John May though suffering the loss of his wife, has hopes of opening a private detective agency. His granddaughter, April opposes this choice on several grounds. He has always rallied against the private sector and the agency would not include his friend and longtime partner Arthur Bryant.

Former Detective Constable Colin Brimsley while trying to help a man convert a former chip shop into a store in which he hopes to sell imported rugs and pottery, detects a smell with which he is all too familiar… that of a rotting corpse. To make matters more interesting, the corpse is headless.

Despite attempts to persuade the Home Office to resurrect the Peculiar Crimes Unit to solve this unusual case, the former members of the group are unsuccessful. When several people report the appearance of a seemingly mythical creature… half stag, half human, Arthur Bryant is roused from his lethargy believing that only his superior intellect is capable of addressing this situation and only his team from the Peculiar Crimes Unit possesses the talents necessary to understand it.

Christopher Fowler once again brings together diverse elements to produce an entertaining, educational, and amusing crime novel. The setting for the crime is King’s Cross, London. The history of the area, how land rights are transferred, and a bit of mythology all play important roles in the novel.

Bryant and May, while totally inept in certain quarters, give a nod to knowledge accrued over many years. Their insight into areas to which younger folk are completely oblivious holds the key to the resolution of the crime. In addition their age gives them a perspective unavailable to those younger than they are.

The author wryly pokes fun at environmentalists while conceding that their activism performs a useful service. He also alludes to how single-mindedness to the exclusion of the opposing viewpoint can only lead to disaster.

It is interesting to see how Mr. Fowler has cleverly written a sequel to a novel that had all the appearance of being the final chapter. The characters have retained their freshness and obvious intellect, and, as an added bonus the reader learns a great deal about the history of a specific area of London. The author takes a premise and approaches it in a way which gives a whole different cast, providing an unconventional story and ending.

--Andy Plonka