16th in the series. As is often the case, there is quite a dramatic crescendo at the ending of this installment, and several plot turns and twists to sustain curiosity. As I enjoy so much consistently in the series, we get plenty of details of social behavior, etiquette, and accepted rules of interaction across social classes here, along with a series of grisley murders of prostitutes, frightening many denizens of London and allowing the press to stir up an angry mob mentality to blame the police--and ultimately, Thomas. It all is connected back to an upper class gang of four youths sowing their wild oats several years earlier, via a club pin from the Hellfire Club found underneath the tortured body of one of the victims in the opening pages.We get considerable insight into the daily life and dialect of prostitutes in late 19th century London in this novel. Also, by this point, keeping up with the doings of Aunt Vespasia, Emily, Jack, Gracie the maid, little Jemima and Daniel, and even the two family kittens--it's like checking in with old friends. The happiness of this model Victorian homelife that the Pitts enjoy (with their progressive, to the point sometimes of anachronistic liberal attitudes) offers wonderfully mellow and perhaps needed escapist counterbalance to the often grim realistic portrayal sufferings of so many in the lower classes of that time and place, while at the other extreme we can revel in the wealth and conveniences enjoyed by the Radleys or Aunt Vespasia.
Muy buena novela de crimen e intriga de la época Victoriana. El comisario Thomas Pitt realiza un minucioso trabajo de investigación para resolver el crimen de una prostituta en un barrio bajo de Londres, donde el principal sospechoso es un joven caballero de la alta sociedad Victoriana. El caso se va complicando por las implicaciones que tiene acusar de homicidio a un miembro de la poderosa y millonaria familia FitzJames y la fama que tienen ésta de negociar las leyes. Es interesante ver el proceso de pensamiento del detective para resolver el caso dado que en esa época no existían las modernas técnicas forenses con las que contamos actualmente para resolver los casos de homicidio. Para ello y de manera no intencional, Thomas Pitt cuenta con la ayuda de su esposa Charlotte y de su cuñada Emily, quienes tienen la costumbre de inmiscuirse en sus casos aportando siempre pistas y conclusiones interesantes para resolver cada caso. Los testimonios de los testigos y la evidencia son contradictorios y eso empantana la investigación, pero Thomas Pitt no desiste en llevar a la horca al responsable. Para él la justicia debe de ejercerse por igual, y la vida de Ada McKinley era tan valiosa como cualquier otra y está dispuesto a llegar hasta las últimas consecuencias para encontrar al asesino.
What do You think about Pentecost Alley (1997)?
This is another in the Thomas and Charlotte Pitt series. Thomas is now a superintendent on the police force. He is called in to investigate the murder of a prostitute that appears to involve a young man from a very prominent member of London society. Subsequently and with in days of one another, a second prostitute is murdered in exactly the same manor. This takes place within two years of the Jack the Ripper murders and in the same part of London. This puts all London on edge. The investigation becomes difficult and threatens the career of Thomas Pitt. Hence, his wife Charlotte and her high society sister Emily, step-in to help Thomas solve these murders. As always, with Ms.Perry's books, you are right there in the middle of Victorian London. Her descriptions are so vivid that you really do get the feel of what Victorian England must have felt like to those who lived out there lives during that age in England.
—Laura
The fact that I stayed with this book to the end has more to do with having nothing, and I do mean nothing, else to read. With none of the great, layered details of a well-drawn historical setting and too much overwriting re the facial expressions and attitudes of the characters mixed into great swaths of redundant, overwritten scenes--I dragged through a book that was five times as long as the plot would have supported. If you don't get the entire plot by the second mention of the underling's son's education--well, what can I say. Go back for remedial mystery reading. I know this is one in a series. I have not read others, but I do hope they are more carefully and thoughtfully written.
—Karen
A prostitute is found murdered in the East End of London, and some objects found by the body implicate one of the city's wealthy and powerful citizens. Only, this is present-day London, but the city at the end of the 19th century. Thus begins this police thriller that takes you a long, complex, often surprising journey before the case if resolved at the very end. One other surprise must be mentioned. I usually research an author unfamiliar to me and found something that could almost read as one of Anne Perry's novels.
—Dennis
