes with a greater passion, a greater humour and verve about London than Christopher Fowler. For years I was reading Peter Ackroyd and although his Victorian visions and Historical hysteria are ok, it is only with Fowler that I pick up the sense of the city I know and love.

    The Bryant and May series is steeped in little known facts, little threads and themes that run throughout and are constantly inventive, fun and on occasion very moving. Nobody is doing a series like this and once you start to read them you will be hooked.

    I know that Christopher Folwer doesn't care if we read these novels in order, in fact probably thinks it pointless but for me I like to read in order, so....here is a list of publication date, but feel more than free to read them backwards...

    Full Dark House

    2004

    ISBN 0-553-81552-0

    The Water Room

    2004

    ISBN 0-385-60554-4

    Seventy-Seven Clocks

    2005

    ISBN 0-385-60885-3

    Ten Second Staircase

    2006

    ISBN 0-385-60886-1

    White Corridor

    2007

    ISBN 978-0-385-61067-4

    The Victoria Vanishes

    2008

    ISBN 978-0-385-61068-1

    Bryant & May On The Loose
    2009

    ISBN 978-0-385-61465-8

    Bryant & May Off the Rails

    2010

    ISBN 978-0553807202

    Byant & May & The Memory of Blood

    2011

    ISBN-10: 0857520490

    Bryant & May & The Invisible Code

    2012

    ISBN-10: 0857520504
  • BobM
    4.0 out of 5 stars A bit of light hearted escapism
    Reviewed in Canada on July 24, 2017
    This book was discussed on the CBC and reviewed favourably.
    It would suit people who enjoy entertaining stories peppered with bits of historical trivia.
    It is humerous and at times clever

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