Hall of Mirrors by Christopher Fowler a Bryant and May mystery
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Bryant and May are back in Hall of Mirrors, only this time in the past. One of Bryant’s memoirs is the context for our murder mystery. Set in a country mansion, we are treated to an earlier incarnation of Bryant and May. It’s the swinging 60s, filled with peace, love, marijuana, and hippies..
Christopher Fowler delivers as always. Bryant’s dislike and distrust of the countryside (“I thought it would be like Hyde Park”.) Digs at Christie mysteries abound. The Bryant and May duo is just in its formative years, but we see the beginnings of how they work together. May is sartorial as ever, albeit this time in bell bottoms. Bryant is his disheveled self, unable to relate well to people but brilliant at seeing emerging patterns and mysterious connections.
Typically I’d give a Bryant and May 5 stars. But set in the countryside, this story lacked the touch of pixie dust mixed in with London history we are use to. The absence of urban legend aside, only Fowler could still give us plenty of suspects…even before a crime has occurred.
