Search - Bluegate Fields (Charlotte and Thomas Pitt, Bk 6)

Another wonderful mystery from Anne Perry. A boy from the upper classes is found dead in the sewers of Bluegate Fields, one of London's most dangerous slums. The fact that the boy had been violated before he was killed makes the case even more difficult for Inspector Pitt to investigate. The family is not very cooperative which makes Pitt suspicious about what they're hiding. Pitt's wife, Charlotte, becomes determined to find out the familys' secrets which she believes will lead to the boys' killer. The author is so adept at drawing you into the character and environment of Victorian London that I found myself "living there" while reading the book. Through Inspector Pitt the reader gets to see the consequences of Victorian repression among the upper class and its dark, unrepressed manifestation among the criminal poor of Bluegate Fields.

Inspector Pitt is shocked to find a young boy has been killed, and again his wife Charlotte helps unravel the clues to help solve the mystery. Victorian English characters, usually stiff and unpleasant, are drawn by Anne Perry with warmth and liveliness as Charlotte and her sister Emily invade the "proper" families to discover what has happened!

A Charlotte and Thomas Pitt novel set in Victorian London. Inspector Pitt was shocked. The body had been found in the filthy sewers of Bluegate Fields, one of London's most dangerous slums, but the dead boy was clearly from the upper class. And he had been violated before he was murdered. So vile a case was hardly a topic for drawing room conversation. But when the Waybournes, the boy's family, refused to answer the police's questions, Inspector Pitt began to wonder what secrets they were trying to hide. His wife and helpmeet, Charlotte, was determined to find out-even if it meant tearing down the facades of an oh-so-proper family.

I don't know if there is anything I do not like about Anne Perry's novels. They are a series, so it helps to read them in order, but you really don't have to. Perry's ability to breathe life into the everyday world of late 19th century London is quite extraordinary. If you like who-done-its with a lot of wit and that keep you flipping the pages - give this one a try.