*NEW RELEASE SPECIAL* Review of NETGALLEY arc Oranges and Lemons – Book 17 of the Bryant and May: Peculiar Crimes Unit series by Christopher Fowler #Brainfluffbook review #OrangesandLemonsbookreview

I was looking for something a bit quirky and this looked as if it would fit the bill…

BLURB: 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!

REVIEW: Well I got quirkiness in spades… And yes – I know that I crashed midway into this series (well, more than midway, given this is Book 17, to be honest) but picking up the pieces as to what had previously happened wasn’t the challenge. Getting used to Fowler’s habit of meandering off the narrative in the voice of Bryant to wander around London and give ad hoc tours – as well as the rather rambling style – did turn out to be a bit more of a problem. There is a fine line between charmingly different and annoyingly self indulgent when employing these sorts of tactics, particularly in a murder mystery. Most of the time, I think Fowler stayed on the right side of that line, but there were times when the interjections complicated an already fairly tortuous plot.

I also wasn’t wholly convinced by the setup of the Peculiar Crimes Unit and it’s last gasp – it seems a shambolic waste of resources even by dear old UK standards to dismantle a unit, only to promptly put it back together again. Particularly as there weren’t any major demotions during either process.

But these details didn’t prevent this being an entertainingly different read that engrossed me throughout. And although I was a bit frustrated at times with yet another diversion from the main plot, or yet another silly example of Bryant’s eccentric behaviour that got increasingly daft – there was never any risk of my putting this one down and not completing it. As for the plot… nope – I’m not even going to try. It sort of made sense at the time, but if you want to really know about it – go and get hold of the book, or better still, do the intelligent thing and start this series from the beginning. Recommended for murder mystery fans who love a vivid backdrop and highly eccentric main characters. The ebook arc copy of Oranges and Lemons was provided by the publisher through NetGalley in return for an honest opinion of the book.
8/10