Bryant and May
Seventy Seven Clocks Arthur Bryant, writing his memoirs, recalls a case from 1973. As strikes and blackouts ravage the country a rare painting is vandalised in the National Gallery, and members of a high-born family are killed in a variety of lunatic ways – by tiger, bomb and barber. As the hours of daylight diminish […]
This is the start of a short series of backstories to the Bryant & May novels, explaining how I came to write them. Full Dark House My father was a scientist who worked in an experimental wartime communications unit. He and his colleagues were very young, and – it turns out – were working towards […]
The Savoy theatre and hotel both feature heavily in ‘Seventy Seven Clocks’, the theatre especially because of its unique place in world history. Sir Richard D’Oyly Carte was ahead of his time (we honour him now in rhyming slang, the ultimate accolade, although I’m not sure he’d agree). His theatre was the home of Gilbert […]
This is St George’s Gardens in Bloomsbury, the little neighbourhood spot in ‘Bryant & May and the Bleeding Heart’ where Romain Curtis sits with his girlfriend Shirone and tells her about the stars above them, before they witness the strange event that sets in motion the story’s murder plot. It has a surprisingly gruesome history, […]
All detectives seem to have a place where they can go and think. Waterloo Bridge features in most Bryant & May books as the place where resolutions are made, plans are arranged and cases are closed. Why there? Because, despite not being a particularly attractive destination in itself, it offers the best views of the […]
I posted this once before, but thought we could kick off a new series here, so it was a good place to start. This is the real coroners’ office where Giles Kershaw works in St Pancras, on Pancras Road, which is also called Midland and Crowndale Roads in different stretches, just to confuse you. Whenever […]
The artist got it right the second time around.
Over the past few years whenever someone has wanted to publish a short story in the crime genre, either for a charity collection or an anthology, I’ve written a Bryant & May story for them. Now I seem to have quite a few in my files. But how to get them to the public? Short […]
The Bryant & May books are about to be optioned by a major production company. Although the deal is under wraps at the moment, I can reveal that, following negotiations with several companies, the old codgers will get a fresh chance to be seen by TV networks as a possible series. The process is complex; […]
I’m at Bristol Crimefest on Friday 16th May, where I’m on a panel about ‘cosies’. ‘Cosies’ are a form of crime-writing that remind readers of Agatha Christie’s safe, ‘nice’ stories, and it’s a tag I vehemently resist (so it should be a feisty panel). The Bryant & May books are most decidedly not cosies, […]
