Who knew that a pair of octogenarian detectives would become a hit with crime fans? Christopher Fowler’s mystery series about the ancillary London police team aptly called the Peculiar Crimes Unit has become just that, and his ninth book, The Invisible Code, has solidified the series’ reputation as a durable success.

Forget beautiful, young noir heroines and sexy, bad-boy PIs—the unlikely “old guys” duo of John May and Arthur Bryant have stolen the show. They aren’t exactly Abbot and Costello, but the straight arrow / nutty sidekick model describes them well. May’s the impeccably dressed rationalist, a list-maker who follows leads from A to Z, and is (fortunately) not off-putting to higher police authorities. Bryant, with his rumpled, Columbo-style wardrobe and scraggly scarf, uses eccentric methods, capitalizing on the irrational and traveling a winding mental road to detective enlightenment. The two have a longstanding friendship, and their styles complement each other. They’re at their most humorous when the author is not trying to make them funny.

At the beginning of The Invisible Code, two children play a game called “Witch Hunter” while a woman drops dead inside an ancient London church. At the same time, a government official enters fragile negotiations for an international deal that can ensure his promotion and make his career, while his wife goes off her mental rails, claiming she’s pursued by witches. 

In fact, there’s more than a whiff of witchcraft in this tale, as the detectives investigate a bizarre series of murders that seem unconnected. They follow a trail that veers drastically from power games among government officials and their wives to eerie hints of the supernatural. Maybe, the detectives think, it’s all the same thing.

En route to catching the killer, the duo must think beyond the traditional borders of sanity, unravel a puzzling code, de-mystify a grim relic lying in a concealed room and travel from the famed enigma-solving Bletchley Park to the Cedar Tree Clinic for the mentally troubled. Bryant even consults with an eccentric government worker who helps on cases containing “abnormalities” and sifts clues dispensed by a character with satanic aspirations, forebodingly named Mr. Merry.

If anyone can do it, who is better suited than the mischievous, inventive detectives from Peculiar Crimes? Bryant and May are at the top of their game as they cast reason aside and challenge the halls of power and influence.

The world is about to be buried up to its neck in snow and ice. A perfect storm of gigantic proportions is descending on the Adirondacks, and in Through the Evil Days, it becomes yet another enemy to add to an already impressive list. This addictive new entry in Julia Spencer-Fleming’s Russ Van Alstyne/Clare Fergusson mystery series is a worthy successor to the previous books in the award-winning series that began in 2002.

Now married, Millers Kill Chief of Police Russ Van Alstyne and Episcopal priest Clare Fergusson are expecting their first child—an unplanned life change that has sent Russ reeling. He feels they need time together to adjust to the upcoming event, so they’re off for a delayed honeymoon at a cabin on a remote Adirondack lake. When the snowstorm begins in earnest, they mistakenly think that being snowed in will leave them snug and warm, holed up with plenty of food for the duration. Wrong!

Back in Millers Kill, New York, police officers Kevin Flynn and Hadley Knox investigate a local house fire that claimed two adult victims and left missing an 8-year-old foster child with a life-threatening illness. As the detectives search for the youngster, the fire becomes a complicated case involving a meth operation in the Adirondack wilds and a host of suspects. The drug connection leads the detectives to an uneasy alliance with an odd husband-wife pair of federal agents—who may have another, more devious agenda.

Kevin and Hadley provide a commanding side story to that of the beleaguered honeymoon couple. Russ and Clare each bring a personal and professional crisis to the isolated cabin—stories they’ve yet to share with each other. These intriguing sidesteps make the book all but impossible to put down.

The chapters jockey back and forth between the Millers Kill cops, as they slip and slide through an increasingly dangerous investigation, and the disastrous and life-threatening scene facing Russ and Clare, stranded by the weather and threatened by the very criminals their compatriots seek. These complicated storylines come together seamlessly, providing readers with an evening or two of nail-biting tension as the crippling snow and ice bring law enforcement and criminals alike to their knees. Hate to offer up that old chestnut, but this is a book not to be missed.

The Case of the Love Commandos is the fourth novel by Tarquin Hall to feature Vish Puri, head of India’s Most Private Investigators, Ltd., and readers can prepare for a wild trip through an assortment of crisscrossing and intersecting stories.

Take a missing student named Ram from India’s untouchable Dalit caste, link him with Thuri, the daughter of a landowner from the higher Thakur caste, and you get a couple of star-crossed lovers. Add one stolen wallet, a murder and attempted framing, and a pilgrimage to the mountain shrine of a popular deity that ends in a giant heist. Then mix these with an eerie genetic research facility called ICMB, whose influence—and funds—appear to reach the seats of local government and beyond, and you have the beginnings of a twisty, colorful tale that will whisk you through the countryside and city vistas of northern India and the streets of Delhi.

Puri, whose unfashionable sartorial style favors safari suits of different hues, often seems to be a step behind his main rival, the spiffily dressed Hari Kumar of Spycatcher Investigative Services. But watch closely and you’ll find that Puri’s scattered activities conceal a clever mind (working best on a full stomach) and the patience to conduct a clue-by-clue investigation of even the smallest bits of information. He uses a crew of operatives with wonderful names such as Facecream, Handbrake, Flush, Tubelight and Door Stop, whose crazy monikers belie their many capabilities of disguise and wile. A new, youthful addition to the agency, a boy named Deep, gives added dimension to the story and proves indispensable as Puri wraps up the case and one-ups his rival.

Hall’s colorful and direct writing is full of understated humor and gentle satire, and it provides a multifaceted look at India’s ongoing social issues of caste and hierarchy, family, love and marriage. The best thing about Love Commandos, however, is not its story, though it’s a fine and twisty tale. And it’s not the character of Puri, though the devious, clever, rather pompous, food-loving detective gets our attention and affection. What takes first place in this book is India itself. Hall offers us an up-close and personal view of present-day India, a vibrant, helter-skelter dance of color and hubbub in a pungent, savory atmosphere full of noise, confusion and corruption, bursting with change.