Detectives Arthur Bryant and John May, assisted by the oddballs and eccentrics of the Peculiar Crimes Unit, return to break rules, infuriate officialdom and maybe, just maybe, catch the criminal in their 19th hugely entertaining and unorthodox new investigation.

'The most consistently brilliant, entertaining and educational voice in contemporary British crime fiction, the utterly fabulous Christopher Fowler.' Cathi Unsworth, CRIMESQUAD

It's a Sunday morning, and the outspoken Speaker of the House of Commons has just been crushed under a mountain of citrus fruit . . .

Bizarre accident or something more sinister? The government needs to know because here's a man who knows a thing or two that could compromise its future.

Bryant and May and the Peculiar Crimes Unit should be on the case, however it seems the PCU is no more with one detective is in hospital, the other gone AWOL with the rest of the team having been dismissed.

But events escalate, and soon a series of brutal yet undeniably clever killings linked to an old English nursery rhyme threaten society's very foundations and out-of-the-blue the PCU is (temporarily) back in business.

And if the two detectives - 'old men in a woke world' - can set aside their differences and discover why some of London's most influential figures are being threatened, they might not only save the unit but also prevent the city from descending into chaos . . .