Bluegate Fields

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding! A real page turner!
Review: According to the list in the book, this book (copyright 1984) is the fifth in the Charlotte and Thomas Pitt series. And it's the best so far. BLUEGATE FIELDS is complex in both plot and characterization, with distasteful subjects reminiscent of a "Law & Order: SVU" episode. Set in Victorian London at the time when telephones were just beginning to show up in some of the "better" homes, it presents a very strong sense of place and time. The character of Pitt becomes much more filled-out. I liked the way he and Charlotte worked together this time. The plot has tentacles. Hard to put down! A GREAT read!

Rating:
Summary: Good story
Review: Perry hits another run with this one. I was guessing until the end. Some with more modern day views might find her references to homosexuality offensive, but taken in an historical context they shouldn't be.

Rating:
Summary: Good story
Review: Perry hits another run with this one. I was guessing until the end. Some with more modern day views might find her references to homosexuality offensive, but taken in an historical context they shouldn't be.

Rating:
Summary: strong novel with weak ending
Review: Perry's novel shows her at her best and at her worst. Her strengths are in character development, historical background, and social milieu. Her treatment of the London slum areas and the interface between extreme poverty and extreme wealth are top notch. But for all of her considerable strengths, she displays what I feel may be a characteristic weakness in the novel's ending. The ending -- with its quickness and lack of development and lack of integration into the novel as a whole -- seems tacked on, seems an after thought.

Rating:
Summary: strong novel with weak ending
Review: Perry's novel shows her at her best and at her worst. Her strengths are in character development, historical background, and social milieu. Her treatment of the London slum areas and the interface between extreme poverty and extreme wealth are top notch. But for all of her considerable strengths, she displays what I feel may be a characteristic weakness in the novel's ending. The ending -- with its quickness and lack of development and lack of integration into the novel as a whole -- seems tacked on, seems an after thought.

Rating:
Summary: Good start - poor ending
Review: This is the first Thomas Pitt Novel I've read. The plot outline is covered well in the other reviews. While the story is interesting, I thought it was rather predictable. There was only one twist that caught me by surprise. Compared to the rest of the book the end comes entirely too quick and with little thought. I got the impression the author was tired of writing and just wanted to be done with it. I am by no means a legal expert, especially of the Victorian system, but there are major shortfalls in the legal aspects the book. These oversights make the plot work but would have never happened. Using the "real" evidence for the first trial as a gauge, by the same measure there was more than enough later evidence to take to a judge and get it overturned. It is just inconsistent. The emotional state of some of the characters is a bit overplayed, sometimes to the point of distraction. If the police chief, Athelstan, was really that excitable, he would have had a heart attack years before attaining that office. On the other hand, it was an excellent portrayal of the young man's (name with held to preserve the mystery) realization of what every one had been talking about, and what he had done. There is no date given for the setting, but there are still a few anachronisms including the lack of use of the terms sodomite and carnal knowledge. I still recommend the book as an easy read, but will not be keeping a copy in my library. Unlike other reviewers I finished the book before writing a review.

Rating:
Summary: Good start - poor ending
Review: This is the first Thomas Pitt Novel I've read. The plot outline is covered well in the other reviews. While the story is interesting, I thought it was rather predictable. There was only one twist that caught me by surprise. Compared to the rest of the book the end comes entirely too quick and with little thought. I got the impression the author was tired of writing and just wanted to be done with it. I am by no means a legal expert, especially of the Victorian system, but there are major shortfalls in the legal aspects the book. These oversights make the plot work but would have never happened. Using the "real" evidence for the first trial as a gauge, by the same measure there was more than enough later evidence to take to a judge and get it overturned. It is just inconsistent. The emotional state of some of the characters is a bit overplayed, sometimes to the point of distraction. If the police chief, Athelstan, was really that excitable, he would have had a heart attack years before attaining that office. On the other hand, it was an excellent portrayal of the young man's (name with held to preserve the mystery) realization of what every one had been talking about, and what he had done. There is no date given for the setting, but there are still a few anachronisms including the lack of use of the terms sodomite and carnal knowledge. I still recommend the book as an easy read, but will not be keeping a copy in my library. Unlike other reviewers I finished the book before writing a review.

Rating:
Summary: I have only read the first chapter and it captivating!
Review: This is the second book I have read by Anne Perry, the first was Farrier's Lane. They are both very good! I have only read the first chapter in this book, and already I am engrosed in the book! It is amazing. If you have never read a book by Anne Perry, you have to! The books she writes will leave you on edge until the end, and she still leaves you thinking about it even after the book is finished!

Rating:
Summary: I have only read the first chapter and it captivating!
Review: This is the second book I have read by Anne Perry, the first was Farrier's Lane. They are both very good! I have only read the first chapter in this book, and already I am engrosed in the book! It is amazing. If you have never read a book by Anne Perry, you have to! The books she writes will leave you on edge until the end, and she still leaves you thinking about it even after the book is finished!

Rating:
Summary: Pretty good mystery + social exposition
Review: This is the sixth novel in the series and Inspector Pitt has to deal with the naked body of a young gentleman found in the sewers in a very bad part of town. The trail leads him into a web of deceit involving homosexual prostitution -- quite a different matter among Society than the usual sort of prostitution -- and accusations leveled against the tutor of the deceased, who is tried and condemned to hang. With Charlotte's help in the drawing rooms, Pitt must try to sort out who did what to whom and then overcome the protectiveness of the families involved in order to prove it. As with the others in this series, Perry has a good deal to say about life in Victorian London away from the realm of polite society.