Series: Bryant & May
Book in series: #1

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I always believe that the first book in a series is the most important, because if you’re not completely hooked by the first, then you are unlikely to read the rest. The first book is the foundation upon which the following are built, allowing for stories and characters to develop. Can you imagine a series like Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings without the first in the series?

I’ll admit that this is not the type of book I usually pick up. With crime novels, I’m extremely fussy. I like murder mysteries being told in a specific way, otherwise I find they don’t capture my attention. I don’t like it when a novel takes too long to get to the action (ie. when I have to wait 200 pages for someone to be killed), or when the story is good but the detectives investigating the murder are so unlikeable that I can’t continue. So, when this was recommended to me, I wasn’t sure as to what I was going to make of it. But, wanting to read more detective fiction, I decided that all I could do was give it a go…

And holy cannoli with a side of pepperoni! This book is an absolute page-turner! Eating? Goodbye. Sleeping? Don’t be ridiculous—I have a book to read!

My primary reservation was that it was going to be too cliche or predictable; that the story was going to be easy to guess, and thus become boring. But, folks and friends, this novel is anything but! I literally had no idea who did it until it was revealed towards the very end!

I have to admit that I’m usually not a fan of stories that contain dual timelines. They’re often messy, details get forgotten, and sometimes they can completely veer off on tangents that have absolutely no relevance to the plot or characters whatsoever. And to make it doubly difficult – the murder in the present connected to the murder in the past? Well, that sounds like a recipe for disaster, doesn’t it?

But folks and friends, this book is exquisite. The two narratives – one set in war-time and the other set in present day, interlink perfectly with one another; the breadcrumbs you’re fed throughout are all connected at the end; and the mystery gets tied up in a nice little bow. It’s like a modern day Agatha Christie novel that reminds us that in order to understand the present, we must first understand the past.

Of course, I cannot write this review without mentioning our two main characters – Bryant and May. Loveable octogenarians with weird quirks and a friendship that’s more like a married couple… what’s not to like? Also, their banter was hilarious and had me laughing from the beginning to the very end—especially with the quote about the fork in the toaster! I am interested in seeing and exploring how their relationship changes in future books, and I hope they keep the same level of humour.

Ultimately, if you’re looking to start a new detective fiction series that has octogenarian shenanigans, hilarity, suspense, and thrill, then I cannot recommend this book enough!

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Favourite quotes:

✨ ‘Plastic carrier bags floated around the traffic lights at the end of the Strand like predatory jellyfish.’

✨ ‘It was a violent place in which to discover a purpose. It was a good place to forge a friendship.’

✨ ‘The world will need sceptics after the war is over. Too many people are ready to believe anything they’re told.’

✨ ‘Throughout history, human nature remains unchanged. The world’s oldest questions are still being asked. Medea, Oedipus, we’re not adding anything that the Greeks didn’t already know.’

✨ ‘We’re the police, we don’t thump people.’

✨ ‘The city survived in fragments, as though it had been painted on glass and the glass had shattered.’