Ten Second Staircase

Ten Second Staircase (2007) Christopher Fowler

Ten Second Staircase is the fourth Bryant and May mystery. A controversial sculptor is found dead in one of her pieces, and the only witness describes an impossible killer. Meanwhile, Raymond Land has complained one too many times about the PCU (Peculiar Crimes Unit) and now the unit is being investigated in hopes of being shut down.

Although I enjoyed Ten Second Staircase I was somewhat disconcerted because I knew who the killer was almost immediately, and was somewhat frustrated with Bryant and May, because they seemed as if they were being particularly obtuse. Of course they had plenty of other things to distract them, so perhaps that is what kept them from seeing the truth.

Knowing the killer wasn’t necessarily a horrible thing, as I often re-read mysteries; it’s the story and the characters that are important. The only problem with knowing the killer the first time through was that I kept looking for evidence that I was wrong, so it was a bit distracting.

BEGIN SPOILER
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END SPOLIER

However, in addition to finding the Highwayman, Bryant and May have to go back to solve the mystery of the Leicester Square Vampire in order to save the unit from closure. And that mystery I didn’t figure out–it seems impossible that Bryant and May could solve a case so old.

One thing that particularly bothered me, and made me re-read a three page section about five times to see if I could get things straight was a bit about a private school.

Most private schools pupils aren’t bright because their parents had to pay for their education…Since the dot com gold rush, private schools have been treated like banks–parents put their kids in when they’re flush, draw them out again when they’re broke.

They talk about private schools as being schools that the parents pay money so the children can attend. Except that I thought that in Britain public schools were the ones that parents had to pay money to send their children to–that public schools in Britain were the same as private schools in the US. So that passage completely confused me, and still doesn’t make sense.

As with the previous books, the strong points of Ten Second Staircase were the characters and the storytelling. I really like Bryant and May (well, maybe May a little more) and their relationship. I also like that the secondary characters are developed more with each story–although Longbright continues to confound me. I also liked the continued story with May’s granddaughter April. She’s had it rough, and it’s good that May is finally doing the work he needs to do to make things better with her.

If you’ve read the previous Bryant and May mysteries, then you will definitely want to read Ten Second Staircase. If you have not read a previous Bryant and May mystery, you should be able to read this story without having the background of the other stories. However, I am always a proponent of reading a mystery series in order, just because I think it’s better that way.

Now my only problem is that it’s going to be quite a while until the next Bryant and May mystery comes out.
Rating: 7/10

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