this is a great Bryant and May with the usual "supernatural" element and I felt, a bit more suspense then usual ( )

Read over half the book but despite liking the primary characters, the 3 plotlines barely intersected and I lost interest. The second time the library book needed to be returned, I decided to set this one aside for other books to be read. ( )

This fifth in the series is a lot better than books 1, 3, and 4, although it doesn't for me come up to the standard of the second Bryant and May novel, The Water Room. Be that as it may, the story is rather more varied than the last couple of volumes, with definite and separate plot strands: B & M are stranded in a snowdrift in the west country and have to help their London colleagues by phone who are trying to solve an unexpected death that has come too close for comfort the ancient pathologist attached to the PCU, Oswald Finch, who was about to retire. The unit is also investigating the death of a young woman found in a shop doorway; an apparent drug overdose, but with more mysterious aspects. Meanwhile, Madeline, a young woman with an abusive ex-husband has taken her young son to France for a holiday but all is not well as she attracts the attention of a man who murdered his mother, who then follows her back to England where all three are stranded in the same blizzard where May and Byrant are trapped. And of course the unit is under threat of closure, this time through a ruse their arch enemy Kasavian has arranged, where a royal visitor will descend and no doubt be offended by some aspect of the PCU.

I liked this story because it had some good twists. Unlike the last couple of volumes, I didn't work out at least part of the solution or, as in The Seventy-Seven Clocks, find it totally unbelievable (though I suppose hints are dropped that The Seventy-Seven Clocks was mostly made up by Arthur Bryant). White Corridor has suspense, drama and I didn't guess the solution to the various strands before the characters worked it out; this time, it was all a surprise and I think it would probably pay re-reading to see exactly how it comes out once you know the solutions. Not quite up to The Water Room, which I loved, but a well deserved 4 stars. ( )

Exceptionally moving, intelligent, erudite, whimsical and extraordinary. ( )

The Peculiar Crimes Unit series has been entertaining in the past, but this book took a long, long time to set up. I put it aside a few times, but it was from the library, and I felt I should give it one more chance. So I finished it, but it's not my favorite in the series. ( )