(hb; twenty-eighth novel in the Charlotte and Thomas Pitt series)
From the inside flap:
"The horrifying rape and apparent suicide of Catherine Quixwood, wife of a wealthy merchant banker, falls outside the new jurisdiction of Special Branch head Thomas Pitt, but so pervasively offensive are the rumors about the victim that Pitt quietly takes a hand in the investigation.
"Yet even with the help of his ingenious wife, Charlotte, and his former superior, Victor Narraway, Pitt is stumped. Why did the high-minded, cultured Catherine choose not to accompany her husband to a grand party on the night of her demise? Why did she dismiss all her servants for the evening and leave the door unlocked? What had been her relationship with the young man seen frequently by her side at concerts and art exhibitions?
"As an ordinary policeman, Pitt has once entered London's grand houses through the kitchen door. Now, as a guest in those same houses, can he find the steel in his soul to challenge the great men of the world with their crimes? The path to the truth takes him in deeply troubling directions, from the lofty world of international policies and finance to his own happy home, where his teenage daughter, Jemima, is coming of age in a culture rife with hidden dangers."
Review:
A strongly (over?)stated sense of outrage highlights this timely and sometimes suspenseful mystery - it's timely because Midnight deals with financial malfeasance, political factions and rape, which has dominated many recent, real-world news cycles.
Of course, Perry keeps Midnight engaging as a work of fiction as well, with her trademark warmth and/or chill between the characters, many of them ongoing in this often-excellent series.
Solid entry in the Charlotte and Thomas Pitt series - worth checking out from the library.
Showing posts with label Anne Perry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Anne Perry. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Saturday, January 05, 2013
Dorchester Terrace, by Anne Perry
(hb; 2012: twenty-seventh novel in the Charlotte and Thomas Pitt series)
From the inside flap:
"Thomas Pitt, once a lowly policeman, is now the powerful head of Britain's Special Branch, and some people fear that he may have been promoted beyond his abilities. He, too, feels painful memories of self-doubt, especially as rumors reach him of a plot to blow up connections on the Dover-London rail line - on which Austrian duke Alois Habsburg is soon to travel to visit his royal English kin.
"Why would anyone destroy an entire train to kill one obscure Austrian royal, or are the rumors designed to distract Pitt from an even more devastating plot? He must resolve this riddle at once, before the damage is done.
"Meanwhile, in a London sickroom, an old Italian woman - at the end of a romantic career as a revolutionary spy - is terrified that as she sinks into dementia, she may divulge secrets that can kill. And a beautiful young Croatian woman, married to a British power broker, hoards her own mysteries. Apparently all roads lead to the Continent, and Pitt suspects that between them these two fascinating women could tell him things he desperately needs to know. But as the hours tick by, it seems that the only woman Pitt can count on is his clever wife, Charlotte."
Review:
This is a suspenseful, masterful mystery that engaged me from its first word to its last. Perry's trademark warmth and/or chill between the characters, many of them ongoing, livens up the action and often-charming conversations.
Exemplary entry in the Charlotte and Thomas Pitt series - and one of my favorites thus far.
Worth owning, this.
Followed by Midnight at the Marble Arch.
From the inside flap:
"Thomas Pitt, once a lowly policeman, is now the powerful head of Britain's Special Branch, and some people fear that he may have been promoted beyond his abilities. He, too, feels painful memories of self-doubt, especially as rumors reach him of a plot to blow up connections on the Dover-London rail line - on which Austrian duke Alois Habsburg is soon to travel to visit his royal English kin.
"Why would anyone destroy an entire train to kill one obscure Austrian royal, or are the rumors designed to distract Pitt from an even more devastating plot? He must resolve this riddle at once, before the damage is done.
"Meanwhile, in a London sickroom, an old Italian woman - at the end of a romantic career as a revolutionary spy - is terrified that as she sinks into dementia, she may divulge secrets that can kill. And a beautiful young Croatian woman, married to a British power broker, hoards her own mysteries. Apparently all roads lead to the Continent, and Pitt suspects that between them these two fascinating women could tell him things he desperately needs to know. But as the hours tick by, it seems that the only woman Pitt can count on is his clever wife, Charlotte."
Review:
This is a suspenseful, masterful mystery that engaged me from its first word to its last. Perry's trademark warmth and/or chill between the characters, many of them ongoing, livens up the action and often-charming conversations.
Exemplary entry in the Charlotte and Thomas Pitt series - and one of my favorites thus far.
Worth owning, this.
Followed by Midnight at the Marble Arch.
Monday, October 03, 2011
Cain His Brother, by Anne Perry
(hb; 1995: sixth book in the William Monk series)
From the inside flap:
"Victoria's London was the queen of the universe, a dazzling metropolis from whose magnificent mansions and discreetly luxurious clubs flowed the strategies that built the greatest empire ever known. Meanwhile, the city's poor suffered and died in hopeless obscurity. Inspector William Monk knows his city's best and its worst - or so he believes, until the day when charming Genevieve Stonefield comes to plead with him to find her missing husband.
"In his family life, Angus Stonefield had been gentle and loving; in business a man of probity; and in his relationship with his twin brother, Caleb, a virtual saint. Now he is missing, and it appears more than possible that Caleb - a creature long since abandoned to depravity - has murdered him.
"And so Monk puts himself into the missing man's shoes, searching Stonefield's comfortable home, his prospering business, his favorite haunts, and, finally, the city's dangerous, fever-ridden slums for clues to Angus's fate and his vicious brother's whereabouts. Slowly, Monk inches toward the truth - and, also, unwittingly toward the destruction of his good name and livelihood."
Review:
Clever, mostly gripping read. The mystery portions of the novel are excellent, though I did see the end-twist coming from a ways off. (That may be due to my distrust of anybody who claims to virtuous; I believe everybody is guilty of at least one big evil.)
What flawed this book - and, thus far, this series - is Perry's insistence of keeping Monk and Latterly at each other's throats: after all they've been through - life and death situations, even a shocked kiss - the author hasn't let the characters progress to a more believable semi-acceptance of each others' foibles. I don't expect Monk and Latterly to not disagree, given their wildly divergent personalities, but the antagonism/frustration level between them feels ramped up, forced, writerly, considering that six books have passed since they've met.
I've ignored this Monk/Latterly incongruity in previous William Monk books because I hoped they would, realistically, progress in their mystery-solving relationship. Perry has, in many other books, shown that she can do realistic, interesting characters when she chooses to, so her ability to progress Monk and Latterly (as a mystery-solving, non-romantic duo) wasn't initially in doubt.
Read the Charlotte & Thomas Pitt series instead, if you're interested in realistic and interesting characters, and often excellent mysteries.
Followed by Weighed in the Balance, though I'm not sure if I'm going to read any more books in this series.
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Treason at Lisson Grove, by Anne Perry
(hb; 2011: twenty-sixth book in the Charlotte & Thomas Pitt series)
From the back cover:
"The man who lies bleeding to death in a London brickyard is a secret informant prepared to indulge details of a potentially devastating international plot against the British government. Special Branch officer Thomas Pitt arrives seconds too late. As the mortally wounded man's life slips away, so too does the information Pitt desperately needs. Pitt pursues the assassin from London to St. Malo on the French coast. Meanwhile, Pitt's supervisor, Victor Narraway, is accused of embezzling government funds. With Pitt incommunicado in France, Narraway turns to Pitt's wife, Charlotte, for help."
Review:
Set in 1895, Treason is a fun, international Pitt outing. The villains are obvious, for the most part, but the manner of their revealings is often clever, with some shocking and justified violence thrown into the word/mystery mix.
Good read from an excellent writer.
Followed by Dorchester Terrace.
Saturday, May 01, 2010
The Sins of the Wolf, by Anne Perry
(pb; 1994: fifth book in the William Monk series)
From the back cover:
"Nurse Hester Latterly finds herself well suited for the position: accompany Mrs. Mary Farraline, an elderly Scottish lady in delicate health, on a short train trip to London. Yet Hester's simple job takes a grave turn when the woman dies during the night. And when a postmortem examination of the body reveals a lethal dose of medicine, Hester is charged with murder -- punishable by execution.
"The notorious case presents detective William Monk with a daunting task: find a calculating killer amongst the prominent and coolly assailable Farraline clan. Since Hester must be tried in Edinburgh, where prejudice against her runs high, there is little that the highly skilled barrister Oliver Rathbone can do to help. He can only try to direct her Scottish lawyer from the frustrating sidelines, and pray that Hester will not be sent to the gallows."
Review:
Tension-filled from the get-go, this, with its surprising plot coils and character bents.
I predicted a few of the raw-nerve story turns, but not all of them.
This is easily one of the best and protagonist-progressive entries in the William Monk series.
Check this out.
Followed by Cain His Brother.
From the back cover:
"Nurse Hester Latterly finds herself well suited for the position: accompany Mrs. Mary Farraline, an elderly Scottish lady in delicate health, on a short train trip to London. Yet Hester's simple job takes a grave turn when the woman dies during the night. And when a postmortem examination of the body reveals a lethal dose of medicine, Hester is charged with murder -- punishable by execution.
"The notorious case presents detective William Monk with a daunting task: find a calculating killer amongst the prominent and coolly assailable Farraline clan. Since Hester must be tried in Edinburgh, where prejudice against her runs high, there is little that the highly skilled barrister Oliver Rathbone can do to help. He can only try to direct her Scottish lawyer from the frustrating sidelines, and pray that Hester will not be sent to the gallows."
Review:
Tension-filled from the get-go, this, with its surprising plot coils and character bents.
I predicted a few of the raw-nerve story turns, but not all of them.
This is easily one of the best and protagonist-progressive entries in the William Monk series.
Check this out.
Followed by Cain His Brother.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
A Sudden, Fearful Death, by Anne Perry
(pb; 1993: fourth book in the William Monk series)
From the back cover:
"In a London hospital, Prudence Barrymore, a talented nurse who had once been one of Florence Nightingale's angels of mercy in the Crimean War, meets sudden death by strangulation. Private inquiry agent William Monk is engaged to investigate this horrific crime -- which intuition tells him was no random stroke of violence by a madman.
"Greatly helped by his unconventional friend Hester Latterly, another of Miss Nightingale's nurses, and barrister Oliver Rathbone, Monk assembles the portrait of a remarkable woman. Yet he also discerns the shadow of a tragic evil that darkens every level of society, and a frightening glimmer of his own eclipsed past."
Review:
Perry abandons the slow-build of Defend And Betray for a quicker, more immediately upsetting pace and plot this time out.
The result is a gripping, "waiting for the other shoe to drop" read, with a somber, novel- and character-centric denoument.
Another excellent offering from Perry. Check it out.
Followed by The Sins Of The Wolf.
From the back cover:
"In a London hospital, Prudence Barrymore, a talented nurse who had once been one of Florence Nightingale's angels of mercy in the Crimean War, meets sudden death by strangulation. Private inquiry agent William Monk is engaged to investigate this horrific crime -- which intuition tells him was no random stroke of violence by a madman.
"Greatly helped by his unconventional friend Hester Latterly, another of Miss Nightingale's nurses, and barrister Oliver Rathbone, Monk assembles the portrait of a remarkable woman. Yet he also discerns the shadow of a tragic evil that darkens every level of society, and a frightening glimmer of his own eclipsed past."
Review:
Perry abandons the slow-build of Defend And Betray for a quicker, more immediately upsetting pace and plot this time out.
The result is a gripping, "waiting for the other shoe to drop" read, with a somber, novel- and character-centric denoument.
Another excellent offering from Perry. Check it out.
Followed by The Sins Of The Wolf.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Defend And Betray, by Anne Perry
(hb; 1992: third book in the William Monk series)
From the inside flap:
"After a brilliant military career, bravely serving the crown and country in India, esteemed General Thaddeus Carlyon finally meets death, not in the frenzy of battle, but at an elegant London dinner party. In a bizarre incident that shocks aristocratic London, General Carlyon is killed in what first appears to be a freak accident. But the General's beautiful wife, Alexandra, readily confesses that she killed him -- a story she clings to even under the shadow of the gallows.
"Investigator Thomas Monk, nurse Hester Latterly, and brilliant Oliver Rathbone, counsel for the defense, work feverishly to break down the wall of silence raised by the accused and her husband's proud family; and with the trial only days away they inch toward the dark and appalling heart of the mystery..."
Review:
The first half of Defend And Betray seems straightforward and bleak: the murderess, Alexandra Carlyon, has confessed to the crime and is sure to hang. However, her stated reason for the crime is a deception -- at least that's what Oliver Rathbone, Alexandra's lawyer, and William Monk, investigating the murder, believe.
The day-to-day, plot-constructive mundanity of the first half is a masterful build-up; it made the second-half character dynamics, courtroom fireworks and twist-reveals resonate even more with this reader.
Solid, emotional, twist-effective read.
Followed by A Sudden, Fearful Death.
From the inside flap:
"After a brilliant military career, bravely serving the crown and country in India, esteemed General Thaddeus Carlyon finally meets death, not in the frenzy of battle, but at an elegant London dinner party. In a bizarre incident that shocks aristocratic London, General Carlyon is killed in what first appears to be a freak accident. But the General's beautiful wife, Alexandra, readily confesses that she killed him -- a story she clings to even under the shadow of the gallows.
"Investigator Thomas Monk, nurse Hester Latterly, and brilliant Oliver Rathbone, counsel for the defense, work feverishly to break down the wall of silence raised by the accused and her husband's proud family; and with the trial only days away they inch toward the dark and appalling heart of the mystery..."
Review:
The first half of Defend And Betray seems straightforward and bleak: the murderess, Alexandra Carlyon, has confessed to the crime and is sure to hang. However, her stated reason for the crime is a deception -- at least that's what Oliver Rathbone, Alexandra's lawyer, and William Monk, investigating the murder, believe.
The day-to-day, plot-constructive mundanity of the first half is a masterful build-up; it made the second-half character dynamics, courtroom fireworks and twist-reveals resonate even more with this reader.
Solid, emotional, twist-effective read.
Followed by A Sudden, Fearful Death.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
A Dangerous Mourning, by Anne Perry
(hb; 1991: second book in the William Monk series)
From the inside flap:
"No breath of scandal has ever touched the Moidore family. Almost every day London's wealthiest and most powerful can be found taking tea or dining in the opulent family mansion of Sir Basil Moidore in Queen Anne Street.
"Now Sir Basil's beautiful widowed daughter has been stabbed to death in her own bed, a shocking, incomprehensible tragedy. Inspector William Monk is ordered to find her killer without delay -- and in a manner that will give the least possible pain to the influential family.
"But Monk, brilliant and ambitious, is handicapped, both by lingering traces of amnesia caused by an accident and by the craven ineptitude of his supervisor, who would like nothing better than to see Monk fail.
"With the intelligent help of Hester Latterly, an independent young woman who has served with Florence Nightingale in the Crimean War, Monk gropes warily through the silence and shadows that obscure the case. Step by dangerous step, he approaches the astonishing, appalling solution..."
Review:
Monk and Hester are thrown together again to solve another high society murder, of course ripe with scandal, media screaming, and probable career ruin (for Monk).
Monk's handling of the case is more certain this time: he's less hampered by his memory loss, which still occasionally hinders him, but doesn't make him look incompetent (as it did in The Face Of A Stranger).
The snippy sparks between Monk and Hester still alight their mutual air, but their respect for each other has deepened; much of what makes this Perry-standard mystery shine so brightly are these feisty half-fights, and the equally-clever friendship between Monk and his police partner, Evans.
Excellent series, this, one that provides a character-veracious contrast to Perry's Charlotte & Thomas Pitt series.
Check it out!
Followed by Defend And Betray.
From the inside flap:
"No breath of scandal has ever touched the Moidore family. Almost every day London's wealthiest and most powerful can be found taking tea or dining in the opulent family mansion of Sir Basil Moidore in Queen Anne Street.
"Now Sir Basil's beautiful widowed daughter has been stabbed to death in her own bed, a shocking, incomprehensible tragedy. Inspector William Monk is ordered to find her killer without delay -- and in a manner that will give the least possible pain to the influential family.
"But Monk, brilliant and ambitious, is handicapped, both by lingering traces of amnesia caused by an accident and by the craven ineptitude of his supervisor, who would like nothing better than to see Monk fail.
"With the intelligent help of Hester Latterly, an independent young woman who has served with Florence Nightingale in the Crimean War, Monk gropes warily through the silence and shadows that obscure the case. Step by dangerous step, he approaches the astonishing, appalling solution..."
Review:
Monk and Hester are thrown together again to solve another high society murder, of course ripe with scandal, media screaming, and probable career ruin (for Monk).
Monk's handling of the case is more certain this time: he's less hampered by his memory loss, which still occasionally hinders him, but doesn't make him look incompetent (as it did in The Face Of A Stranger).
The snippy sparks between Monk and Hester still alight their mutual air, but their respect for each other has deepened; much of what makes this Perry-standard mystery shine so brightly are these feisty half-fights, and the equally-clever friendship between Monk and his police partner, Evans.
Excellent series, this, one that provides a character-veracious contrast to Perry's Charlotte & Thomas Pitt series.
Check it out!
Followed by Defend And Betray.
Thursday, January 07, 2010
The Face Of A Stranger, by Anne Perry
(pb; 1990: first book in the William Monk series)
From the back cover:
"His name, they tell him, is William Monk, and he is a London police detective. But the accident that felled him has left him with only a half a life: his memory and his entire pat have vanished.
"Trying as best he can to hide that fact, Monk returns to work and finds himself assigned to the brutal murder of Major the Honorable Joscelin Grey, Crimean war hero and popular man about town, in his room in fashionable Mecklenburg Square. The exalted status of the victim puts any representative of the police in the precarious position of having to pry into a noble family's secrets -- which in itself will be difficult for Monk, as he's forgotten his professional skills along with everything else.
"But slowly the darkness begins to lighten as each new revelation leads Monk step by terrifying step to the answers he seeks but dreads to find."
Review:
Intriguing, fast-moving gem of a mystery, this. It's especially intriguing because of Monk's nearly-complete amnesia, which makes him wonder who his friends and enemies are, and why -- what sort of man was he, prior to the accident? Arrogant, at times, certainly; but what beyond that?
And why is his boss (Runcorn) so intent on seeing Monk arrest the wrong man for a media-charged high society murder, a move that will surely ruin Monk's career?
While trying to hide his amnesia -- it makes him look incompetent and awkward at times -- Monk tries to regain his life. In the hands of a great mystery writer like Perry, it's enthralling, excellent.
Check this out.
Followed by A Dangerous Mourning.
From the back cover:
"His name, they tell him, is William Monk, and he is a London police detective. But the accident that felled him has left him with only a half a life: his memory and his entire pat have vanished.
"Trying as best he can to hide that fact, Monk returns to work and finds himself assigned to the brutal murder of Major the Honorable Joscelin Grey, Crimean war hero and popular man about town, in his room in fashionable Mecklenburg Square. The exalted status of the victim puts any representative of the police in the precarious position of having to pry into a noble family's secrets -- which in itself will be difficult for Monk, as he's forgotten his professional skills along with everything else.
"But slowly the darkness begins to lighten as each new revelation leads Monk step by terrifying step to the answers he seeks but dreads to find."
Review:
Intriguing, fast-moving gem of a mystery, this. It's especially intriguing because of Monk's nearly-complete amnesia, which makes him wonder who his friends and enemies are, and why -- what sort of man was he, prior to the accident? Arrogant, at times, certainly; but what beyond that?
And why is his boss (Runcorn) so intent on seeing Monk arrest the wrong man for a media-charged high society murder, a move that will surely ruin Monk's career?
While trying to hide his amnesia -- it makes him look incompetent and awkward at times -- Monk tries to regain his life. In the hands of a great mystery writer like Perry, it's enthralling, excellent.
Check this out.
Followed by A Dangerous Mourning.
Sunday, October 18, 2009
A Dish Taken Cold, by Anne Perry
(hb; 2000: novella)
From the inside flap:
"It is 1792 in the terror-ridden Paris. . . In the three years since the storming of the Bastille, the economy has failed and the power of the monarchy has withered into utter ineffectuality. Chaos reigns in the steamy summer streets. The city is hungry -- for justice, for vengeance, for bread. So is Celie.
"Employed in the household of the celebrated Madame de Staël, the young, unwed Celie daily leaves her baby in the care of a friend, Amandine. One day, grievously, Celie's infant suffers an accidental, inexplicable death, which apparently occurred, so Celie learns later, while Amandine lay in the arms of her lover, Georges. Her woe flaring into rage, Celie plots a sure but horrific revenge among revolutionaries ready to put to death any woman or man named traitor."
Review:
Well-written, straightforward work whose characters and prose vividly convey the terror, fervor and chaos of a revolution-torn country, in this case France, specifically Paris. The character-based end-twist is obvious early on, but it's a decent read from an excellent writer.
From the inside flap:
"It is 1792 in the terror-ridden Paris. . . In the three years since the storming of the Bastille, the economy has failed and the power of the monarchy has withered into utter ineffectuality. Chaos reigns in the steamy summer streets. The city is hungry -- for justice, for vengeance, for bread. So is Celie.
"Employed in the household of the celebrated Madame de Staël, the young, unwed Celie daily leaves her baby in the care of a friend, Amandine. One day, grievously, Celie's infant suffers an accidental, inexplicable death, which apparently occurred, so Celie learns later, while Amandine lay in the arms of her lover, Georges. Her woe flaring into rage, Celie plots a sure but horrific revenge among revolutionaries ready to put to death any woman or man named traitor."
Review:
Well-written, straightforward work whose characters and prose vividly convey the terror, fervor and chaos of a revolution-torn country, in this case France, specifically Paris. The character-based end-twist is obvious early on, but it's a decent read from an excellent writer.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Buckingham Palace Gardens, by Anne Perry
(hb; 2008: twenty-fifth book in the Charlotte & Thomas Pitt series)
From the inside flap:
"The Prince of Wales has asked four wealthy entrepeneurs and their elegant wives to the palace to discuss a fantastic idea: the construction of a six-thousand-mile railroad that would stretch the full length of Africa. But alas, the prince's gathering proves disastrous when the mutilated boyd of a prostitute hired for a late-night frolic (after the wives have retired to bed) turns up among the queen's monogrammed sheets in a palace linen closet.
"With great haste, Thomas Pitt, brilliant mainstay of Special Services, is summoned to resolve the crisis. The Pitts' cockney maid, Gracie, is also recruited -- to pose as a palace servant and listen in on the guests' conversations, scan their bedrooms, and scrutinize their troubled faces for clues to hidden rivalries and attachments that could have led to murder. If Pitt and Gracie fail to find out who brutally murdered the young woman -- as seems increasingly likely -- Pitt's career will be over, and the scandal may just cause the monarchy to fall..."
Review:
Good entry in the Charlotte & Thomas Pitt series. Perry skillfully weaves most of the series' key characters (at least peripherally) into the storyline, though the set-up for the murders [and by extension, the identity of the killer(s)] are somewhat obvious.
It's not for the lack of feasible suspects, or red herrings: it's simply that, as an ongoing Perry reader, I was able to spot her plot set-up.
The denouement, quietly dramatic and ripe with future-novel animosities and twists, is a stunner.
Check this series out!
Followed by Treason at Lisson Grove.
From the inside flap:
"The Prince of Wales has asked four wealthy entrepeneurs and their elegant wives to the palace to discuss a fantastic idea: the construction of a six-thousand-mile railroad that would stretch the full length of Africa. But alas, the prince's gathering proves disastrous when the mutilated boyd of a prostitute hired for a late-night frolic (after the wives have retired to bed) turns up among the queen's monogrammed sheets in a palace linen closet.
"With great haste, Thomas Pitt, brilliant mainstay of Special Services, is summoned to resolve the crisis. The Pitts' cockney maid, Gracie, is also recruited -- to pose as a palace servant and listen in on the guests' conversations, scan their bedrooms, and scrutinize their troubled faces for clues to hidden rivalries and attachments that could have led to murder. If Pitt and Gracie fail to find out who brutally murdered the young woman -- as seems increasingly likely -- Pitt's career will be over, and the scandal may just cause the monarchy to fall..."
Review:
Good entry in the Charlotte & Thomas Pitt series. Perry skillfully weaves most of the series' key characters (at least peripherally) into the storyline, though the set-up for the murders [and by extension, the identity of the killer(s)] are somewhat obvious.
It's not for the lack of feasible suspects, or red herrings: it's simply that, as an ongoing Perry reader, I was able to spot her plot set-up.
The denouement, quietly dramatic and ripe with future-novel animosities and twists, is a stunner.
Check this series out!
Followed by Treason at Lisson Grove.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Long Spoon Lane, by Anne Perry
(pb; 2005: twenty-fourth book in the Charlotte & Thomas Pitt series)
From the back cover:
"After bombs explode during an anarchist attack in Long Spoon Lane, two of the culprits are captured and the leader is shot. . . but by whom? As Thomas Pitt of the Special Branch delves into the case, he finds that there's more to the terrorism than the brutality of misguided idealists. Clues suggest that Inspector Wetron is the mastermind. As the shadowy leader of the Inner Circle, Wetron is using his influence with the press to stir up fears of more attacks and to rush a bill through Parliament that would severely curtail civil liberties. To defeat Wetron, Pitt must run in harness with his old enemy, Sir Charles Voisey. The unlikely allies are joined by Pitt's clever wife, Charlotte, and her great aunt, Lady Vespasia Cumming-Gould. As they strive to prevent future destruction, nothing less than the fate of the British Empire hangs in precarious balance."
Review:
One of the best Charlotte and Thomas Pitt novels yet. This time out, Perry cuts loose with unexpected, impressive twists and acts of violence, characters whose bonds to each other deepen even as the possibilities of betrayals increase, and a finish that's as emotionally captivating as the fervid plot that precedes it.
Another wow-worthy, turning-point entry in this consistently-exemplary series.
Check this series out!
Followed by Buckingham Palace Gardens.
From the back cover:
"After bombs explode during an anarchist attack in Long Spoon Lane, two of the culprits are captured and the leader is shot. . . but by whom? As Thomas Pitt of the Special Branch delves into the case, he finds that there's more to the terrorism than the brutality of misguided idealists. Clues suggest that Inspector Wetron is the mastermind. As the shadowy leader of the Inner Circle, Wetron is using his influence with the press to stir up fears of more attacks and to rush a bill through Parliament that would severely curtail civil liberties. To defeat Wetron, Pitt must run in harness with his old enemy, Sir Charles Voisey. The unlikely allies are joined by Pitt's clever wife, Charlotte, and her great aunt, Lady Vespasia Cumming-Gould. As they strive to prevent future destruction, nothing less than the fate of the British Empire hangs in precarious balance."
Review:
One of the best Charlotte and Thomas Pitt novels yet. This time out, Perry cuts loose with unexpected, impressive twists and acts of violence, characters whose bonds to each other deepen even as the possibilities of betrayals increase, and a finish that's as emotionally captivating as the fervid plot that precedes it.
Another wow-worthy, turning-point entry in this consistently-exemplary series.
Check this series out!
Followed by Buckingham Palace Gardens.
Thursday, April 09, 2009
Seven Dials, by Anne Perry
(pb; 2003: twenty-third book in the Charlotte & Thomas Pitt series)
From the back cover:
"Thomas Pitt, mainstay of Her Majesty's Special Branch, is summoned to Connaught Square mansion where the body of a junior diplomat lies huddled in a wheelbarrow. Nearby stands the tenant of the house, the beautiful and notorious Egyptian woman Ayesha Zakhari, who falls under the shadow of suspicion. Pitt's orders are to protect -- at all costs -- the good name of the third person in the garden: senior cabinet minister Saville Ryerson. This distinguished public servant, whispered to be Ayesha's lover, insists that she is as innocent as Pitt himself is. Pitt's journey to uncover the truth takes him from Egyptian cotton fields to the insidious London slum called Seven Dials, to a packed London courtroom where shocking secrets will at last be revealed."
Review:
Solid entry in the Charlotte & Thomas Pitt series, with an exotic, turning-point element (Pitt travels to Alexandria, Egypt) in the unfolding plot. The writing, as usual, is excellent, with characters worth rooting for or hissing at. The killer is obvious, with an ending that should be somewhat familiar to Perry's readers, but the ride's still fun.
Check this series out.
Followed by Long Spoon Lane.
From the back cover:
"Thomas Pitt, mainstay of Her Majesty's Special Branch, is summoned to Connaught Square mansion where the body of a junior diplomat lies huddled in a wheelbarrow. Nearby stands the tenant of the house, the beautiful and notorious Egyptian woman Ayesha Zakhari, who falls under the shadow of suspicion. Pitt's orders are to protect -- at all costs -- the good name of the third person in the garden: senior cabinet minister Saville Ryerson. This distinguished public servant, whispered to be Ayesha's lover, insists that she is as innocent as Pitt himself is. Pitt's journey to uncover the truth takes him from Egyptian cotton fields to the insidious London slum called Seven Dials, to a packed London courtroom where shocking secrets will at last be revealed."
Review:
Solid entry in the Charlotte & Thomas Pitt series, with an exotic, turning-point element (Pitt travels to Alexandria, Egypt) in the unfolding plot. The writing, as usual, is excellent, with characters worth rooting for or hissing at. The killer is obvious, with an ending that should be somewhat familiar to Perry's readers, but the ride's still fun.
Check this series out.
Followed by Long Spoon Lane.
Thursday, January 08, 2009
Southampton Row, by Anne Perry
(hb; 2002: twenty-second book in the Charlotte & Thomas Pitt series)
From the inside cover:
". . . toward the end of her long reign, Victoria's gold is tarnishing. With a general election fast approaching, a deep rift separates the aristocratic Tories from the Liberal opposition. The powerful Inner Circle -- a secret society of men sworn to support each other above all other loyalties -- is committed to seizing one critical seat in Parliament, a first step towards the achievement of sinister secret ambitions. Passions are so enflamed that Thomas Pitt, shrewd mainstay of the London police, has been ordered to forego his long-awaited vacation, not to solve a crime, but to prevent a national disaster.
"The Tory candidate is Pitt's archenemy, Charles Voisey, a ruthless leader in the Inner Circle. The Liberal candidate is Aubrey Serracold, whose chances may be hurt by his wife's passionate commitment to the Socialist agenda. Equally damaging is her dalliance with spiritualism. Indeed, she is one of the three participants in a late-night séance that becomes the swan song of stylish clairvoyant Maude Laumont. For the next morning, the maid finds Lamont's brutally murdered body in the séance room of the house on Southampton Row.
"To Pitt's heavy burdens is now added the investigation of this most baffling crime. Meanwhile, his wife, Charlotte, and their children are enjoying the country vacation that Pitt has been denied -- unaware that they, too, are deeply endangered by the same fanatical forces hovering over the steadfast Pitt."
Review:
Caveat -- (possible) plot spoilers in this review.
Less than a month after the murders and political dirty deals of The Whitechapel Conspiracy, Thomas Pitt -- once again, without warning -- is relieved of his post as Superintendent of the Bow Street police station. And, again, it's likely that Charles Voisey (whose Inner Circle-backed governmental coup was thwarted, at the last minute by others, including Pitt) is behind Pitt's demotion to -- once again -- Special Branch, under the watchful eye of Victor Narraway (head of Special Branch, whose motives and political leanings are unclear).
With Charlotte, their maid Gracie and their kids removed to the country for safe-keeping, Pitt is instructed to watch Charles Voisey, as Voisey campaigns for an important Parliament seat. But Pitt isn't politically-savvy; he's used to investigating murders, not monitoring the dirty dealings of politicians -- least of all, a politician who's the head of the nefarious Inner Circle.
Then a medium (Maude Lamont), who has links to the wife of Voisey's political opponent, is murdered. Pitt (on the quiet) is assigned to investigate that, as well, along with Pitt's sometimes-surly right-hand man (Sergeant Samuel Tellman) and Victor Narraway. Also helping them, indirectly (as usual): Emily Radley (Charlotte's sister and wife of Jack Radley, who's also running for a Parliament seat) and the quietly-influential Lady Vespasia Cumming-Gould (Charlotte and Emily's great-aunt by marriage).
Like The Whitechapel Conspiracy, Southampton Row is a turning point in the Charlotte & Thomas Pitt series. The stakes are higher than ever, and Pitt has a specific nemesis (Charles Voisey), who's eyeing the highest leadership position in the British Empire. Also, Pitt's not squeaky clean anymore -- when he hid key evidence to maintain political stability and prevent likely riots in Whitechapel, he joined the dirty-deal game (albeit in a limited manner): in Southampton Row, he's still reeling from that act, and further acts he may have to commit, just to keep him and his friends/family safe.
Excellent, excellent, excellent series! Check these books out!
Followed by Seven Dials.
From the inside cover:
". . . toward the end of her long reign, Victoria's gold is tarnishing. With a general election fast approaching, a deep rift separates the aristocratic Tories from the Liberal opposition. The powerful Inner Circle -- a secret society of men sworn to support each other above all other loyalties -- is committed to seizing one critical seat in Parliament, a first step towards the achievement of sinister secret ambitions. Passions are so enflamed that Thomas Pitt, shrewd mainstay of the London police, has been ordered to forego his long-awaited vacation, not to solve a crime, but to prevent a national disaster.
"The Tory candidate is Pitt's archenemy, Charles Voisey, a ruthless leader in the Inner Circle. The Liberal candidate is Aubrey Serracold, whose chances may be hurt by his wife's passionate commitment to the Socialist agenda. Equally damaging is her dalliance with spiritualism. Indeed, she is one of the three participants in a late-night séance that becomes the swan song of stylish clairvoyant Maude Laumont. For the next morning, the maid finds Lamont's brutally murdered body in the séance room of the house on Southampton Row.
"To Pitt's heavy burdens is now added the investigation of this most baffling crime. Meanwhile, his wife, Charlotte, and their children are enjoying the country vacation that Pitt has been denied -- unaware that they, too, are deeply endangered by the same fanatical forces hovering over the steadfast Pitt."
Review:
Caveat -- (possible) plot spoilers in this review.
Less than a month after the murders and political dirty deals of The Whitechapel Conspiracy, Thomas Pitt -- once again, without warning -- is relieved of his post as Superintendent of the Bow Street police station. And, again, it's likely that Charles Voisey (whose Inner Circle-backed governmental coup was thwarted, at the last minute by others, including Pitt) is behind Pitt's demotion to -- once again -- Special Branch, under the watchful eye of Victor Narraway (head of Special Branch, whose motives and political leanings are unclear).
With Charlotte, their maid Gracie and their kids removed to the country for safe-keeping, Pitt is instructed to watch Charles Voisey, as Voisey campaigns for an important Parliament seat. But Pitt isn't politically-savvy; he's used to investigating murders, not monitoring the dirty dealings of politicians -- least of all, a politician who's the head of the nefarious Inner Circle.
Then a medium (Maude Lamont), who has links to the wife of Voisey's political opponent, is murdered. Pitt (on the quiet) is assigned to investigate that, as well, along with Pitt's sometimes-surly right-hand man (Sergeant Samuel Tellman) and Victor Narraway. Also helping them, indirectly (as usual): Emily Radley (Charlotte's sister and wife of Jack Radley, who's also running for a Parliament seat) and the quietly-influential Lady Vespasia Cumming-Gould (Charlotte and Emily's great-aunt by marriage).
Like The Whitechapel Conspiracy, Southampton Row is a turning point in the Charlotte & Thomas Pitt series. The stakes are higher than ever, and Pitt has a specific nemesis (Charles Voisey), who's eyeing the highest leadership position in the British Empire. Also, Pitt's not squeaky clean anymore -- when he hid key evidence to maintain political stability and prevent likely riots in Whitechapel, he joined the dirty-deal game (albeit in a limited manner): in Southampton Row, he's still reeling from that act, and further acts he may have to commit, just to keep him and his friends/family safe.
Excellent, excellent, excellent series! Check these books out!
Followed by Seven Dials.
Friday, December 26, 2008
The Whitechapel Conspiracy, by Anne Perry
(hb; 2001: twenty-first book in the Charlotte & Thomas Pitt series)
From the inside flap:
"It is spring 1892. Queen Victoria persists in her life of self-absorbed seclusion. The Prince of Wales outrages decent people with his mistresses and profligate ways. The grisly killings of Whitechapel prostitutes by a man dubbed Jack the Ripper remain a frightening enigma. And in a packed Old Bailey courtroom, distinguished soldier John Adinett is sentenced to hang for the inexplicable murder of his friend, Martin Fetters.
"Though Thomas Pitt should receive praise for providing key testimony in the Fetters investigation, Adinett's powerful friends of the secretive Inner Circle make sure he is vilified instead. Thus Pitt is relieved of his Bow Street command and reassigned to the clandestine Special Branch in the dangerous East End. There he must investigate alleged anarchist plots, working undercover and living, far from his family, in Whitechapel, one of the area's worst slums. His allies are few -- among them clever Charlotte and intrepid Gracie, the maid who knows the neighborhood and can maneuver it without raising eyebrows. But neither of them anticipates the horrors soon to be revealed."
Review:
The twenty-first novel in the Charlotte & Thomas Pitt series is chockful of Victorian dooziness. The political situation is a powderkeg ready to blow, with the royalists (those who support the royal family) and the republicans (those who'd see the royal family dethroned); Thomas Pitt, and by extension, his wife (Charlotte) and his grand-aunt-by-marriage, Lady Vespasia Cumming-Gould, are caught between these two opposing, often-violent political groups. Adding to Vespasia's concerns: the love of Vespasia's life, Mario Corena (a widely-lauded revolutionary hero who romanced her so long ago in Rome, in 1848), has come to England. Why he's done so, she doesn't know, but for discerning readers, there can be little doubt. The question is: whose side is he on?
Meanwhile, Samuel Tellman, Pitt's former right-hand man, is secretly investigating the case that got Pitt unjustly rousted from his position of Superintendent of Bow Street. If Tellman gets caught by the new Superintendent -- who acts like one of the Inner Circle, a political extremist group that favors the Crown -- Tellman will be fired. Gracie Phipps, the Pitts' feisty maid, is helping Tellman; their slow-simmering, lots-o'-argumentative-fireworks romance now coming to a discernible boil, even as the whole of England looks to explode, figuratively and perhaps literally.
Not only that, but a muck-raking journalist, Lyndon Remus (who first appeared in Half Moon Street) is on the prowl, with a story that may just link royalty to one of the most-publicized crimes of the seventeenth century, shortening England's political fuse even more.
Gripping read, this, with a sublime ending that concludes the current story, while providing plenty of possibilities for future Pitt-based books.
Check this series out!
Followed by Southampton Row.
From the inside flap:
"It is spring 1892. Queen Victoria persists in her life of self-absorbed seclusion. The Prince of Wales outrages decent people with his mistresses and profligate ways. The grisly killings of Whitechapel prostitutes by a man dubbed Jack the Ripper remain a frightening enigma. And in a packed Old Bailey courtroom, distinguished soldier John Adinett is sentenced to hang for the inexplicable murder of his friend, Martin Fetters.
"Though Thomas Pitt should receive praise for providing key testimony in the Fetters investigation, Adinett's powerful friends of the secretive Inner Circle make sure he is vilified instead. Thus Pitt is relieved of his Bow Street command and reassigned to the clandestine Special Branch in the dangerous East End. There he must investigate alleged anarchist plots, working undercover and living, far from his family, in Whitechapel, one of the area's worst slums. His allies are few -- among them clever Charlotte and intrepid Gracie, the maid who knows the neighborhood and can maneuver it without raising eyebrows. But neither of them anticipates the horrors soon to be revealed."
Review:
The twenty-first novel in the Charlotte & Thomas Pitt series is chockful of Victorian dooziness. The political situation is a powderkeg ready to blow, with the royalists (those who support the royal family) and the republicans (those who'd see the royal family dethroned); Thomas Pitt, and by extension, his wife (Charlotte) and his grand-aunt-by-marriage, Lady Vespasia Cumming-Gould, are caught between these two opposing, often-violent political groups. Adding to Vespasia's concerns: the love of Vespasia's life, Mario Corena (a widely-lauded revolutionary hero who romanced her so long ago in Rome, in 1848), has come to England. Why he's done so, she doesn't know, but for discerning readers, there can be little doubt. The question is: whose side is he on?
Meanwhile, Samuel Tellman, Pitt's former right-hand man, is secretly investigating the case that got Pitt unjustly rousted from his position of Superintendent of Bow Street. If Tellman gets caught by the new Superintendent -- who acts like one of the Inner Circle, a political extremist group that favors the Crown -- Tellman will be fired. Gracie Phipps, the Pitts' feisty maid, is helping Tellman; their slow-simmering, lots-o'-argumentative-fireworks romance now coming to a discernible boil, even as the whole of England looks to explode, figuratively and perhaps literally.
Not only that, but a muck-raking journalist, Lyndon Remus (who first appeared in Half Moon Street) is on the prowl, with a story that may just link royalty to one of the most-publicized crimes of the seventeenth century, shortening England's political fuse even more.
Gripping read, this, with a sublime ending that concludes the current story, while providing plenty of possibilities for future Pitt-based books.
Check this series out!
Followed by Southampton Row.
Monday, November 10, 2008
Half Moon Street, by Anne Perry
(hb; 2000: twentieth book in the Charlotte & Thomas Pitt series)
From the inside flap:
"Superintendent Thomas Pitt cannot immediately ascertain exactly what segment of society the dead man riding the morning tide of the Thames cam from, but the sight of him is unforgettable. He lies in a battered punt drifting through the mornging mist, his arms and legs chained to the boat's sides. He is clad in a torn green gown, and flowers bestrew his battered body.
"Is he, as Pitt fears, a French diplomat who has gone missing? Or merely someone who greatly resembles him? Pitt's determined search for answers leads him deep into London's bohemia to the theatre where beautiful Cecily Antrim is outraging society with her bold portrayal of a modern woman -- and into studios where masters of light and shadow are experimenting with the fascinating art of photography.
"But only Pitt's most relentless pursuit enables him to identify the wildfire passions raging through this tragedy of good and evil, to hunt down the guilty and protect the innocent."
Review:
Another excellent entry in the Thomas & Charlotte Pitt series. Perry freshens the formula by focusing on characters who normally don't get as much "air time" in the series.
Charlotte Pitt is away in Paris with her sister Emily, and Emily's husband, Jack; Gracie (the Pitts' maid) is away on vacation with the Pitts' young children. This situation allows Caroline Fielding (Thomas's mother-in-law) to take a more direct, if inadvertant, hand in helping Thomas solve this case, which may or may not be an international incident (Thomas's professional specialty).
That's not the only storm brewing: the arrival of a not-so-distant, previously-unknown relative (Samuel Ellison) from America provokes Mariah Ellison (aka, Grandmama, Caroline Fielding's former mother-in-law) to panic and fury -- and possibly the revealing of a dark family secret. Will Caroline find out what it is before her family -- and her still-young marriage -- is shattered?
Check the series out.
Followed by The Whitechapel Conspiracy.
From the inside flap:
"Superintendent Thomas Pitt cannot immediately ascertain exactly what segment of society the dead man riding the morning tide of the Thames cam from, but the sight of him is unforgettable. He lies in a battered punt drifting through the mornging mist, his arms and legs chained to the boat's sides. He is clad in a torn green gown, and flowers bestrew his battered body.
"Is he, as Pitt fears, a French diplomat who has gone missing? Or merely someone who greatly resembles him? Pitt's determined search for answers leads him deep into London's bohemia to the theatre where beautiful Cecily Antrim is outraging society with her bold portrayal of a modern woman -- and into studios where masters of light and shadow are experimenting with the fascinating art of photography.
"But only Pitt's most relentless pursuit enables him to identify the wildfire passions raging through this tragedy of good and evil, to hunt down the guilty and protect the innocent."
Review:
Another excellent entry in the Thomas & Charlotte Pitt series. Perry freshens the formula by focusing on characters who normally don't get as much "air time" in the series.
Charlotte Pitt is away in Paris with her sister Emily, and Emily's husband, Jack; Gracie (the Pitts' maid) is away on vacation with the Pitts' young children. This situation allows Caroline Fielding (Thomas's mother-in-law) to take a more direct, if inadvertant, hand in helping Thomas solve this case, which may or may not be an international incident (Thomas's professional specialty).
That's not the only storm brewing: the arrival of a not-so-distant, previously-unknown relative (Samuel Ellison) from America provokes Mariah Ellison (aka, Grandmama, Caroline Fielding's former mother-in-law) to panic and fury -- and possibly the revealing of a dark family secret. Will Caroline find out what it is before her family -- and her still-young marriage -- is shattered?
Check the series out.
Followed by The Whitechapel Conspiracy.
Wednesday, September 03, 2008
Bedford Square, by Anne Perry
(pb; 1999: nineteenth book in the Charlotte & Thomas Pitt series)
From the back cover:
"The freshly dead body sprawled on the Bedford Square doorstep of General Brandon Balantyne is an affront to every respectable sensibility. The general denies all knowledge of the shabbily dressed victim who has so rudely come to death outside his home. But Superintendant Thomas Pitt cannot believe him. For in the dead man's pockets he finds a rare snuffbox that recently graced the general's study. He must tread lightly, however, lest his investigation trigger a tragedy of immense proportions, ensnaring honorable men like flies in a web. Pitt's clever wife, Charlotte, becomes his full partner in probing this masterpiece of evil, spawned by an amorality greater than they can imagine."
Review:
June 1891. Several men in relative power (but not a lot of wealth) are being blackmailed via defamatory letters by someone who isn't making traditional blackmail demands (money, or political votes). One of these men is General Brandon Balantyne (who also appeared in Callander Square and Death in the Devil's Acre). That's not Balantyne's only problem: he's just had a murdered corpse dumped on his front doorstep, with a personal item of Balantyne's stuffed in the corpse's jacket pocket.
One of the other men being blackmailed is Assistant Commissioner Cornwallis, Pitt's immediate boss (who first appeared in Traitors Gate). While Pitt delves into Cornwallis's blackmail situation, Samuel Tellman, Pitt's right hand man (who, progressively, with every new book, gets increasing amounts of point of view time), sets out to discover who dumped the body on Balantyne's front steps -- and if that person is the same person who's blackmailing Balantyne and the others. Inevitably, Pitt's and Tellman's investigations dovetail into one case, one that has a tragic, though not completely unsurprising, finish.
Excellent reading, as are all the Pitt novels. Check them out.
Followed by Half Moon Street.
From the back cover:
"The freshly dead body sprawled on the Bedford Square doorstep of General Brandon Balantyne is an affront to every respectable sensibility. The general denies all knowledge of the shabbily dressed victim who has so rudely come to death outside his home. But Superintendant Thomas Pitt cannot believe him. For in the dead man's pockets he finds a rare snuffbox that recently graced the general's study. He must tread lightly, however, lest his investigation trigger a tragedy of immense proportions, ensnaring honorable men like flies in a web. Pitt's clever wife, Charlotte, becomes his full partner in probing this masterpiece of evil, spawned by an amorality greater than they can imagine."
Review:
June 1891. Several men in relative power (but not a lot of wealth) are being blackmailed via defamatory letters by someone who isn't making traditional blackmail demands (money, or political votes). One of these men is General Brandon Balantyne (who also appeared in Callander Square and Death in the Devil's Acre). That's not Balantyne's only problem: he's just had a murdered corpse dumped on his front doorstep, with a personal item of Balantyne's stuffed in the corpse's jacket pocket.
One of the other men being blackmailed is Assistant Commissioner Cornwallis, Pitt's immediate boss (who first appeared in Traitors Gate). While Pitt delves into Cornwallis's blackmail situation, Samuel Tellman, Pitt's right hand man (who, progressively, with every new book, gets increasing amounts of point of view time), sets out to discover who dumped the body on Balantyne's front steps -- and if that person is the same person who's blackmailing Balantyne and the others. Inevitably, Pitt's and Tellman's investigations dovetail into one case, one that has a tragic, though not completely unsurprising, finish.
Excellent reading, as are all the Pitt novels. Check them out.
Followed by Half Moon Street.
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Brunswick Gardens, by Anne Perry
(hb; 1998: eighteenth book in the Charlotte & Thomas Pitt series)
From the inside flap:
"A century ago, Charles Darwin's revolutionary theory of evolution rocked the civilized world, and the outraged Anglican church went on the warpath against it. In a mansion in London's affluent Brunswick Gardens, the battle is intense, as that most respected clergyman, the Reverend Ramsay Parmenter, is boldly challenged by his beautiful new assistant, Unity Bellwood -- a 'new woman' whose feminism and aggressive Darwinism he finds appalling.
"When Unity, three months pregnant, tumbles down the Parmenter's staircase to her death, Thomas Pitt, commander of the Bow Street police station, is virtually certain that one of the three devout men in the house committed the murder. Could it have been the Reverend Parmenter, his handsome curate, or his Roman Catholic son? Powerful forces demand that the scandalous matter be cleared up immediately. But Pitt and his clever wife, Charlotte, refuse to settle for less than the truth... and justice."
Review:
February 1891. Five months after the Ashworth Hall murder, Superintendant Thomas Pitt of Scotland Yard, and his wife, Charlotte -- in an unofficial capacity -- are investigating the death of a progressive, sharp-tongued woman in a house teeming with conflicting religious faiths. Did Reverend Ramsay Parmenter, Anglican clergyman and intellectual who often, loudly quarreled with Unity, push her down the stairs? Or was it Mallory, Ramsay's socially-maladaptive, seething, Catholic-faithed son? Or was it Dominic Corde, priest-in-training (aka, curate), who first appeared in the Pitt series as the badly-behaved widower of Charlotte's sister, Sarah (in The Cater Street Hangman)?
The Pitts, as usual, are resolved to finding the killer, or killers. But this time there's an internal conflict -- Thomas is still distrustful and slightly jealous of Dominic (who once was the object of Charlotte's unrealized adolescent fancies). Charlotte, content and true in her marriage to Thomas, is in turmoil, also, with the unpleasant awareness of past sins -- some of them committed by her, in the semi-crazy blush of youth.
Perry also freshens her effective mystery formula by showing Dominic Corde's third-person perspective. This more or less clears him of being the killer (in his own mind), but it makes the story more interesting to see another character's viewpoint -- author Perry has used third-party perspective before, but rarely are these third-party points of view given so much free rein, word-wise.
I spotted the killer/s almost instantly, but that's partly because I'm cynical, and I read a lot of mystery novels. That didn't spoil the read for me, though, as it's always a delight to spend time with the Pitts and those in their personal circle.
The novel runs a little long about three-quarter of the way in, but the last quarter of Brunswick Gardens -- interesting, and deeply personal -- makes up for that.
Check the series out.
Followed by Bedford Square.
From the inside flap:
"A century ago, Charles Darwin's revolutionary theory of evolution rocked the civilized world, and the outraged Anglican church went on the warpath against it. In a mansion in London's affluent Brunswick Gardens, the battle is intense, as that most respected clergyman, the Reverend Ramsay Parmenter, is boldly challenged by his beautiful new assistant, Unity Bellwood -- a 'new woman' whose feminism and aggressive Darwinism he finds appalling.
"When Unity, three months pregnant, tumbles down the Parmenter's staircase to her death, Thomas Pitt, commander of the Bow Street police station, is virtually certain that one of the three devout men in the house committed the murder. Could it have been the Reverend Parmenter, his handsome curate, or his Roman Catholic son? Powerful forces demand that the scandalous matter be cleared up immediately. But Pitt and his clever wife, Charlotte, refuse to settle for less than the truth... and justice."
Review:
February 1891. Five months after the Ashworth Hall murder, Superintendant Thomas Pitt of Scotland Yard, and his wife, Charlotte -- in an unofficial capacity -- are investigating the death of a progressive, sharp-tongued woman in a house teeming with conflicting religious faiths. Did Reverend Ramsay Parmenter, Anglican clergyman and intellectual who often, loudly quarreled with Unity, push her down the stairs? Or was it Mallory, Ramsay's socially-maladaptive, seething, Catholic-faithed son? Or was it Dominic Corde, priest-in-training (aka, curate), who first appeared in the Pitt series as the badly-behaved widower of Charlotte's sister, Sarah (in The Cater Street Hangman)?
The Pitts, as usual, are resolved to finding the killer, or killers. But this time there's an internal conflict -- Thomas is still distrustful and slightly jealous of Dominic (who once was the object of Charlotte's unrealized adolescent fancies). Charlotte, content and true in her marriage to Thomas, is in turmoil, also, with the unpleasant awareness of past sins -- some of them committed by her, in the semi-crazy blush of youth.
Perry also freshens her effective mystery formula by showing Dominic Corde's third-person perspective. This more or less clears him of being the killer (in his own mind), but it makes the story more interesting to see another character's viewpoint -- author Perry has used third-party perspective before, but rarely are these third-party points of view given so much free rein, word-wise.
I spotted the killer/s almost instantly, but that's partly because I'm cynical, and I read a lot of mystery novels. That didn't spoil the read for me, though, as it's always a delight to spend time with the Pitts and those in their personal circle.
The novel runs a little long about three-quarter of the way in, but the last quarter of Brunswick Gardens -- interesting, and deeply personal -- makes up for that.
Check the series out.
Followed by Bedford Square.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Ashworth Hall, by Anne Perry
(hb; 1997: seventeenth book in the Charlotte & Thomas Pitt series)
From the inside flap:
"The gathering [at Ashworth Hall] has the appearance of a smart autumn house party -- stunning women and powerful men enjoying a few days of leisurely pleasure in a setting of exquisite beauty. In fact, the guests are Irish Protestants and Catholics gathered in reluctant parley over home rule for the Ireland, a problem that has plagued the British Isles since the reign of Elizabeth I. When the meeting's moderator, government bigwig Ainsley Greville, is found murdered in his bath, the negotiations seem doomed.
"Superintendent Thomas Pitt of Scotland Yard almost despairs as divorce preceedings involving the great Irish Nationalist leader Charles Stewart Parnell and his mistress, Kitty O'Shea, become an open scandal. To make matters worse, it seems the late Greville himself may have had a less than savory personal life. The surviving guests -- six men and five women -- unleash their true feelings, or perhaps only pretend to. Their servants follow suit. Unless Pitt and his clever wife, Charlotte, can root out the truth, simmering passions above and below stairs may again explode in murder, the hopeful home rule movement may collapse, and civil war may destroy Ireland.
"Never before has Pitt borne such terrible responsibilities; never before has Charlotte been less able to share them."
Review:
Perry's Pitt series gets more exciting with each new book. Part of the reason is that the stakes keep getting raised -- Thomas Pitt is no longer a beat cop with street-level murders and other street crimes to contend with; he is in a position of importance, defusing potentially explosive political situations, which usually begin in murder, and whose resolutions may result in long-term international ramifications (this time for England and Ireland).
Another reason for the increased excitement is that as the series progresses, characters, main and sometimes-peripheral, become like family (for series-familiar readers) -- e.g., Gracie Phipps, the Pitts' fiery-tempered maid of seven years (and now a twenty year-old woman who unofficially aids the Pitts in their murder-solving), and Jack Radley, Emily Ashworth's second husband, an honest, mid-level politician who's steadily becoming more prominent in his chosen profession. These once-peripheral characters, along with mainstays Thomas and Charlotte Pitt, Emily (Charlotte's sister), Lady Vespasia Cumming-Gould (Emily and Charlotte's great-aunt by marriage), elicit an emotional reaction in readers like myself, in how they act, and react to the situations and people around them. [This last point about reader-familiarity provoking readers' emotional response(s) can be said about any worthwhile series, or excellent writers, of course, but when reviewing the Pitt series, the point definitely bears reiterating.]
The main reason why the Pitt series keeps getting better lies with Perry herself: she writes with warmth, wit, historically-accurate verve, and a true knowledge of what resides in the human heart, be it dark or light. And often, spotting the murderer (or murderers) isn't a simple thing -- as is the case with this particular novel. (I'd guessed part of it, being a mystery-fiction aficionado, and familiar with Perry's writing style/structure.)
Excellent mystery series, well worth your time.
Followed by Brunswick Gardens.
From the inside flap:
"The gathering [at Ashworth Hall] has the appearance of a smart autumn house party -- stunning women and powerful men enjoying a few days of leisurely pleasure in a setting of exquisite beauty. In fact, the guests are Irish Protestants and Catholics gathered in reluctant parley over home rule for the Ireland, a problem that has plagued the British Isles since the reign of Elizabeth I. When the meeting's moderator, government bigwig Ainsley Greville, is found murdered in his bath, the negotiations seem doomed.
"Superintendent Thomas Pitt of Scotland Yard almost despairs as divorce preceedings involving the great Irish Nationalist leader Charles Stewart Parnell and his mistress, Kitty O'Shea, become an open scandal. To make matters worse, it seems the late Greville himself may have had a less than savory personal life. The surviving guests -- six men and five women -- unleash their true feelings, or perhaps only pretend to. Their servants follow suit. Unless Pitt and his clever wife, Charlotte, can root out the truth, simmering passions above and below stairs may again explode in murder, the hopeful home rule movement may collapse, and civil war may destroy Ireland.
"Never before has Pitt borne such terrible responsibilities; never before has Charlotte been less able to share them."
Review:
Perry's Pitt series gets more exciting with each new book. Part of the reason is that the stakes keep getting raised -- Thomas Pitt is no longer a beat cop with street-level murders and other street crimes to contend with; he is in a position of importance, defusing potentially explosive political situations, which usually begin in murder, and whose resolutions may result in long-term international ramifications (this time for England and Ireland).
Another reason for the increased excitement is that as the series progresses, characters, main and sometimes-peripheral, become like family (for series-familiar readers) -- e.g., Gracie Phipps, the Pitts' fiery-tempered maid of seven years (and now a twenty year-old woman who unofficially aids the Pitts in their murder-solving), and Jack Radley, Emily Ashworth's second husband, an honest, mid-level politician who's steadily becoming more prominent in his chosen profession. These once-peripheral characters, along with mainstays Thomas and Charlotte Pitt, Emily (Charlotte's sister), Lady Vespasia Cumming-Gould (Emily and Charlotte's great-aunt by marriage), elicit an emotional reaction in readers like myself, in how they act, and react to the situations and people around them. [This last point about reader-familiarity provoking readers' emotional response(s) can be said about any worthwhile series, or excellent writers, of course, but when reviewing the Pitt series, the point definitely bears reiterating.]
The main reason why the Pitt series keeps getting better lies with Perry herself: she writes with warmth, wit, historically-accurate verve, and a true knowledge of what resides in the human heart, be it dark or light. And often, spotting the murderer (or murderers) isn't a simple thing -- as is the case with this particular novel. (I'd guessed part of it, being a mystery-fiction aficionado, and familiar with Perry's writing style/structure.)
Excellent mystery series, well worth your time.
Followed by Brunswick Gardens.
Saturday, March 08, 2008
Pentecost Alley, by Anne Perry
(hb; 1996: sixteenth book in the Charlotte & Thomas Pitt series)
From the inside flap:
"The ritual murder of a prostitute named Ada McKinley in a bedroom on decrepit Pentecost Alley would ordinarily occasion no stir in Victoria's great metropolis. But under the victim's body the police find a Hellfire Club badge inscribed with the name Finlay Fitzjames -- a name that instantly draws Superintendent Thomas Pitt into the case.
"Finlay's father -- immensely wealthy, powerful, and dangerous -- refuses to consider the possibility that his son has been in Ada McKinley's bed. The implication is clear: Pitt is to arrest someone other than Finlay Fitzjames for Ada's demise.
"But Thomas Pitt is not a man to be intimidated, and with the help of his quick-witted wife, Charlotte, and her well-connected friends, he stubbornly pursues his investigation -- one that twists and turns like London's own ancient streets."
Review:
1890. Two months after the treacheries and murders of Traitors Gate, Pitt finds himself working a new, different, but just as difficult case. It's not the Inner Circle -- that group of wealthy, influential, and sometimes corrupt men who hold sway over politics and society -- that Pitt has to fear, but Augustus Fitzjames, Finlay's influential and rich father, and the general public (at one point Pitt comes close to being lynched by a pub full of misguided drunks). With no new clues immediately forthcoming, it appears that the case -- which may involve the possible, wrongful hanging of an innocent man -- things aren't looking very good for Pitt and the police.
Aiding Pitt in his case, of course, is his wife, Charlotte, and Emily, Charlotte's sister (who's feeling discontented and disconnected from friends and family -- everyone's so busy these days). In a more political fashion, Jack Radley (Emily's Parliament-member husband) and Lady Vespasia Cumming-Gould (Charlotte and Emily's great-aunt by marriage) are working their bits, as well.
As in the better novels of the Pitt series, Perry mixes up the elements -- shifting the prominence of certain background characters from one novel to another; varying the numbers of plot shocks and twists; changing up the crimes, their M.O.s, and their areas; alternating between violent and quiet denouements. Perry does this here, and once again comes out with another excellent, explosive entry.
There's not a lot of twists in this one, but the ones that are there are effective. The killer/s isn't/aren't easily seen -- at least, Perry kept this reader re-assessing who the killer (or killers) might be -- and the ending, like most of the other Pitt novel finishes, is a pulse-racing stunner.
This series keeps getting better and better. Check it out.
Followed by Ashworth Hall.
From the inside flap:
"The ritual murder of a prostitute named Ada McKinley in a bedroom on decrepit Pentecost Alley would ordinarily occasion no stir in Victoria's great metropolis. But under the victim's body the police find a Hellfire Club badge inscribed with the name Finlay Fitzjames -- a name that instantly draws Superintendent Thomas Pitt into the case.
"Finlay's father -- immensely wealthy, powerful, and dangerous -- refuses to consider the possibility that his son has been in Ada McKinley's bed. The implication is clear: Pitt is to arrest someone other than Finlay Fitzjames for Ada's demise.
"But Thomas Pitt is not a man to be intimidated, and with the help of his quick-witted wife, Charlotte, and her well-connected friends, he stubbornly pursues his investigation -- one that twists and turns like London's own ancient streets."
Review:
1890. Two months after the treacheries and murders of Traitors Gate, Pitt finds himself working a new, different, but just as difficult case. It's not the Inner Circle -- that group of wealthy, influential, and sometimes corrupt men who hold sway over politics and society -- that Pitt has to fear, but Augustus Fitzjames, Finlay's influential and rich father, and the general public (at one point Pitt comes close to being lynched by a pub full of misguided drunks). With no new clues immediately forthcoming, it appears that the case -- which may involve the possible, wrongful hanging of an innocent man -- things aren't looking very good for Pitt and the police.
Aiding Pitt in his case, of course, is his wife, Charlotte, and Emily, Charlotte's sister (who's feeling discontented and disconnected from friends and family -- everyone's so busy these days). In a more political fashion, Jack Radley (Emily's Parliament-member husband) and Lady Vespasia Cumming-Gould (Charlotte and Emily's great-aunt by marriage) are working their bits, as well.
As in the better novels of the Pitt series, Perry mixes up the elements -- shifting the prominence of certain background characters from one novel to another; varying the numbers of plot shocks and twists; changing up the crimes, their M.O.s, and their areas; alternating between violent and quiet denouements. Perry does this here, and once again comes out with another excellent, explosive entry.
There's not a lot of twists in this one, but the ones that are there are effective. The killer/s isn't/aren't easily seen -- at least, Perry kept this reader re-assessing who the killer (or killers) might be -- and the ending, like most of the other Pitt novel finishes, is a pulse-racing stunner.
This series keeps getting better and better. Check it out.
Followed by Ashworth Hall.
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