Christopher Fowler (born 26 March 1953) is an English thriller writer. While working in the British film industry he became the author of fifty novels and short-story collections, including the Bryant & May mysteries, which record the adventures of two

Golden Age The term Golden Age comes from Greek mythology, particularly the ''Works and Days'' of Hesiod, and is part of the description of temporal decline of the state of peoples through five Ages of Man, Ages, Gold being the first and the one during ...

detectives in modern-day London. His awards include the 2015 CWA

Dagger in the Library The Dagger in the Library (Golden Handcuffs in 1992–1994) is an annual award given by the British Crime Writers' Association to a particular "living author who has given the most pleasure to readers". Yearly shortlists are drawn up of the ten auth ...

(for his entire body of work), The Last Laugh Award (twice) and the

British Fantasy Award The British Fantasy Awards (BFA) are awarded annually by the British Fantasy Society (BFS), first in 1976. Prior to that they were known as The August Derleth Fantasy Awards (see August Derleth Award). First awarded in 1972 (to ''The Knight of S ...

(multiple times), the

Edge Hill Prize The Edge Hill Short Story Prize is a short-story contest held annually by Edge Hill University. Background The concept for the prize was developed by Professor Ailsa Cox following a 2006 short-story conference at Edge Hill. Candidates must be b ...

and the inaugural Green Carnation Award. His other works include screenplays, video games, graphic novels, audio and stage plays. He was born in

Greenwich Greenwich ( , ,) is a town in south-east London, England, within the ceremonial county of Greater London. It is situated east-southeast of Charing Cross. Greenwich is notable for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. He lives in Barcelona and King's Cross, London.

Bryant & May Mysteries

Fowler is best known as the author of the Bryant & May mysteries, in which the two detectives, Arthur Bryant and John May, are members of the fictional Peculiar Crimes Unit, based on a unit his father worked in during World War II. The series is also available in

audiobook An audiobook (or a talking book) is a recording of a book or other work being read out loud. A reading of the complete text is described as "unabridged", while readings of shorter versions are abridgements. Spoken audio has been available in sc ...

format, narrated by Tim Goodman. Characters from this series also appear in Fowler's ''Roofworld'', ''Rune'', ''Darkest Day'', and ''Soho Black'', although these books are not considered part of the series. The Bryant & May series is set primarily in London, with stories taking place in various years between World War II and the present. While there is a progressive narrative, each of the cases stand alone as separate stories. The exceptions are ''Full Dark House'', an origin story which focuses on May's reminiscence of the team's first case together during the

Blitz Blitz, German for "lightning", may refer to: Military uses *Blitzkrieg, blitz campaign, or blitz, a type of military campaign *The Blitz, the German aerial campaign against Britain in the Second World War *, an Imperial German Navy light cruiser b ...

; ''Seventy-Seven Clocks'', framed as Bryant's retelling of a case from 1973; and ''On the Loose'' and ''Off the Rails'', which continue characters and events across two books. ''Hall of Mirrors'' is set in 1969; at one point, the characters discuss the events of that summer: the Woodstock music festival, the Moon landing, and the Manson murders. There are two volumes of missing cases (short stories), ''London's Glory'' and ''England's Finest''. Fowler weaves many factual layers of London's history and society throughout the series. Most of the locations are recognisable London landmarks such as

St Paul's Cathedral St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in London and is the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London. It is on Ludgate Hill at the highest point of the City of London and is a Grad ...

, the

Tate Gallery Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...

and various theatres. A major feature of ''The Water Room'' is the network of tunnels and underground rivers underneath the city. In ''Off the Rails'' they explore the

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent ceremonial counties of England, counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and He ...

network. There are many references to other literary works throughout the series. ''Seventy-Seven Clocks'' contains references to

Gilbert and Sullivan Gilbert and Sullivan was a Victorian era, Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the dramatist W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) and the composer Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900), who jointly created fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which ...

throughout the narrative, while ''The Victoria Vanishes'' has deliberate similarities with ''

The Moving Toyshop ''The Moving Toyshop'' (1946) is a work of detective fiction by Edmund Crispin, featuring his recurrent sleuth, Gervase Fen, an Oxford professor of English Language and Literature. Title The title comes from Pope's '' The Rape of the Lock ...

'' by

Edmund Crispin Edmund Crispin was the pseudonym of Robert Bruce Montgomery (usually credited as Bruce Montgomery) (2 October 1921 – 15 September 1978), an English crime writer and composer known for his Gervase Fen novels and for his musical scores for ...

. Although the books appear to have bizarre, uncanny elements, they are not in any way supernatural or fantastical. The unit in which they are set is based on real post-war London units.

Other novels and short stories

Fowler's book ''Rune'' is an update to a modern setting of the

M. R. James Montague Rhodes James (1 August 1862 – 12 June 1936) was an English author, medievalist scholar and provost of King's College, Cambridge (1905–1918), and of Eton College (1918–1936). He was Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambrid ...

story "

Casting the Runes "Casting the Runes" is a short story written by the English writer M.R. James. It was first published in 1911 as the fourth story in ''More Ghost Stories'', which was James' second collection of ghost story, ghost stories. Plot summary Mr. Edward ...

". It also features Bryant, May and several characters from that series. His story "The Master Builder" was filmed as '' Through the Eyes of a Killer'', starring

Richard Dean Anderson Richard Dean Anderson (born January 23, 1950) is a retired American actor and producer. He began his television career in 1976, playing Jeff Webber in the American soap opera series ''General Hospital'', and then rose to prominence as the lead a ...

Marg Helgenberger Mary Marg Helgenberger (born November 16, 1958) is an American actress. She began her career in the early 1980s and first came to attention for playing the role of Siobhan Ryan on the daytime soap opera ''Ryan's Hope'' from 1982 to 1986. She is ...

and

Tippi Hedren Nathalie Kay "Tippi" Hedren (born January 19, 1930) is an American actress, animal rights activist, and former fashion model. A successful fashion model who appeared on the front covers of ''Life'' and '' Glamour'' magazines, among others, Hed ...

. His tenth short story collection, ''Old Devil Moon'', won the Edge Hill Audience Prize 2008. His short story "Left Hand Drive" was made into a film that won Best British Short. His stories "On Edge" and "The Most Boring Woman in the World" were both filmed. His novella ''Breathe'' won the British Fantasy Society Award for best novella in 2005. Put into different temporal settings, some elements of his original 2008 story "Arkangel" from ''

Exotic Gothic ''Exotic Gothic'' is an anthology series of original short fiction and novel excerpts in the gothic, horror and fantasy genres. A recipient of the World Fantasy Award and Shirley Jackson Awards, it is conceptualized and edited by Danel Olson, a pr ...

2'' reappear in his 2012 frame-novel ''Hell Train'' (a book called "must read now!” by ''SciFiNow''), including the Polish town of Chelmsk, the physical descriptions of its white gold-rivetted damnation train Arkangel and the town's yokels. His memoir of a lonely 1960s childhood, ''Paperboy'', won the inaugural Green Carnation prize, which celebrates fiction and memoirs written by gay men. A sequel, ''Film Freak'', charted his travels through the British film industry. His collection ''Red Gloves'' consisted of 25 new stories marking a quarter-century in print, two graphic novels and a Hammer horror radio play. He also wrote a

Sherlock Holmes Sherlock Holmes () is a fictional detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a " consulting detective" in the stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with observation, deduction, forensic science and ...

audio drama for

BBC 7 BBC Radio 4 Extra (formerly BBC Radio 7) is a British Digital radio in the United Kingdom, digital radio broadcasting, radio station from the BBC, broadcasting archived repeats of comedy, drama and documentary programmes nationally, 24 hours a ...

entitled ''The Lady Downstairs'' and the ''War of the Worlds'' videogame with Sir Patrick Stewart, for Paramount. He is currently at work on a new thriller, ''Summer Dies'', and a complete collection of his short stories from 1985 to the present. Further works include: * ''Nyctophobia'' (2014) Solaris Books , a haunted house novel set in bright daylight about a woman who is terrified of the dark * ''The Casebook of Bryant & May'', a graphic novel illustrated by Keith Page * ''Menz Insana'', a graphic novel illustrated by John Bolton

Forgotten Authors series

Fowler wrote a periodic column for ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' titled ''Invisible Ink''. In this series, he looked at a wide range of writers whose works, once popular, have now fallen out of the public eye. His book version, ''The Book of Forgotten Authors'', is published by Quercus.

Novels and collections

References

External links