February 25, 2013
Sexual violence is at the heart of bestseller Perry’s engrossing 28th Charlotte and Thomas Pitt novel (after 2012’s Dorchester Terrace), set in 1896 London. Pitt, the new head of Special Branch, and his ousted predecessor, Victor Narraway, are about to leave a party when a police officer informs another guest, financier Rawdon Quixwood, that his wife, Catherine, is dead. Pitt and Narraway accompany Quixwood to the financier’s house, where they find the wife’s battered body. After being raped by her assailant—someone she apparently let inside—she drank a fatal dose of laudanum. Later, Angeles Castelbranco, the Portuguese ambassador’s daughter, plunges to her death in an effort to escape the rake who had been tormenting her. Pitt learns that she, too, was the victim of sexual assault. In an intriguing twist, Quixwood provides the alibi for the suspect in that case. Perry does a nice job exploring late Victorian attitudes toward sex crimes. Agent: Donald Maass, Donald Maas Literary Agency.
September 15, 2013
Perry's latest series entry (after "Dorchester Terrace") examines the crime of rape. Two very different rape and death cases come to the Pitts' attention--one of the 16-year-old daughter of the Portuguese ambassador, the other of a charming, middle-aged socialite. Now head of Special Branch, Thomas is determined to bring the culprits to justice. Too soon he learns the frustrations of proving rape and prosecuting a rapist. Meanwhile, a skirmish in South Africa has ruined the investments of a prominent British financier. Can these events be connected? Can Thomas figure out the answers without endangering his family and his career? Davina Porter gives her usual sterling performance, voicing the increasingly worried Thomas, the more mature but still impetuous Charlotte, young Jemima Pitt on the brink of womanhood, and many other characters. Pitch and pacing are the effective means that Porter uses to bring the young girls, the brusque, impatient older men, and the experienced older women to life. VERDICT Recommended for fans of the series and historical mysteries. [The Ballantine hc was a "New York Times" best seller.--Ed.]--Juleigh Muirhead Clark, Colonial Williamsburg Fdn. Lib., VA
Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
Starred review from April 15, 2013
Perry has two hit Victorian mystery series going, one starring William Monk and the other featuring Charlotte and Thomas Pitt. This twenty-sixth entry in the Pitt series shows once again the Victorian era's abundance of social abuses, which often led to crime. The Pitts have moved up the social ladder, not that they've sought it, but with each of Thomas' promotions in the police (he is now head of Special Branch), their world has included more of the wealthy and the aristocraticbut also more of the depraved, who can cover crimes more easily than the poor. This mystery, involving, as always, the investigative talents of both Charlotte and Thomas, centers on sexual assault. Two gatherings, a formal ball and a reception, showcase two women caught up in Victorian male hypocrisy. One of the Pitts' friends, a high-up London financier, attends the ball alone. He's summoned away, however, when his wife, who begged off attending, is found raped and murdered in their front hall. At the same ball, the daughter of the Portuguese ambassador shows every evidence of terror as a young noble pursues her. Perry expertly shows how a society in which women have no recourse against sexual assault, except for covering it up themselves, opens itself to a variety of desperate acts highlighting women's vulnerabilities. Perry is a master at illuminating the wrongs of the Victorian age.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)