Rating: 
Summary: The answer's obvious half-way through the book.
Review: Perry's been one of my favorites in the past, but lately I'm finding her preachy and the puzzle not especially puzzling. I figured out who and why midway through the book, and was bored enough to look at the end and confirm that I was correct. I quit reading it then. The last book of hers I read, I also figured out, though I read the whole thing anyway. This one just wasn't worth the effort. Pity.
Rating: 
Summary: Just Superb
Review: Perry's latest Thomas and Charlotte Pitt Victorian novel is yet another splendid "affair." As an historian, I would still say that novelist Perry is one of the finest Victorian era, zenith-of-the-British-Empire historians. More than anyone else, she has brought to the forefront the texture, darkness, light of the Victorian era, with its nasty social problems, its deep sense of caste, its range of crippling discrimination, its arrogance and cruelty - and the courage and stamina and wisdom of its common folks. This novel is no exception. Perry always takes a contemporary social problem of today, traces back to its origin or presence in the Victorian period, fashions a mystery around it, captures a reader's sense of outrage at that "ancient" abuse - and hopefully, reminds one of the continuity of that abuse to today. The focus this time is on a philosophy and a disdain and the ends some would go to insist on one's own truth. Whenever she comes! to town, my question to her is usually, "What is your next book about?" She always, remarkably responds, "I am working on two now, and I think you will find the plots interesting." Her mind is as creative and active as anyone I have met. Amazing.
Rating:
Summary: Just Superb
Review: Perry's latest Thomas and Charlotte Pitt Victorian novel is yet another splendid "affair." As an historian, I would still say that novelist Perry is one of the finest Victorian era, zenith-of-the-British-Empire historians. More than anyone else, she has brought to the forefront the texture, darkness, light of the Victorian era, with its nasty social problems, its deep sense of caste, its range of crippling discrimination, its arrogance and cruelty - and the courage and stamina and wisdom of its common folks. This novel is no exception. Perry always takes a contemporary social problem of today, traces back to its origin or presence in the Victorian period, fashions a mystery around it, captures a reader's sense of outrage at that "ancient" abuse - and hopefully, reminds one of the continuity of that abuse to today. The focus this time is on a philosophy and a disdain and the ends some would go to insist on one's own truth. Whenever she comes! to town, my question to her is usually, "What is your next book about?" She always, remarkably responds, "I am working on two now, and I think you will find the plots interesting." Her mind is as creative and active as anyone I have met. Amazing.
Rating: 
Summary: Not one of Anne Perry's best
Review: Sadly, Anne Perry seems to be losing enthusiasm - this latest in the Charlotte and Thomas Pitt series started off badly and degenerated into a boring and tedious read. The usual cast of characters that were vividly portrayed in the previous Pitt books either made cameo appearances (Aunt Vespasia and Charlotte's mother, Caroline) or were conveniently absent (Charlotte's sister, Emily and her husband, Jack). Perry seems to have gotten hung up on the issue of militant feminism in this latest book, and this has severely impacted the "detecting" aspects that were present in her earlier books in this series. But all is not lost - Pitt's boss, Cornwallis, appears to have fallen in love - with the wife of a Bishop no less! Is this an echo of what happened to Pitt's previous boss - he fell in love with, and married, a widow? I hope that Anne Perry does better with her next Pitt book. Me - I would prefer Lindsey Davis's Falco series any day.
Rating: 
Summary: Slow moving and weak in spots
Review: This book is not at all Anne Perry's best book. It moved very slowly and dwelled in the psychlogical profiles of the characters too much. I was not able to finish it. Definately a waste of time.
Rating:
Summary: Brunswick Gardens
Review: This is an enjoyable book overall, much more dramatic than I expected to read from Perry, but is flawed by insidious historical errors. This is a solve-a-murder mystery, but it's kept interesting by a succession of seemingly contradictory clues and by the possibility of multiple culprits. It's also quite a psychodrama; at times it reminds me of Elizabeth George's work, as one ends up trapped in a room with a number of vocally unpleasant people. A difficult young woman has died, and nearly everyone in the house at the time had some reason to dislike her. Meanwhile, because the primary suspect is a clergyman, the local bishop puts pressure on the police to hush the matter up. The conclusion is clever, neither out-of-left-field nor obvious until the very end. My essential problem with this book was the anachronistic beliefs and thought patterns its characters revealed. The dead woman, Unity Bellwood, is a feminist, and that's not at all anachronistic; the book is set during a period of agitation for female suffrage. But the way she and her friends express themselves is very much in terms of personal development, of being allowed to "be themselves". Those are very late-20th-century concepts. In addition, when the curate Dominic talks to grieving or troubled people, he may as well be quoting from a modern self-help book; his lines don't have a nineteenth-century ring at all. Most readers probably will not notice the anachronisms, and despite a certain lack of physical action common to many of Perry's books, this is a generally entertaining novel.
Rating: 
Summary: well, I liked it
Review: This latest Pitt novel focuses more on the characters' relationships, especially Thomas and Charlotte's than on detecting but rather than annoying me, I liked the exploration of the relationships. If you've been following a series with the same characters it's nice to see them fleshed out. The book's non-regular characters are also well-developed and interesting. It's not quite the usual Anne Perry fare, but it's a better book for it.
Rating:
Summary: Cut 100 pages!
Review: This was one of Perry's most clever, I thought. I missed Charlotte, who was not active in this investigation and Emily was on holiday but the intrigue of Pitt's murder case was excellent! This is an excellent read !
Rating:
Summary: One of Anne Perry's BEST!
Review: This was one of Perry's most clever, I thought. I missed Charlotte, who was not active in this investigation and Emily was on holiday but the intrigue of Pitt's murder case was excellent! This is an excellent read !
Rating:
Summary: Slow, but I liked it
Review: Thomas Pitt is ordered to discover who is responsible for the death of Unity Bellwood, scholar of ancient languages and a "new woman". While investigating, Pitt is reunited with a relative he hasn't seen since "The Cater Street Hangman", who is now taking up orders for the Anglican Church. We are given a whirlwind tour through the Bohemian lifestyle, and are privy to several characters' struggle to bolster and preserve their relgious convictions in the wake of Charles Darwin's landmark theory on the evolution of the human race. While I didn't think that this was one of her best works, I did feel that Perry was trying to do something different with regards to involving one of the prime suspects in the actual sleuthing process (in this case, Charlotte's widower brother-in-law, Dominic Corde). As I read the book, I felt that Corde, in some ways, made more progress than Pitt. It does make a sort of sense though, since Corde lived in the same house as Bellwood. I was disappointed that Perry's more interesting supporting characters, Great-Aunt Vespasia and Charlotte's mother, Caroline, barely get a mention. Charlotte's Grandmama only got one good scene, and she is great for comedic relief. I wish Perry could have somehow involved these ladies more in her exploration of how feminism affected them personally. That could have been really interesting. Still, kudos to Perry for trying something different. Wish it could have been better.
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