An enchanting mystery, or rather two mysteries. One is a classic ‘locked room’ scenario and the other a serial killer haunts a line of snowbound cars occupied and stranded during a freak blizzard. There are passages that are so exactly ‘right’, like the visit by the feared Teutonic princess. London is a living character in the Bryant and May mysteries. A really charming cozy, and something much more. ( )

White Corridor is installment number five in the Bryant and May series (aka the Peculiar Crimes Unit series). In this book, the author has given his readers two mainstay elements of classic mystery -- the locked-room murder (in which a member of the PCU is killed in a most impossible fashion so that suspicion points to the others) -- and weather so incredibly bad that it prevents our heroes Bryant and May from having any hope of returning to London to help with this crime. It wouldn't be so bad, but once again, someone is scheming to close down the PCU -- so the other members of the team have to solve the crime themselves and quickly. It doesn't mean that our favorite detectives are just sitting bundled up in the car waiting for the storm to pass...they also get involved when a truck driver is killed during the standstill traffic produced by the storm.

What I liked about this book was precisely that we get to see the team at work without Bryant and May, but I just didn't think it was as good as the previous four. Normally I can't wait to dive right in...this time I could actually put the book down and do other things instead of sticking to it like glue. Dont' get me wrong...it's still quite good, quite quirky and the author's writing is great as always, but it just seemed to me that something was lacking here that is found in the other books leading up to this one series order-wise.

I definitely recommend it to people who are following the series, and to people who want something rather different in their reading (you'll definitely find it in this set of books). Don't by any means start with this one or you'll lose a lot of backstory and character development from the others. Overall...a good read and a nice way to pass a few hours on a summer's day. ( )

Atleast as good as the first four. Maybe even a little better than the fourth. A little more character development in this one, especially of John May. Highly recommended to Bryant and May fans. This one won't disappoint. ( )

With 'White Corridor',Christopher Fowler brings us the fifth and the best in the 'Bryant and May' detective series.
The two aging detectives are stranded far away from their London base in deep snow and howling blizzards. Here they become involved in a desperate hunt for a serial killer. Meanwhile at the 'Peculiar Crimes Unit',the rest of the peculiar members of the team are struggling with several problems of their own. One of them has died in a locked room situation and the remainder are under suspicion of having been involved. The unit is also ,once again,in danger of being closed down and in addition there is a visit threatened by a minor member of the Royal family.
All of the characters who work in this strange department are depicted as flawed individuals and over and above the crime element it is in the lives and problems of those people that are perhaps the most interesting part of these stories. Fowler (as I have written in another review) can try to be too clever in his plots and solutions,but in this one he has got the mix just right. ( )

The thought of two plot lines occurring in geographically separate places, yet the boys still have to work them out, seemed more than a book could handle comfortably. Fowler, as usual, accomplishes it, and presents us with characters to care about, as well as surprises when all seems understandable in one's mind. Brilliant. ( )