I'd never read any of Christopher Fowler's Bryant & May books before reading this one, so I'm not sure what drew me to this one aside from the description. Then again maybe it was intuition - because you can bet the series is sitting high on my TBR list now. What fun this one is. It didn't take long for me to take a liking to the characters, their banter, their crankiness, their love for London. It isn't a book that I sat and read all at once. I'd read a few chapters, set it aside for something else, then go back between other books. And whether all the history is in fact accurate, it definitely had me grabbing my phone to look up names and places and history. And made me want to go back to London with a new list of places to check out. And I can't wait to read Full Dark House, the first in the Bryant & May series.
Thanks to Netgalley and Random House/Bantam for providing a copy for an unbiased review.

I read Bryant & May mysteries for Bryant and May. Couldn't care less about the mysteries, or the peculiar crimes. So get this - this book is all Arthur without the bother of a plot or clues or such. Sit back, relax, and prepare to be hugely entertained by a volume that reads like a weird "best of..." collection. I understand that Bryant may come back in a new book, even though he is now dead, but in the meantime this book is an unexpected, wonderful gift.

Bryant and May just might be the oldest detectives in London, but they sure know how to tell a story. Of course, Christopher Fowler has been with them eery step of their peculiar careers and knows just how to tell their stories to their fans. While this may be a rehash of some of their cases, it's definitely a refreshing look at London's odd criminals.

This is an excellent travel guide written as a novel. The are 6000 streets in London and they take you down all of them. Read about a pub they like and you check and it exists. Place, monuments all can be found. And the conversation of these delightful detectives provides smiles and more information.
Author died this past summer and this serves as a wonderful to celebrate the series.

What a fun series! I have not read them all but after reading this collection of stories about places in London, I must seek out the installments I have yet to read. . I love the quirky characters and their peculiarities.
Many thanks to Random House and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Confession: I am a big (big) Christopher Fowler fan: More specifically I have enjoyed several of his Bryant & May mystery series and will be reading many more over the coming months. Bryant & May and the rest of their compatriots in the Peculiar Crimes Unit deliver interesting mysteries in addition to even more interesting characters. So to delight the avid reader even more the two older sleuths have taken their love for the city of London and have delivered a unique traveler’s guide to the city. They take us on a sort-of walking tour of out-of-the-way interesting spots while deviating into arcane historical vignettes— all laced by Mr. Fowler’s brilliant humor. Fun, sometimes frivolous, always interesting, and thanks to NetGalley for the joy of reading one of my favorite books in the past several years. 5 1/2 stars…

While I wanted to like Christopher Fowler's most recent Bryant and May book, PECULIAR LONDON, I simply couldn't get into it. The book has all the usual charm of the characters, their conversations and banter, their interactions with other people, their rambling anecdotes. The device or premise, though, didn't serve the book well--it really did feel like being dragged along on a tour with an elderly relative, which was charming and funny at the beginning and then went on way too long.

Arthur Bryant and John May, London's oldest and dodgiest detectives take us on a tour of the oddities of London in Bryant & May Peculiar London. Along with boss Raymond Land and some of their spiritualist and other companions go about London's old and lost buildings and people; bars, churches, monuments. An amusing grab bag of fact and fiction.

A perfect book if you'd like to take a bit of a ramble into the minds of Bryant & May (mainly Bryant) and a bit of a rambling walk around London. Mr. Fowler has a full grasp of what actual talking sounds like, which I found a positive and a negative because sometimes old men just say things. As such, I think this would be a wonderful audio book because the narrative voice is strong and fully realized but my experience of physical reading was just OK. Fowler's knowledge of secret London is always a joy, and as an extra bonus you can dip and dive into the book whenever you'd like, so it's a recommend for sure even if I was left wanting something a little different.

One would think that it is impossible to out-peculiar Arthur Bryant and his friends? acquaintances? strays?, but London, in all its glory, manages to do just that, in this travel guide of the arcane. No crimes are solved, but the interplay between Bryant, May, the PCU staff, and all the personalities we've seen throughout the series, along with the wealth of knowledge about London, past and present, make this a thoroughly enjoyable and worthwhile read.

It's substantial, almost 500 pages, and chockfull of anecdotes and stories. I expected to like it, but to maybe feel disappointed that it wasn't one of their twisty, turny mysteries. No fear, this is delightful, and every bit as quirky as you'd expect.

The chapters are divided into areas and/or topics, and don't necessarily need to be read in order. This is a book to be savored. You might be able to read it in one sitting, but my advice would be to take your time. Get some tea, get some biscuits, read a little, then check out the references for more information.

Recommended 4.25 out of5 stars.

I received an advance copy from Random House via NetGalley, in exchange for my honest review.

I have read several of the Bryant and May books and have always thoroughly enjoyed them. This book is a different type of book from their others in that there is no real story, per se, but instead a bunch of informational stories that are like background historical stories of places in London. I did enjoy some of the stories but missed there being some formal type of story that held the information together and found myself wanting to skim through it. I am not a fan of short stories and so maybe that is part of the reason it wasn’t for me. However there are several glowing reviews, so if the synopsis sounds interesting, give it a try! Happy reading!

This long running series features two old, physically failing, but intellectually top-of-game detectives. John May and Arthur Bryant solve the quirky cases that the rest of the London police can't begin to imagine. Along with the other members of the Peculiar Crimes Unit, they weave the threads of London's past and present into a delightful fabric of mystery and story-telling.

Peculiar London gives the PCU staff a chance to tell the stories of the city itself. It would be a fabulous book to have in hand on a visit to London. Wear your good walking shoes, and follow the trail!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

For fans of Fowler's PCU mysteries, one of the delights is the obscure London facts Arthur Bryant comes up with. This book i full of those tales, told by Bryant,May, and others.

BRYANT & MAY: PECULIAR LONDON by Christopher Fowler is described by Publishers Weekly as "a fun last look at beloved characters for their devotees." Given the very positive ratings on Goodreads, this seems an apt description for the nineteenth book in this series. The two detectives share stories and facts about London environs but there is no real mystery here. The tidbits are often historical (e.g., "The Coal Hole pub occupies what was once the coal cellar for the Savoy Hotel"), surprising ("for seventeen hundred years, there was only one crossing over the Thames, where London Bridge is today"), and/or humorous ("Why do we always venerate losers? (Boadicea, Eddie the Eagle, Boris Johnson)"). However, there are plenty of rather archaic phrases (fly whisk, solar topees) and tons of superfluous facts that can make for a slow read. I have lived in London and, if still there, would enjoy checking out some of Bryant & May's unique observations ("Blackfriars Bridge has seabirds on its east side and fresh water birds on the west to represent the boundary between salt water and fresh in the river.").

Those of us who are fans of Christopher Fowler's Peculiar Crimes Unit series are bereft that it has ended. But, he did promise that he had a few surprises in store and this wonderfully eccentric ramble through London with Arthur Bryant, John May, and an assorted quirky cast is great fun.

Fowler reels off strange and interesting factoids about London buildings, architecture, and people. If are ever nerdy enough to follow up on these stories, you will be amazed at the historical bits he ferrets out.

If you love these books, you will be thrilled to spend a little more time with his characters. If you are new to them, you will want to run right out and start the series after you finish. Thanks to the publisher and to Net Galley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

It was heartbreaking to read Christopher Fowler’s previous Bryant and May story. Like so many other readers I have grown quite fond of these gentlemen over the years. In Bryant and May: Peculiar London there is no mystery to be solved. Instead, John May has gathered the recordings and writings of what would have been Bryant’s book devoted to London. Bryant takes you on a tour of the city that you would never find in a typical guide book. It is a look at the literary and theatrical history, the influence of the early Roman settlements, the architecture and, of course, the pubs. No Bryant and May book would be complete without a message from Chief Raymond Land. Raymondo has been a consistent victim of their pranks and his humorous opening message warns you of what is to come. The journey through London is filled with bryantisms, the term coined by his associates to cover all of the times that he incorrectly explained something. Bryant’s ramblings and May’s efforts to keep him on track have always been a part of their charm. It was an absolute delight to be able to spend time with them again. I would like to thank NetGalley and Random House-Ballantine for providing this book for my review.

I tried reading this book like a novel but found I was not actually absorbing much of anything on the pages. For me, I had to read it one or two chapters at a time before taking a break. This is not like any of the other Bryant & May books except that the main characters from the series appear as narrators in this grand walk-about-London book. If you have read any of the mystery novels in this series you will have run across all kinds of interesting or quirky facts about London, past and present. Now we have a book that is the result of author Christopher Fowler's research about that most fascinating city. It is obvious that he loves the gathering and research of the topic. You certainly can't go wrong if you take this book along on your next trip to London. My sightseeing would have looked vastly different if I had had this book with me on my last trip to England.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group, Ballantine, Bantam for an e-galley of this book.

This book is a delight, an early Christmas gift and a wonderful escape from the stress of life these days. London is my favorite city and I wish I had had this gem of a guide when I was last there. Not only do we travel all over the city, we do it with Bryant and May. I could list my favorite bits but the list would be the whole book and, if I picked just one I'd be spoiling that bit for somebody. Take it from me, a fan of the series from day one, this is a book you need to make you laugh. It will also make you want to go back and re=read the whole series or, if you are new to the weird and wonderful of Bryant and May, you will want to start.
The joy of this book is it can be picked up and savored in small or large doses, your choice. As I read, I found myself wanting to go off and learn more about this and that and so much more. The mysteries of London are vast and this will serve as a teaser to so much more for the reader to uncover. When I finished it I wanted more. I seem to recall having said that after every Bryant and May book, the mark of a series that deserves a place on my top ten favorites list. Thank you, Christopher Fowler for giving us Bryant and May.
My thanks to the publisher Bantam and to NetGalley for giving me an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

The author’s research was phenomenal and the bibliography impressive.But I could not get past the fact that the book had no plot and no murder. It was a travel book with some crosstalk thrown in.
So this will be my last Bryant and May book unless series returns to its roots. Thanks to #NetGalley and #Bryantandmayoeculiarlindon for advanced digital copy.

I was feeling down about the probable ending of the Bryant & May series, when along came this collection of stories. One of the best feature of the series has always been its celebration of London’s lesser-known sites, in all their peculiar histories. The setup here is that Arthur Bryant has left dozens of audiotapes about London, with additional crosstalk between him and his partner, John May, and some other colleagues. My only—and slight—quibble with the book is that it often doesn’t capture Arthur May’s “voice” the way the mystery books do.

Each short story takes the form of Arthur Bryant giving a walking tour of a particular part of London and describing some of its oddities and interesting past events. He can go off onto odd tangents, but it’s always entertaining. You’ll learn such things as why Dutch ships aren’t required to pay any fees when they dock in London and load or unload goods; your brain will spin at the dizzying name changes of tube stations; you will wonder why anyone would want to join the Wig Club, considering it required members to put on a lice-ridden wig ostensibly made from the pubic hair of various royal mistresses.

For lovers of London and tourism, this is an entertaining collection. If only all of the Bryant & May series’s London information could be published in map form! It occurs to me that since this is being published in early December, it would make a great gift for anyone with a curious mind who is planning a trip to London.