The Peculiar Crimes Unit is on the ropes and in grave danger of being eliminated when the “Acting Head” of the unit, Raymond Land, finds a receptive listener in the latest politician promising to bring the budget under control. That Land has loathed his assignment since he was “temporarily” put in charge in 1973 makes him more than willing to allow Bryant and May to lose a case, lose face and ultimately retire.

When Bryant is sent to represent the Force at a local boys’ school, he fails miserably. His legendary wit and charm desert him and he finds himself the butt of derisive comments and absolutely clueless about contemporary youth. His partner, May, is unsympathetic being preoccupied with his own granddaughter’s agoraphobia. After years of being housebound, she is venturing out into the world once again and has a job with the PCU.

At the museum of modern art a very avant garde artist is found floating in her own creation a tank featuring statues of human fetuses. According to witnesses, the culprit was a tall man wearing a tricorn hat, boots, mask and a cape- just like the Highwayman of Alfred Noyes’ poem! That same figure is often glimpsed flitting around the local housing estate. And appears at the scene of several more gruesome murders.

This is definitely a case for the Peculiar Crimes Unit! Bryant and May proceed with their very unconventional methods and oddball associates. One such helper is Sgt. Longbright who is currently fixated on the Hollywood stars of the 1950s and wears appropriate makeup, hairstyle and costumes of that period. Two others have idiosyncrasies that together make a complete personality - one is a total computer techno wizard with no social skills and the other a social gadabout with no apparent skills at anything but trivial chitchat. Working as a team they are formidable.

Bryant and May and author Fowler have a prodigious knowledge of London and its history, always dredging up some architectural anomaly or fact to complete the picture. As is normal with a work of fiction, the criminals are extraordinarily clever and seem to possess unlimited funds to carry out their evil deeds as well as leave taunting clues for the detectives. Once they are actually captured it is difficult to imagine them carrying out the heinous crimes which riddle the story.

The ten second staircase is a metaphor for life and how long each person spends on the ladder of life especially the segue from adolescence to adulthood and eventually retirement age. This time Fowler does a good job of tying up events as Bryant and May tackle their own aging process and solve a series of crimes in the present day and from out of their past and allow the PCU to continue. Let’s hope this intrepid team with all their quirks and weirdness continue.

--Jane Davis