Taking the Rivers of London at False Value Quiz

Answer: Serious Cybernetics Corporation

At the end of "Lies Sleeping", the second Faceless Man is arrested by Peter but promptly shot by former PC Leslie May. As a result of having a prisoner die whilst in his custody, Peter is suspended. Pretending to have left the police, this provides a convenient cover for an investigation into money laundering. There is a second more magical aspect of the investigation that makes Peter the prime candidate for the role.

Serious Cybernetics Corporation is not that far away from Sirius Cybernetics Corporation as per the "Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy" books by Douglas Adams.
There are a number of other references to these books' the company founder, Terence Skinner, seems to be fixated on the books.

This makes a contrast with the late and unlamented second Faceless Man who was a bit of a Tolkien fanatic.

Answer: Human Resources

In another example of the fascination of the firm's owner with "The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy", the staff of the security department, which is where Peter is employed, are referred to as Vogons. The everyday workers are referred to as mice. The whole company is research and development, no customer service is in evidence.

Answer: Rotting fish

The term signare refers to something akin to a magical signature. It is a sensation that is left behind after a spell has been cast. This concept is also related to vestigial and vestigium, terms left for the traces that magic leaves on surrounding surfaces. The best interpretation I can come up with is that signare is a particular type of vestigium.

The signare here is rotting fish, salt and seaweed. The hint of razor strop was part of the signare of the second faceless man, Martin Chorley who died at the end of "Lies Sleeping". The cry of seagulls forms part of the signare of Leslie May. This probably harks back to her coastal hometown of Brightlingsea in Essex. Candlewax is from the signare of Ladies Caroline and Helena, who were last seen in "The Hanging Tree". None of these practitioners appear in this novel.

Answer: Operation Fretwork

All of these are police operations in the series to date. Operation Carthorse is the search for Lesley May after she sided with the second Faceless Man. Operation Manticore relates to the two girls who go missing in "Foxglove Summer". Operation Wentworth is the investigation into the demolition of Skygarden Tower at the end of "Broken Homes". The various operations related to the Martin Chorley and Lesley May were combined into Operation Jennifer at the start of Lies Sleeping.

Operation Fretwork is investigating the movement of money, possibly a couple of hundred million pounds stolen from the Malaysian Development Fund. The Russian security agencies might also be involved.

Answer: Toaster

Mrs Canal, the Regents Canal spirit, is an orang-utan that escaped from London Zoo, in the mid twentieth century. The zoo lies in Regents Park, and Regents Canal flows through the middle of it.

Her request, via Melvin her boatman, is that she would like an 8-slot catering size toaster. She also makes comments on ensuring that the palm oil used in the Folly kitchens is ethically sourced.

Answer: Estate Agent

This novel simply notes that Melvin's previous lifestyle included being an estate agent and a rat. The backstory is not presented within this book but appears in the collection of short stories "Tales from the Folly". It can be summarised as follows.

Melvin was an estate agent, who specialized in convincing little old ladies to sell their valuable London houses and retreat to the countryside. Trying this on with the goddess of the Regents Canal was a mistake; Melvin was convinced that he was really a rat and started living in sewers until Peter Grant got involved.

Answer: Brambleweeny

This is another "Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy" reference. In the Douglas Adams books, the "Bambleweeny 57 Submeson Brain" is part of the Finite Improbability Generator. What is really going up here is an experiment into Artificial Intelligence, naturally enough this is called Deep Thought.

When Peter finally does gain access, he finds there is one more secure area he can't access within Brambleweeny.

Answer: Richmond Park

This concept of "holding court" appears to be a function of the power of the location spirits, certainly in the case of those representing the Rivers of London. They don't control it as such, it is just a result of their inherent power. This is especially true when they are around their own river, in this case the Beverley Brook, which flows through Richmond Park.

The Beverley Brook also flows along the western side of Clapham Common and the long-distance footpath, the Beverley Brook Walk runs alongside the brook here, into Richmond Park and into Barnes.

Regents and Gunnersbury Parks are on the other side of the River Thames.

Answer: Hudson

Mrs Chin is a practitioner, from a society based in the New York Public Library. This society believes it has the obligation to remove certain items from general circulation for the safety of the world; magical items, wherever in the world they are and whoever owns them. It also means that as far as she is concerned "the city" refers to New York, and only New York. This attitude rules out the other three options.

When Peter first meets Mrs Chin they are interrupted by an attack of magically powered drones. Peter then takes Mrs Chin and her accomplice to his home, the house of Beverley Brook. When arriving at Beverley's house Mrs Chin realises Beverley is a river spirit and starts to panic. She then makes the comment about the river in New York.

Answer: Battlestar Galactica

One of the unusual habits of Terrence Skinner's company is the encouragement of the staff to play games, on company time. I've never worked in a company like that. From Peter's point of view it enables him to get to know staff better.

The first game he is noted as playing at work is "Metamorphosis Alpha". Later he finds Terrence Skinner playing "Rocket League". But at the end, meeting up with Victor and Everest, Peter is playing "Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game" in a games café in South London.