Christopher Fowler Knihy

Tato čtvrtá kniha s detektivy Bryantem a Mayem nabízí bláznivou směsici černého humoru a napětí, ideální pro čtenáře hledající nové zážitky v detektivní literatuře. Případ, který musí vyřešit Jednotka pro vyšetřování neobvyklých zločinů, začíná vraždou kontroverzní výtvarnice, jejíž tělo je vystaveno jako součást její vlastní instalace. Bez podezřelých, motivů či důkazů se detektivové Arthur Bryant a John May ocitají v obtížné situaci, ale mají svědka – dvanáctiletého chlapce, který tvrdí, že viděl maskovaného lupiče na černém koni. Zatímco ostatní se mu vysmívají, Bryant a May jeho svědectví berou vážně. Loupežník se objevuje znovu, tentokrát v souvislosti s další podivnou vraždou, a zdá se, že cílí na méně významné londýnské celebrity. Bulvární tisk začíná panikařit a detektivové, s pomocí Mayovy vnučky April trpící agorafobií, se snaží rozplést složitou síť nevraživosti mezi umělci, zvrhlého sexu, pouličních gangů a templářů. K vyřešení záhady musí použít všechny dostupné metody, včetně mytologie a psychogeografie. Navíc se ukazuje, že případ má spojitost s dávným vyšetřováním série vražd, které málem zničilo jejich partnerství. Vysoký věk detektivů je nezastaví.

Zatímco Británie prožívá nejchladnější zimu za mnoho let, v Jednotce pro vyšetřování neobvyklých zločinů se přihodí něco nepředstavitelného. Zatímco ministerstvo vnitra usiluje o zrušení jednotky a doufá, že k tomu přispěje návštěva členky královské rodiny ohlášená na poslední chvíli, je důležitý člen personálu patolog Oswald Finch nalezen mrtev v zamčené pitevně - a podezření padá na několik kolegů. Detektivní seržantka Janice Longbrightová je nucena udělit svým kolegům domácí vězení a pustit se do vyšetřování bez Arthura Bryanta a Johna Maye, svérázných, provokujících, ale geniálních postarších detektivů, kteří tuto velice neortodoxní jednotku vedou. Ti totiž využijí týdnu nuceného volna k cestě do Plymouthu na mezinárodní kongres spiritistů, během níž je zastihne sněhová bouře a oni uvíznou v závějích uprostřed devonského venkova. Nezbývá jim než se pokusit pátrat na dálku.

Jejich počáteční vyšetřování končí ve slepé uličce a Bryantovu pozornost upoutá nové, záhadné území, zatímco May se ocitá v obtížné situaci, když se snaží zachránit pověst profesora, jehož znalost londýnských podzemních řek mu hrozí zničit kariéru. Mezitím začíná nové majitelce čísla 5 dělat čím dál větší starosti vlhkost ve sklepě, neodbytní pavouci a strašidelný zvuk tekoucí vody…

Runy jsou prastaré písmo z počátku germánské civilizace. Užívalo se jich především ke kultovním a magickým účelům a zápisům. V hororu Christophera Fowlera jsou runy nositeli smrti v sérii případů, které vyšetřuje londýnská policie. Záhadná úmrtí mají jeden společný rys: oběti umírají v záchvatu šílenství a všechny mívají u sebe zvláštní talisman - lístek s nerozluštitelným runovým nápisem. Současně s policií se do pátrání pouští na vlastní pěst syn jedné z obětí i dvojice svérázných knihovníků. Společně odhalí původce tragedií, finančního magnáta Daniela Carmodyho, který experimentuje s počítačovou sítí a zkouší manipulovat s lidskou psychikou. V nouzi nejvyšší mu policie postaví do cesty nezletilého počítačového génia a nebezpečný souboj rozumu s magií vrcholí.

„Noviny o tom psaly jako o případu sedmdesáti sedmi hodin. Tehdy vyvolal hrozný poprask. Dostali jsme se do ohromných problémů. Drahý příteli, byl to jeden z našich nejpodivnějších případů. Pamatuji se na to, jako by to bylo včera.“ Ve skutečnosti si Arthur Bryant pamatuje ze včerejška jen velmi málo, ale na nejzvláštnější vyšetřování své kariéry si vzpomíná dobře. Odehrálo se ke konci roku 1973. Zatímco „Zimu nespokojenosti“ Edwarda Heatha provázely stávky a výpadky proudu, členové bohaté aristokratické rodiny Whitstableů, jejíž patriarcha byl zakladatelem tajného spolku zvaného Aliance věčného světla, umírali poněkud neobvyklými způsoby – na hadí uštknutí, výbuch bomby, holičskou břitvou. Nechybělo ani otrávené líčidlo a vyhladovělý lidožravý tygr. Jak se dny krátí s blížícími se Vánoci, zjišťují Bryant a May, neortodoxní detektivové z kontroverzní londýnské Jednotky pro vyšetřování neobvyklých zločinů, že klíčem k záhadě je čas – a ten rodině i policii dochází. Vyšetřování je zavede do skrytého světa třídních konfliktů, umělců a tajných spolků ve velkém podnikání. Co s tím má ale společného sedmdesát sedm tikajících hodin? Pro rozuzlení musí detektivové projít vskutku strašidelným dobrodružstvím, při němž se setkají s pestrou plejádou bizarních postav, jaké je možné najít jen ve městě jako je Londýn.

Arthur Bryant a John May z Jednotky pro vyšetřování neobvyklých zločinů jsou nejdéle sloužící detektivové v Londýně. Když bomba ukončí Bryantův život, skončí také partnerství, které trvalo více než půl století. Během neúnavného pátrání po identitě Bryantova vraha dospěje May k přesvědčení, že odpověď se skrývá v jejich prvním společném úkolu. Stalo se to v Londýně během bitvy o Británii a všechno začalo, když byla krásná tanečnice účinkující v novém uvedení Orfea v podsvětí nalezena s nohama uříznutýma u kotníků... Vyšetřování pak přivede dva mladé detektivy k bizarní záhadě jako ze středověku - ve městě sužovaném válkou pronásledují muže bez tváře, který se stává postrachem divadla plného mýtů a pověstí.

Příběh s prapodivným provokativním názvem se odehrává v centru dnešního Londýna. Jeho protagonisty jsou dva mladí muži: ambiciózní začínající novinář Vincent Reynolds a bohatý nudící se aristokrat Sebastian Wells. Dohromady je svede Vincentův záměr napsat reportáž o životě mnohamilionového města a jeho různorodých obyvatel. Při sběru informací Vincent vypátrá, že Sebastian předsedá záhadnému spolku s problematickou minulostí, a pokusí se do něj tajně proniknout. Je odhalen a za trest musí absolvovat riskantní noční hru, která ho zavede do labyrintu historických zákoutí. V této hře jde o život, a to nejeden, její konec je však překvapivý.

This is the memoir Christopher Fowler always wanted to write about 'writing'.It's the story of how a young bookworm growing up in a house where there was nothing to read but knitting pamphlets and motorcycle manuals became a writer - a 'word monkey' - and pursued a sort of career in popular fiction. And it's a book full of brilliant insights into the pleasures and pitfalls of his profession, dos and don'ts for would-be writers, and astute observations on favourite (and not-so-favourite) novelists.But woven into this hugely entertaining and inspiring reflection on a literary life is an altogether darker thread. In Spring 2020, just as the world went into lockdown, Chris was diagnosed with terminal cancer. And yet there is nothing of the misery memoir about Word Monkey. Past and present intermingle as, in prose as light as air, he relates with wry humour and remarkable honesty what he knows will be the final chapter in his story.Deeply moving, insightful and surprisingly funny, this is Christopher Fowler's life-affirming account of coming to terms with his own mortality.

It was the kind of story that barely made the news.When 91-year-old Amelia Hoffman died in her top-floor flat on a busy London road, it's considered an example of what has gone wrong with modern society: she slipped through the cracks in a failing system.But detectives Arthur Bryant and John May of the Peculiar Crimes Unit have their doubts. Mrs Hoffman was once a government security expert, even though no one can quite remember her. When a link emerges between the old lady and a diplomat trying to flee the country, it seems that an impossible murder has been committed.Mrs Hoffman wasn't the only one at risk. Bryant is convinced that other forgotten women with hidden talents are also in danger. And, curiously, they all own models of London Bridge.With the help of some of their more certifiable informants, the detectives follow the strangest of clues in an investigation that will lead them through forgotten alleyways to the city's oldest bridge in search of a desperate killer.But just when the case appears to be solved, they discover that Mrs Hoffman was smarter than anyone imagined. There's a bigger game afoot that could have terrible consequences. It's time to celebrate Bryant and May's twentieth anniversary as their most lunatic case yet brings death and rebirth to London's most peculiar crimes unit.

A hotel offers a taboo service for its troubled clients. A young man must wind a thousand clocks before sunset. A vampire library attacks its readers. A shy young man loses a dog and discovers the cutlery of the Marquis de Sade. A lottery winner soon wishes he hadn't won. Deranged office workers take over a building. Incarceration, incantations, revenge, romance and the end of the world - twice. Personal Demons are Christopher Fowler's tales of the the fantastic and the wilder side of modern urban living. They reflect the rich and various talents of a writer called 'ghoulishly irresistible' by The Times.

"When a prominent politician is crushed by a fruit van making a delivery, the singular team of Arthur Bryant and John May overcome insurmountable odds to reunite the PCU and solve the case in the brainy new mystery from acclaimed author Christopher Fowler. On a spring morning in London's Strand, the Speaker of the House of Commons is nearly killed by a van unloading oranges and lemons for the annual St. Clement Danes festival. It's an absurd near-death experience, but the government is more interested in investigating the Speaker's state of mind just prior to his accident. The task is given to the Peculiar Crimes Unit--the only problem being that the unit no longer exists. Its Chief, Raymond Land, is tending his daffodils on the Isle of Wight and senior detectives Arthur Bryant and John May are out of commission; May is undergoing surgery for a bullet wound and Bryant has been missing for a month. What's more, the old unit in King's Cross is being turned into a vegetarian tapas bar. Against impossible odds, the team is reassembled and once again what should have been a simple case becomes a lunatic farrago involving arson, suicide, magicians, academics and a race to catch a killer with a master plan involving London churches. Joining their team this time is Sidney, a young woman with no previous experience, plenty of attitude--and a surprising secret"--

And, as the legend has it, when the ravens leave, the nation falls...Soon it seems death is all around and Bryant and May must confront a group of latter- day bodysnatchers, explore an eerie funeral parlour and unearth the gruesome legend of Bleeding Heart Yard.

And so begins an investigation that will test the members of the Peculiar Crimes Unit to their limits, setting Arthur Bryant off on a trail that leads to Bedlam and Bletchley Park, and into the world of madness, codes and the secret of London's strangest relic.

The river Thames is London's most important yet neglected artery. At the Peculiar Crimes Unit, Arthur Bryant and John May find themselves dealing with an impossible crime committed in a very public place. In an adventure that's as twisting as the river upon which it's set, will there be anything left of the Peculiar Crimes Unit when it's over?

Detectives Arthur Bryant and John May delve into the mysterious death of ninety-one-year-old Alice Hoffman, a former government security expert. Initially deemed an accident, their investigation reveals her ties to a diplomat and hints at a larger conspiracy involving a group of skilled women. As they navigate London's hidden corners, the duo uncovers a web of deception that challenges their assumptions. This case marks a pivotal moment for the Peculiar Crimes Unit, intertwining past and present in a thrilling exploration of international intrigue.

In every detective's life there are cases that can't be discussed. This book presents eleven of these previously unseen investigations that required the collective genius and unique modus operandi of Arthur Bryant and John May and the Peculiar Crimes Unit - investigations that range from different times and a variety of places.

The year is 1969 and ten guests are about to enjoy a country house weekend at Tavistock Hall.

At the same time, several members of the PCU team reach dramatic turning points in their lives - but the most personal tragedy is yet to come, for as the race to bring down a cunning killer reaches its climax, Arthur Bryant faces his own devastating day of reckoning.

Near London Bridge Station, members of the Met's Peculiar Crimes Unit race to catch a killer. In the dark and the rain, they unwittingly cause a bizarre accident - one that will have repercussions for them all... One year later, a smartly dressed woman is found strangled in a locked private London garden. The dog she was walking has disappeared, her husband is missing, and a nanny has vanished too - so far, so typical a case for Bryant and May. As Bryant delves into the arcane history of London's extraordinary parks and gardens - its "wild chambers" - May and the rest of the team become mired in a national scandal. It seems likely that the killer is preparing to strike again, and if the city's open spaces aren't safe, then surely they must be closed...

An enthralling anthology of 20 CWA Dagger Award-shortlisted gripping and thrilling stories for the most hardened crime fan. Featuring bestselling authors such as Neil Gaiman, Ann Cleeves, Christopher Fowler and Val McDermid.

In Which Mr May Makes A Mistake And Mr Bryant Goes Into The Dark Three deaths, seemingly unconnected but for one thing- each happened at precisely four a.m. - the lonely hour . . . At four in the morning outside a run-down nightclub in the wrong part of London, four strangers meet for the first time. A few weeks later a body is found on Hampstead Heath, hanging upside down and surrounded by the paraphernalia of black magic. Then a young man is killed on a London bridge and a woman is attacked in her modern (and secure) luxury apartment. To catch this killer, Bryant and May and the Peculiar Crimes Unit switch to working nights. While John May takes a technological approach, Arthur Bryant calls upon sundry eccentrics and misfits for help solving what seems an impossible case. But impossible is what the PCU does best. As they draw back the curtain on a city at night, Bryant and May follow a trail of murder, arson, blackmail, kidnap, loneliness and . . . bats. 'The most consistently brilliant, entertaining and educational voice in contemporary British crime fiction' CATHI UNSWORTH 'One of our most unorthodox and entertaining writers' SUNDAY TELEGRAPH 'I love the wit and playfulness of the Bryant & May books' ANNE CLEEVES

From the author of Spanky, this is a suburban nightmare that delves behind the new curtains to reveal the truth about housewives, bloodstains and the damage you can inflict with a Morphy Richards iron.

But then a headless body is found in a freezer, and on the perimeter of a massive construction site near King's Cross, a gigantic figure has been spotted - dressed in deerskin and sporting antlers made of knives and suddenly, with limited resources and very little time, the PCU are back in business...

The defenestration of a ruthless theatre impresario's young son was definitely not the best way to end the play's first night party. Delving into the history of London theatre and the gruesome origins of 'Punch and Judy', they uncover a maniacal killer is at work - one who must be caught before it's curtains for everyone!

"The Peculiar Crimes Unit has solved many extraordinary cases over the years, but some were hushed up and hidden away. Until now. Arthur Bryant remembers these lost cases as if they were yesterday. Unfortunately, he doesn't remember yesterday, so the newly revealed facts could come as a surprise to everyone, including his exasperated partner John May.Here, then, is the truth about the Covent Garden opera diva and the seventh reindeer, the body that falls from the Tate Gallery, the ordinary London street corner where strange accidents keep occurring, the consul's son discovered buried in the unit's basement, the corpse pulled from a swamp of Chinese dinners, a Hallowe'en crime in the Post Office Tower, and the impossible death that's the fault of a forgotten London legend. All of the unit's oddest characters are here, plus the detectives' long-suffering sergeant Janice Longbright gets to reveal her own forgotten mystery.These twelve crimes must be solved without the help of modern technology, mainly because nobody knows how to use it. Expect misunderstood clues, lost evidence, arguments about Dickens, churches, pubs and disorderly conduct from the investigative officers they laughingly call 'England's Finest'!"--Publisher description

This anthology presents 32 science fiction short stories inspired by the prophetic dystopias of J. G. Ballard, a titan of 20th-century literature. Featuring contributions from notable authors like Will Self, Iain Sinclair, Christopher Fowler, Chris Beckett, and a new Jerry Cornelius story by Michael Moorcock, it pays homage to Ballard’s unique vision of a bewildering and alienating world. Ballard’s works, including Empire of the Sun, Crash, and Cocaine Nights, explore the disjointed nature of contemporary reality and classic dystopias such as The Drowned World and High Rise, leaving an indelible mark on literature. This groundbreaking collection, edited by Maxim Jakubowski and Rick McGrath, showcases the uncanny and uneasy relationship between humanity and the future, reflecting Ballard’s influence on literary and science fiction. The anthology includes stories from a diverse array of authors, such as Jeff Noon, Preston Grassmann, Toby Litt, Christine Poulson, and many more, each offering their interpretation of the themes that Ballard so masterfully explored. Through this compilation, readers are invited to engage with the unsettling visions that define our empires of concrete, seen through the warped lens of Ballard's legacy.

They've been given just one week to find a killer they'd caught once before . . . Edging closer to what lies hidden beneath the city - and to the madness that is driving a man to murder - Bryant and May are about to uncover a mystery as bizarre as anything they have ever encountered . . .

23-year-old Martyn has a dead-end job, a miserable family, few friends, and no love life. Then he meets a Spancialosaphus Lacrimosae, his own personal demon. Spanky's friendship brings confidence, the good life, a better job, a girlfriend. But Spanky is a demon, and Martyn has a price to pay.

When one of the guests at London's Savoy Hotel, where Jerry Gates works, dies in bizarre circumstances, she finds herself drawn into a nightmare world of blackmail, violence and ritual murder. She has stumbled into a conspiracy involving rare art, computers and a secret occult society.

High above London, on the rooftops of the city, lives a secret society of misfits governed by a bizarre code of honour. It is a world known to only a few people on the streets below - until the murderous battle for its leadership breaks out. As the Roofworld fights to keep the powerfully evil Chymes and his occult worshipping followers at bay, Robert Linden and Rose Leonard, two innocent outsiders, are drawn into a twilight, dangerous world. They face far greater terrors than they could have imagined. And the battle is on for the ultimate prize - London itself.

One night, Arthur Bryant witnesses a drunk middle-aged lady coming out of a pub in a London backstreet. As their new team at the Peculiar Crimes Unit goes in search of a madman, the octogenarian detectives ready themselves for the pub crawl of a lifetime, and come face to face with their own mortality...

As the nation's oldest serving detectives, we know more about London than almost anyone. After all, we've been walking its streets and impulsively arresting its citizens for decades. Who better to take you through its less savoury side? We'll be chatting about odd buildings, odder characters, lost venues, forgotten disasters, confusing routes, dubious gossip, illicit pleasures and hidden pubs. We'll be making all sorts of odd connections and showing you why it's almost impossible to separate fact from fiction in London. With the help of some of our more disreputable friends, each an argumentative and unreliable expert in his or her own dodgy field, we'll explain why some streets have genders, why only two Londoners got to meet Dracula, how a department store and a prison played tricks on your mind, when a theatre got stranded in the past, how a building vanished in plain sight, what excited Charlotte Bronte about the city and where the devils hide in London. We hope to capture something of the city's restless spirit by shamelessly and wilfully wandering off course. It goes without saying that we'll bluff and bamboozle you along the way but that's all part of the fun. History is what you remember. London is what you forget (and we've forgotten a lot). So please do join us on this magical mystery tour of our city. Who knows where we'll end up?

Welcome to Soho. London’s creative square mile, a bedlam of business and backstabbing, where dreams are manufactured and office workers get off their faces. A place where being a celebrity means treating every day as your last. Movie executive Richard Tyler is strung out, stressed up and sinking fast. He owes money to film-freak thugs, thanks to debts stacked up by his card-charging girlfriend, who has been shagging his belligerent boss, who has just fired him. Could things get any worse? During one particularly hypertense evening, Richard drops dead in the middle of a fashionable Soho bar. What happens next mortifies his friends and horrifies his enemies, as Richard’s lifestyle of power-lunches and parties changes overnight into a fast-track trip into career hell…

In a picturesque villa in France, maid Hannah Carreras observes the lives of the guests while remaining silent. When Summer, the mistress, goes missing after her lover Steve arrives with his family, secrets unravel. As the police investigate, Hannah holds the key to the truth she witnessed, including blood and broken glass.

There are two things you need to know about haunted houses. One, there's never been an actual authenticated haunted house. Two, it's not the house that's haunted, but the person.

A teacher loses a pupil somewhere in the London Underground. A catwalk model reveals the grisly secret of looking good. Sex toys become the instruments of fate. This collection of stories covers black comedies and dark revelations.

Stellen Sie sich einen klassischen Horrorfilm vor, den Hammer Films nie gemacht hat. Ein grandioses Epos aus den Hochzeiten des Studios, eine Mischung aus den alten Dracula und Frankenstein Filmen und Dr. Terrors House Of Horrors … Vier Passagiere treffen sich auf einer Zugreise durch Osteuropa während des Ersten Weltkrieges; konfrontiert mit einem Mysterium, das gelöst werden muss, wenn sie überleben wollen. Was ist in dem Sarg, vor dem jeder so viel Angst hat? Was ist das tragische Geheimnis der verschleierten Roten Gräfin, die mit ihnen reist? Warum wird ihr Mitreisender, der Brigadegeneral, von seinen eigenen Soldaten so gefürchtet? Und was genau ist das Geheimnis des teuflischen Ärzengels selbst? Bizarre Kreaturen, satanische Riten, verängstigte Passagiere und die Romantik einer Bahnreise … im Stile eines klassischen Horror-Romans. Reisen Sie mit … wenn Sie sich trauen! 'Fowler schreibt teuflisch kluge und sarkastische Romane.' - Val McDermid, The Times 'Christopher Fowler ist ein preisgekrönter Schriftsteller, der auch einen guten Serienmörder abgeben würde.' - Time Out 'Fowler fordert seine Leser immer wieder auf, die Grenzen zwischen Unschuld und Bosheit, Rationalität und Paranoia neu zu finden. Er hat die unheimliche Fähigkeit, den Terror ans Tageslicht zu ziehen.' - The Guardian auf Demonised