23rd in the series. It was a bit harder for me to get into this one, though the entertainment level picked up when Thomas was sent to Alexandria, Egypt, to do some investigating there, as the Special Branches case he is called in on involves an exotic Egyptian beauty with brains caught removing a corpse from her garden in a wheelbarrow at 3 a.m. Her lover, a powerful politician from Manchester, with great influence on the cotton textiles trade and vital in relations with Egypt in maintaining the status quo flow of raw materials, was by her side, pushing the wheelbarrow. We never really get to know this North African femme fatale, she remains too abstract through much of the book, and the deep secret (there always seems to be a new pertinent one for him) pushing Narraway, Pitt's enigmatic Special branches boss, in this particular installment is telegraphed so loudly, I'm a bit surprised Daniel and Jemima didn't pipe up the solution to their parents early on--I certainly could have, and having Thomas and Charlotte's usually quite sophisticated minds miss catching something so relatively obvious made the whole piece work less effectively for me. The melodramatic conclusion meant to bring the case to a close left several logical resulting problems unexplained for me, too, so this installment, I felt, was lacking in the mystery component--though we get sentimentally touching advances in the Gracie/Tellman romance.
Not my favorite Thomas Pitt book. I've skipped around a lot, and unfortunately, missed a lot in the middle. In this book, I find Pitt is no longer with the police because of great, dramatic machinations in previous books, and now has a new boss and a new unit, a new nemesis (the Inner Circle-honestly?). I think I could get to like Narraway, Pitt's new boss, but I miss the days when Pitt was just an ordinary detective, not a man working for the greater good of the government. And I confess, I've never found any of the "family and friends" characters around Pitt more than tedious, and now there are more and with greater roles. I could only be thankful that Charlotte's ninny of a sister Emily hardly made an appearance, but it seems that Great Aunt Vespasia, our oh so perfect, beautiful, aristocratic matron of the Pitt world, will never be absent two chapters in a row again. I still don't understand the meaning of top secret in these books. How a person can threaten the life of a man if he tells a secret, then turn around and tell Great Aunt Vespasia as if it's no real matter is beyond me. I guess it's just because she's supposed to be that awesome. Give me back my old Thomas Pitt, please. (I wish it weren't too late for that.)
What do You think about Seven Dials (2004)?
Pitt, now a member of the Secret Service, is summoned to deal with a murder having impact on a senior member of government (he and/or his mistress are suspected), and eventually, a revelation which might cause international furor. Meanwhile Charlotte is asked to look into the disappearance of a valet. Inevitably the two are connected, in this case through a connection with an atrocity committed by British soldiers in Egypt. The plot involves a trip for Pitt to Alexandria, which allows for some p
—Surreysmum
What I most enjoyed about the book was Pitt's journey to Alexandria. Perry absolutely nailed the experience of the novice traveler on their first trip abroad to a developing world country. That feeling of being bemused, disoriented, enchanted and captivated by the exoticism of it all, and by the overpowering sensory experiences. She also presents a very clear-eyed depiction of how an indigenous population probably viewed the empire-stretching British - much different from the rose-colored view found in the Elizabeth Peters "Amelia Peabody" series, which is set more or less in the same era (and which I also love). What I liked least about the book was the drawing out and repetitive feeling of many scenes. Over and over again we've got Gracie saying "Wot are we going ter do?"(I also dislike trying to convey accents and dialect through tortured spelling - it doesn't help us "hear" the dialogue and only makes it more awkward to read). And, as with every Pitt novel, the characters are always, always, damp, cold and tired. He certainly couldn't be damp and cold in Egypt, so he was just aching and tired most of the time while there. The book also finished in a rush and ended abruptly, in mid-scene. I was looking for some kind of little epilogue to the action, but nope, turned the page and found nothing.
—Kathryn Guare
I'd gone off on a tangent, away from the Pitt books, so reading this book was like visiting an old friend. It may have been entertaining to have read some of the backstory that caused Thomas to be in his new position, but in no way was it necessary to understand what was going on in this book.More than once I thought I knew whodunit, but I was wrong. Good writing (as usual), the audio book performer/reader was unremarkable - which is as it should be; a good time was had by all. It's time to figure out where I left the series and fill in the blanks.
—Tracy
