{"id":296,"date":"2006-08-12T18:48:05","date_gmt":"2006-08-13T01:48:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=296"},"modified":"2021-06-03T15:38:23","modified_gmt":"2021-06-03T19:38:23","slug":"seventy-seven-clocks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/296","title":{"rendered":"Seventy-Seven Clocks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Seventy-Seven Clocks<\/a><\/em> (2005) Christopher Fowler<\/a>
\nA Bryant and May Mystery<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>I picked this up at The Bookshelf’s Clarence sale. The name intrigued me, and the back cover sounded interesting, although I wasn’t quite sure what London’s Peculiar Crimes unit was, other than something that sounded fascinating.<\/p>\n

It’s 1973 and the Peculiar Crimes Unit has just been established. Bryant and May have left Bow street to work at a unit that allows them to work in their own ways. One of the first cases is of a lawyer who dies in the lobby of the Savoy. Nothing seems particularly unusual about the case until the autopsy.<\/p>\n

This is the third book in the series (I’ve just ordered the first two), but I didn’t particularly feel like I was missing too much history and backstory. (Though I have to admit that Bryant’s oddities are more referred to than seen in this story. We’re told he has unusual methods and eccentricities, but I didn’t see anything too untoward. But then I also read supernatural mysteries, so it could just be me.<\/p>\n

The storytelling and the writing are very good, although I have to admit that I was occasionally confused as to what on earth was going on. Because the confusion seemed a part of the story–for the read to feel the confusion that the detectives were feeling as they continued to unravel the case. <\/p>\n

The book was also amusing, with lots of enjoyable banter between the two partners. I’m a big fan of banter and witty repartee. Though I do have to admit I’m glad I’m reading this, rather than watching it, because it is far better to read about 70s styles than to actually have to see them.<\/p>\n

However, there was one thing that bothered me. The story is set in 1973, and an American character uses the phrase pissed. I don’t think he was supposed to mean drunk, since that’s British and not at all American, but I thought at that time the phrase more properly should have been “pissed-off” rather than just pissed. It just threw me because initially I thought the character was using pissed for drunk, which was completely wrong, but pissed as in angry didn’t seem right to me either. It’s not important, but my initial misreading threw me out of the story entirely, and then the more I thought about it, the more it bothered me. <\/p>\n

Though I freely admit that I was three in 1973, and not up on all the current slang.<\/p>\n

I very much enjoyed Seventy-Seven Clocks<\/em>, and am looking forward to reading this first two books when they arrive, and definitely plan to loan this book to my grandmother.
\nRating: 7\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Seventy-Seven Clocks (2005) Christopher Fowler A Bryant and May Mystery I picked this up at The Bookshelf’s Clarence sale. The name intrigued me, and the back cover sounded interesting, although I wasn’t quite sure what London’s Peculiar Crimes unit was, other than something that sounded fascinating. It’s 1973 and the Peculiar Crimes Unit has just […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[30,8,291,42],"tags":[256,255,257],"class_list":["post-296","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-british","category-mystery","category-paper","category-police","tag-bryant-may","tag-christopher-fowler","tag-peculiar-crimes-unit"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-4M","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":300,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/300","url_meta":{"origin":296,"position":0},"title":"The Water Room","author":"Michelle","date":"August 19, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"The Water Room (2004) Christopher Fowler The second Bryant & May mystery, The Water Room takes place a month or so after the events of Full Dark House--at least the current day events. The Peculiar Crimes Unit is being rebuilt, and during the reconstruction, the unit is at loose ends,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "British"","block_context":{"text":"British","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/british"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Water-Room.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":696,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/696","url_meta":{"origin":296,"position":1},"title":"White Corridor","author":"Michelle","date":"October 10, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"White Corridor (2007) Christopher Fowler Once again the Peculiar Crimes Unit is in danger of being closed. After Raymond Land decided to close the until for a week's vacation, a member of the unit is found killed, while Bryant and May are on their way to one of Bryant's spiritualist\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "British"","block_context":{"text":"British","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/british"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/White-Corridor.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2790,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/2790","url_meta":{"origin":296,"position":2},"title":"Bryant & May Off the Rails","author":"Michelle","date":"February 12, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Bryant & May Off the Rails (2010) Christopher Fowler I have to admit, I put off reading this book for several months, and once I picked it up, put it down several times before I could actually get into the story. This has absolutely nothing to do with the story,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "British"","block_context":{"text":"British","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/british"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Bryant-and-May-Off-the-Rails.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1529,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/1529","url_meta":{"origin":296,"position":3},"title":"Victoria Vanishes","author":"Michelle","date":"December 2, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Victoria Vanishes (2008) Christopher Fowler The Peculiar Crimes Unit (PCU) has changed Oswald's retirement party to a wake, and on the way home Bryant sees a woman who is later discovered murdered. Unfortunately for him, he sees her across from a pub that hasn't existed in decades. Unsurprisingly, the PCU\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Victoria-Vanishes.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1980,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/1980","url_meta":{"origin":296,"position":4},"title":"Bryant & May on the Loose","author":"Michelle","date":"September 30, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Bryant & May on the Loose (2009) Christopher Fowler At the close of Victoria Vanishes, the PCU was disbanded, the staff placed on leave, and Bryant remains at home, barely able to get out of bed and slowly slipping away. However, the accidental discovery of a body by a staff\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Bryant-and-May-on-the-Loose.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":299,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/299","url_meta":{"origin":296,"position":5},"title":"Full Dark House","author":"Michelle","date":"August 18, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Full Dark House (2003) Christopher Fowler A Bryant & May Mystery Full Dark House is the first Bryant & May mystery. An explosion destroys the Peculiar Crimes Unit, and Arthur Bryant is believed to have been inside. In order to discover the course and cause of the bombing, John May\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "British"","block_context":{"text":"British","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/british"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/08\/Full-Dark-House.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=296"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}