Rating: 
Summary: A Political Potboiler!
Review: This is an excellent book. It's more a political story than a mystery in some ways, but the mystery is still there, and Ms. Perry keeps you guessing until the very end. This book is quite a bit different than the later Thomas Pitt series, but still exciting. Thomas has offended some very highly placed political enemies, and they have seen that he has been separated from his wife and family and placed in the degraded East End of London, to ostensibly look for anarchits. More than anarchists are found though, and this plot threatens the whole Engligh way of life as it was known at this time in history. We see Charlotte and Vespasia play less dominant roles in this book than they usually do, but Gracie has stepped up to the plate and what a delight she is! This is an excellent mystery, and again the era is so well depicted it feels like you're actually there.
Rating: 
Summary: RIPPING GOOD TALE!
Review: This was my second Pitt adventure, Southampton Row being my introduction to Anne Perry's characters Thomas and Charlotte Pitt. Since this book was referred to so often in Southampton Row I felt I should read it to get the full scenario. It was certainly a good read.Having been on a "Jack the Ripper" tour on a dark and rainy night last April, I was intrigued as to whom would be the most prominent suspect. Even though this book was about far more than "Jack", it was spot on with the theory of a "royal" being involved and certainly better than the yarn that Patricia Cornwell is trying to thrust upon us! The Inner Circle and corruption in both politics and police is really the storyline here. After the trial of Adinett I felt I could actually see Thomas and Charlotte sitting in their cozy kitchen facing this nightmare together. It seemed all too real and plausible to me and I could easily fit the scenes into 2002 and the corruption that is floating all around us. I admire the active roles that both Charlotte and Gracie took, and not being caught up in the shy reserved woman's roles of their time. It was interesting that Pitt tampered with the crime scene at the sugar factory; I hope it does help him in future episodes to be more understanding of his own suspects and how frail humanity in the most honest of people can be. It served a more just cause, but he could have been fired and even possibly prosecuted for "doing the right thing". I was also surprised by the ending and admire Vespasia's strength and courage. Can we see more of her?
So glad to have stumbled upon this author and look forward to devouring her previous novels. I am now working on Brunswick Gardens.....let you know soon!
Rating:
Summary: RIPPING GOOD TALE!
Review: This was my second Pitt adventure, Southampton Row being my introduction to Anne Perry's characters Thomas and Charlotte Pitt. Since this book was referred to so often in Southampton Row I felt I should read it to get the full scenario. It was certainly a good read. Having been on a "Jack the Ripper" tour on a dark and rainy night last April, I was intrigued as to whom would be the most prominent suspect. Even though this book was about far more than "Jack", it was spot on with the theory of a "royal" being involved and certainly better than the yarn that Patricia Cornwell is trying to thrust upon us! The Inner Circle and corruption in both politics and police is really the storyline here. After the trial of Adinett I felt I could actually see Thomas and Charlotte sitting in their cozy kitchen facing this nightmare together. It seemed all too real and plausible to me and I could easily fit the scenes into 2002 and the corruption that is floating all around us. I admire the active roles that both Charlotte and Gracie took, and not being caught up in the shy reserved woman's roles of their time. It was interesting that Pitt tampered with the crime scene at the sugar factory; I hope it does help him in future episodes to be more understanding of his own suspects and how frail humanity in the most honest of people can be. It served a more just cause, but he could have been fired and even possibly prosecuted for "doing the right thing". I was also surprised by the ending and admire Vespasia's strength and courage. Can we see more of her?
So glad to have stumbled upon this author and look forward to devouring her previous novels. I am now working on Brunswick Gardens.....let you know soon!
Rating: 
Summary: Royalist Pap - Baroness Orczy would be proud
Review: Well, Anne Perry has done it again. She has written another bad Thomas and Charlotte Pitt book. I think I will stick to her other series. Perry used to write good, thought provoking books on the hypocrasies and horrors of Victorian society. This book is about how to preserve the status quo. The evils of change. Baroness Orczy would love the book, which glorifies the Royal family, even while admitting that they are nothing more than useless drains on the budget. But they provide "glamour", so let's keep them. Gag. And the people who would like to get rid of them, and set up a more equalitarian society, are portrayed as power-hungry monsters. Pitt and Charlotte used to care about the little people. No more. They have become reactionaries bent on preserving the status quo. I guess once Pitt became a fairly wealthy man, he forgot his roots. What a shame. Oh well, there's always William and Hester.
Rating:
Summary: A Good Lesson Wrapped in a Good Mystery
Review: When the Inner Circle was first mentioned in this book, I groaned. I've had too much of secret, powerful conspiracy stories from "The X-Files," and finding their famous phrase, "trust no one", early in THE WHITECHAPEL CONSPIRACY made me fear the worst. I shouldn't have. Did Adinett kill Fetters (an interesting choice for the victim's name because invisible chains hamper everyone in the book)? If he did, why? There are many mysteries in this adventure, and these are only two of them. As usual, Anne Perry asks important questions through her characters, questions that are as relevant today as they were then. There will always be the corrupt and the idealistic, the Haves and the Have-Nots, plots and counter-plots. Having her characters ponder these matters allows the reader to think about them, too. The biggest question in this book is that of revolution. What will it cost? Will what results be any better than what it replaced? Although the French Revolution and the Revolution of 1848 are the two Perry mentions, feel free to think of the American Revolution, the Russian Revolution, or any other in history. What led to them?Which worked? Which didn't? Charlotte and Thomas have not stopped caring about the poor, as one reviewer has suggested. They know that it's the poor who would have suffered the most. Neither side cares about that. To the one the poor are lesser creatures who exist to serve. To the other, they're only "collateral damage." I couldn't help thinking of George Orwell's famous ANIMAL FARM as I read this book. I think that Charlotte, Thomas, and Vespasia would have agreed with his conclusions, had the book existed in 1892. Nor does Thomas' reassignment to the East End strain credulity. It was done as much to protect as to punish him. His enemies aren't just powerful, they aren't in the open. That's what makes them so difficult to fight. Loved the way the teeth of one were pulled in the end. Personally, I enjoyed Gracie and Tellman's part in solving the case, especially Tellman telling his new boss a lie that was more true than he realized. Have fun with all the twists and turns this mystery takes. Just when you think you've figured it out, Anne Perry will bring in another clue that will make you doubt.
Rating: 
Summary: The Whitechapel Conspiracy
Review: While the book is well written, Ms. Perry puts forward an event of True Crime about which there has been much discussion and research. Unfortunaly, she picked the least likly answer to this continuing mystery. Most of us who study this particular crime have discounted the theory, using historical data, long ago.
Rating:
Summary: The Whitechapel Conspiracy
Review: While the book is well written, Ms. Perry puts forward an event of True Crime about which there has been much discussion and research. Unfortunaly, she picked the least likly answer to this continuing mystery. Most of us who study this particular crime have discounted the theory, using historical data, long ago.
| 
