Ten Second Staircase

I found this mystery of Bryant and May didn't have the same appeal as "The Water Room" or "Full Dark House", the other entries in this series that I have read. The elements of the supernatural that added a fun and creepy aspect to the other books were not as compelling here. Perhaps this was because the characters deliberately try to 'play by the book' as police investigators to save their Peculiar Crimes investigative unit (again). They choose not to pursue the more far-flung and irrational explanations that make reading books in this series such a treat. However, the story doesn't really portray them acting as more typical investigators either. They mostly spin their wheels while events play out until late on when one character has an epiphany about how they should be using the fundamental tools that make a good investigator. Ultimately, the perpetrator wasn't a big surprise and some of the other reveals along the way should have at least been considered by the characters rather than coming out of nowhere (at least to them).