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Summary and Reviews of Ten Second Staircase by Christopher Fowler

Ten Second Staircase by Christopher Fowler

Ten Second Staircase

Bryant & May Mysteries

by Christopher Fowler
  • BookBrowse Review:
  • Critics' Consensus (6):
  • First Published:
  • Jun 27, 2006, 368 pages
  • Paperback:
  • Jan 2007, 496 pages
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About This Book

Book Summary

It’s a crime tailor-made for the Peculiar Crimes Unit: a controversial artist is murdered and displayed as part of her own outrageous installation. No suspects, no motive, no evidence – it’s business as usual for the Unit’s cantankerous founding partners, Arthur Bryant and John May. But this time they have an eyewitness. According to twelve-year-old Luke Tripp, the killer was a cape-clad highwayman atop a black stallion.

As implausible as the boy’s story sounds, Bryant and May take it seriously when “The Highwayman” is spotted again, striking a dramatic pose at the scene of his next outlandish murder. Whatever the killer’s real identity, he seems intent on killing off a string of minor celebrities while becoming one himself.

As the tabloids look to make a quick bundle on “Highwayman Fever,” Bryant and May, along with the newest member of the Unit, May’s agoraphobic granddaughter, April, find themselves sorting out a case involving an unlikely combination of artistic rivalries, sleazy sex affairs, the Knights Templars, and street gang feuds. To do it, they’re going to have to use every orthodox–and unorthodox–means at their disposal, including myth, witchcraft, and the psychogeographic history of the city’s “monsters,” past and present.

And if one unsolvable crime weren’t enough, this case has disturbing links to a decades-old killing spree that nearly destroyed the partnership of Bryant and May once before…and may again. The Peculiar Crimes Unit is one murder away from being closed down for good–and that murder could be their own.

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Reviews

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This is Fowler's 14th book and his fourth in the Bryant and May series that started with Full Dark House (2003); followed by The Water Room (2004) and Seventy-Seven Clocks (2005) which some reviewers felt was a little disappointing. However, all agree that he is definitely back on form with Ten Second Staircase, with some saying that it is his best yet...continued

Full Review (236 words)

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Beyond the Book



Fowler lives and works in Soho, London, where he runs The Creative Partnership, a movie marketing company that produces TV and radio scripts, documentaries, trailers and promos. He spends half the day with his company and half writing.

Sadly, The Peculiar Crimes unit does not exist in reality, but it does make for a great fictional concept.  Another great fictional police department that you may not have come across but is well worth looking out for is UCOS (Unsolved Crime and Open Case Squad) from the BBC TV New Tricks series.  If you love detective series starring belligerent old chaps such as Bryant and May, then you're sure to fall for the team at UCOS - we catch the series on Friday nights on our ...

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Read-Alikes

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