Returning to the Victoria Cross pub hours after witnessing the murder of a woman, Detective Arthur Bryant is stunned to discover that the pub itself has vanished and the street around it has mysteriously aged, and calls in the Peculiar Crimes Unit to track down a killer who is stalking London's oldest watering holes.

It's getting late. I want to share my knowledge of London with you, if I can remember any of it. So says Mr. Arthur Bryant. He and John May are the nation's oldest serving detectives. Who better to reveal its secrets? Why does this rainy, cold, gray city capture so many imaginations? Could its very unreliability hold the key to its longevity? The detectives are joined by their boss, Raymond Land, and some of their most disreputable friends, each an...