Fowler’s first Bryant and May had a basic flaw in that one of the primary characters was presumed killed in the first few pages yet the dust jacket announced this as the “first” of the Bryant and May mysteries. Obviously, he was not dead if more books are forthcoming. This for me detracted from the rest of the story so I was quite critical of the entire book.

This is the third exploit of Scotland Yard’s Peculiar Crimes Unit investigative team and it had much promise. It begins as a flashback to 1973 on the eve of the Common Market when London is filled with delegates from the continent swarming to sign the papers to establish that first step in universal trade. The octogenarian Arthur Bryant is being interviewed for a biography of the famous team when he is asked to define “peculiar” which leads to the reminiscence that comprises the body of the book.

A gentleman dressed in Victorian apparel and side whiskers commits an act of vandalism in the National Gallery, while not far away an elderly lawyer drops dead in the lobby of the Savoy hotel and in the arms of young Jerry Gates, one of the receptionists. The autopsy reports death by water moccasin venom. When the vandal explodes on the subway it is obvious that Bryant and May are needed to solve these “peculiar” crimes.

As more and more people are murdered, kidnapped, and attacked by a variety of methods, the intrepid two are more and more puzzled. Members of the Whistable family are the primary targets. Their ancestor, James Makepeace Whistable, was a member of the Royal Guild of Watchmakers and used his influence to cement the family fortune by a strange cabal initiated in 1881. Nearly a century later his acts are wreaking havoc on his descendants.

Jerry Gates, the Savoy receptionist, finds herself drawn into this vortex of crime as a result of catching the family lawyer, Maximillian Jacobs, as he suffered his death throes in the hotel lobby. Within a few days she finds the brother of the vandal with his throat cut in the hotel barber shop and is herself attacked in the theater next door which is being renovated. As a result, Bryant and May ask her to assist them in this most peculiar crime and in the process of tracking the Whistable clan she learns a great deal about herself even the reason for her terror of the night.

While the methodical May makes charts of weather and surveys the records of the watchmaker’s guild, his colleague visits white witches and eccentric painters. When he attends a Gilbert and Sullivan revival with the sister of two of the victims, she drops dead before him from poisoned face powder! The body count rises as they try to solve the crime before the end of the year which is when the time runs out for their unit. If they are unsuccessful PCU will fold. Meanwhile, they are moving to other offices and must put up with painters and decorators bringing disorder and cold draughts with them.

As the public outcry increases, especially when a young daughter of the house is kidnapped Bryant and May, try to beat the clock.

Which bring us to the title of this work- the seventy-seven clocks. The precise meaning of this phrase is never fully explained nor is the motivation for all these crimes. Fowler’s MacGyver, what is at the center of all this bloodshed, remains vague. The idea surpasses the actuality. When Bryant and May have a suspect at last the reader- who has patiently read nearly five hundred pages- never learns how all these attacks were accomplished! I was truly bummed!!! What a letdown.

Fowler has so much promise with his wealth of atmospheric touches and historical research but he fails to answer those vital questions so integral to a good mystery. Who did it? How was it done? Why was it done? Nero Wolfe would have proclaimed, “Most unsatisfactory”. On the strength of his excellent style I may give this duo another try in hopes that in the next adventure he answers all the pertinent questions.

--Jane Davis