The Invisible Code – Christopher Fowler
Enjoy your mysteries with a liberal pinch of dark English eccentricity? Christopher Fowler’s latest, The Invisible Code, is a joyous cross between police procedural and Douglas Adams (Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, The Hitchhikers’ Guide to the Galaxy). Off-beat investigation, inspired deduction and some very British quirkiness can be found throughout this twisted tale. Like Lieutenant Columbo, you underestimate the mental powers of elderly duffers Bryant and May of the Peculiar Crimes Unit at your peril.
A woman is found dead in strange circumstances in St Bride’s Church, London. Then the sinister Oskar Kasavian, head of Home Office security, summons our heroes. His wife claims an evil presence is doing her harm and her behaviour is becoming more and more erratic. It’s clear that she’s at risk and Kasavian wants to know why. A second strange murder reveals a surprising link between the cases and the game is afoot! Bryant and May follow a trail of clues, taking them from the notorious Bedlam hospital to historic Bletchley Park. They soon find themselves in a world of encrypted codes and symbols, hidden rooms and even more deeply hidden truths.
Christopher Fowler is the multi award-winning author of over forty novels, graphic novels and short story collections. He has written comedy and drama for BBC radio (including a Sherlock Holmes story) and writes for the Financial Times and the Independent on Sunday. His first bestseller was Roofworld (1998) and his subsequent novels have included Spanky, Disturbia, Psychoville and Calabash. Usually a mix of crime, horror and satire, his work portrays a dark underworld where nothing is quite as it seems. Although The Invisible Code is the 11th book in the Bryant and May series, it stands alone and can be enjoyed out of sequence.
‘The Bryant and May series… is witty, charming, intelligent, wonderfully atmospheric and enthusiastically plotted.’ – The Times
