While many long-running series follow their detectives as they grow old, Arthur Bryant and John May have been complicated older men for as long as readers have known them, and that's far from the only unusual characteristic of Bryant in particular, whose methods border on the metaphysical. Oranges and Lemons, the 17th volume in the Peculiar Crimes Unit series by Christopher Fowler, has everything fans have come to expect. It's pure joy to suspend disbelief to follow the team of quirky characters through the intricate, gloriously improbable plot, set in a vivid modern-day London.
A politician is nearly killed by a falling pile of fruit crates, and in his usual style, Bryant brings in a professional magician to prove it was an attempt at murder. When another prominent Londoner is stabbed in broad daylight by an assailant who scatters five farthings at the scene, the race is on to stop a series of killings that seem to be connected by an old rhyme (the "oranges and lemons" of the title).
The 17th volume in a series is generally not the ideal starting point for new readers, but the characters are so clearly drawn and the plot so intriguing that it can stand on its own; the references to other cases and stories may be less an annoyance and more an inspiration to go back and read the earlier volumes. --Linda Lombardi, writer and editor