An Interesting Book

Adanor

Dedicated Member
I recently finished reading a book called "Bryant & May: Oranges and Lemons: a Peculiar Crimes Unit mystery by Christopher Fowler. It is set in London and very cleverly incorporates the children's rhyme, "Oranges and Lemons" into the plot.
 
Hello Adanor,

Have you read the whole series of Bryant & May books I read the very first Full Dark House but never followed it up think I should maybe go back to them . Any advice/help would be very much appreciated if indeed you have read them . Can I assume they are all independent stories so I could pick and choose which ones to purchase . I read that Oranges and Lemons, White Corridor, The Burning Man and the Memory of Blood were a higher quality of writing than perhaps the others.
 
Thanks for the tip. Those are mysteries that I hadn't heard of. I just borrowed Full Dark House from my local library in Kindle format. Began reading it with breakfast and found it difficult to put down.
 
This is quite surreal.....Adanor from West Virginia mentioning Bryant and May books...WELL...does anyone of a "certain age" remember Bryant and May matches ?.....they were quite long with a bright red striking end.....
I actually live opposite the original Bryant and May match factory here in Liverpool !!!!....it is now lovely office units,but at its peak it employed hundreds of local people,and had a thriving social club......just a bit of " match history" for you all.......I told you it was surreal !!!!.
 
I remember them very well , my old man was a smoker so those and Swans Vesta boxes were dotted about the house . As a kid did curiosity get the better of you, I can remember kids setting a box alight to see how big a flame it generated . It always looked a bit of a gamble dropping a lighted match into that box as you had to put your hand really close to ensure it all went up .
 
I remember them very well , my old man was a smoker so those and Swans Vesta boxes were dotted about the house . As a kid did curiosity get the better of you, I can remember kids setting a box alight to see how big a flame it generated . It always looked a bit of a gamble dropping a lighted match into that box as you had to put your hand really close to ensure it all went up .

The best trick with matches is to wrap a bit of tin foil over the head and then light the stalk. When the flame makes it to the head there's a mini explosion. It's even more fun if you do it with a batch of matches.
 
Christopher Fowler clearly knows London and I really enjoyed all the secret and obscure London history throughout the book. Setting is a huge part of why I choose a particular book to read and if I had any thoughts that London-based books had all been done already, then I clearly need to re-educate myself - Christopher Fowler's London is up there with Charles Dickens, Ronald Camberton and Alexander Baron.
 
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