White Corridor is a 2007 entry in Fowler's long line of Bryant and May adventures and I had not read it before. Our heroes remain two older-than-dirt detectives who function out of the so-called “Peculiar Crimes” Unit of Scotland Yard. Arthur Bryant is a curmudgeon who dabbles in the occult and strange ancient history while his partner John May is more normal and goes by the book occasionally. The two main characters and their contrasting ways of reaching the solutions are always ingenious, humorous and historically fascinating.
The plot setup puts our two elderly detectives headed for a weekend conference in a borrowed van. A nasty winter blizzard on the moors traps them with a large number of other vehicles. Rescue will be a long time coming and there seems to be a serial killer running amuck through the snow. Meanwhile, back in London, the unit's pathologist is murdered within the white sterile environment of his own laboratory. The story now cycles back and forth in both "white" environments with Bryant and May trying to solve their own problems while also trying by cell phone to help the junior members of their unit back in London solve their murder. Needless to say, it turns out that there are connections between the two cases.
As a devoted Anglophile and card-carrying senior citizen, I am particularly fond of these crotchety old detectives with their unorthodox methods and sappy humor, but this is not one of their best cases. The "trappped in a snowstorm with a murderer" gimmick has been used more than once before and the moves back and forth from London to the moors just seem to make the book disjointed.
My own I interest in Fowler's books started because several of them had theatrical or performance oriented situations and used a lot of London history. They had titles like Oranges and Lemons, and London Bridge is Falling Down. I think Fowler should keep his sleuths in London.
3 out of 5
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