Bryant & May: a Christmas special short story (still good in January)

Regular readers will know I’m a regular reader* of Christopher Fowler’s excellent series featuring the detective duo Arthur Bryant and John May of London’s Peculiar Crimes Unit.

I’d previously missed that a special Christmas short story featuring them was published for free online last month:

‘I’m out of ideas.’

John May, senior detective at the Peculiar Crimes Unit, studied the living room of the chaotic tenth floor apartment. Its contents were sealed beneath a cowl of clear plastic, designed to prevent contamination of evidence. ‘His body was found over there by his landlady and was taken straight to University College Hospital. The last time anyone saw him was Christmas Eve, four days ago. The doctors want to know if he was a farmer or had visited a farm in the past two weeks.’

‘Seems a bit unlikely,’ said Arthur Bryant, his partner, laboriously unwrapping a rhubarb and custard boiled sweet. ‘Living in the Barbican, hardly the most rural spot in London. Why farming?’

Read the rest of the Bryant & May story over on Dead Good.

* Or rather listener, for Tim Goodman is not just good, he’s amazing.