we_are_all_mad_here26's review against another edition
3.0
One thing about Anne Perry, she does not write the same story over and over again - in this one, Emily goes undercover as a ladies' maid and Charlotte poses as well, as...well, basically as Emily, if only Emily weren't officially in mourning and able to go out.
Again, high stakes here for the Pitts as Thomas is arrested for murder and it seems that no one aside from his wife and sister-in-law are willing to help him. On the less good side, the mystery was confusing, a bunch of vague hints about "stolen secrets" and the "woman in cerise." And, as usual, we get multiple points of view - which is fine, but which typically means multiple characters ruminating on each of the various suspects, multiple times per.
Clever ending.
Again, high stakes here for the Pitts as Thomas is arrested for murder and it seems that no one aside from his wife and sister-in-law are willing to help him. On the less good side, the mystery was confusing, a bunch of vague hints about "stolen secrets" and the "woman in cerise." And, as usual, we get multiple points of view - which is fine, but which typically means multiple characters ruminating on each of the various suspects, multiple times per.
Clever ending.
shoelessmama's review against another edition
4.0
I thoroughly enjoyed how personally the plot of the last two books have personally affected the "detectives". It makes for much faster page-turning and emotional drama. I'd had a passing thought of what could have explained the "cerise" lady and then brushed it aside as too unlikely. It then ended up being the actual explanation but the author was able to do it in such a way that was more plausible than my original idea.
justasking27's review against another edition
3.0
An extra slow-moving addition to the series, with extra expostulating on the plight of everyone from High Society to their servants to prisoners, and a lot of both Charlotte and Pitt finding out the same things in different ways.
If you are reading this series and decide to skip this one, here is what you should know:
If you are reading this series and decide to skip this one, here is what you should know:
Spoiler
Emily finally admits to being in love with Jack and asks him to marry her, more or less.lady_ness's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
shnuggs's review against another edition
3.0
What can I say - I like period mysteries, particularly British ones. This is a pretty good series: Charlotte was a society girl who married far below her station, and Thomas is the police inspector she loved. Charlotte and her sister are always involving themselves in Thomas's cases - in this one, one of them pretends to be a lady's maid to gain access to the inner sanctum of a household where there's been a murder. The ending was a bit cheesy - I like it when you can figure out the mystery, but this one came out of left field. One interesting note about the author: she was one of the two girls that killed one of their mothers in Australia in the 1950's, as depicted in the movie "Heavenly Creatures". (Excellent early flick by Peter Jackson, director of [b:the Lord of the Rings|34|The Fellowship of the Ring (The Lord of the Rings, Part 1)|J.R.R. Tolkien|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1156043001s/34.jpg|3204327] movies.)
sharlahb's review against another edition
4.0
I love these characters. There's always a piece I never see coming! I very much enjoy this series. Very rich.
vesper1931's review against another edition
4.0
In 1884, a burglary at the home of Robert York, of the Foreign Office, results in him being killed. Now three years later Inspector Pitt as been told to open up the investigation again. But what is the real rason why. Was it just murder, or was treason involved, and if by whom. His wife Charlotte and her sister Emily help in the case.
A bit too much vernacular, but still another entertaining story in this series.
A bit too much vernacular, but still another entertaining story in this series.
leighannsherwin's review against another edition
4.0
While I have always been a fan of this series, it's sort of a love hate type thing. I don't like the often abrupt endings without any sort of resolution to it. This book while highly entertaining had me scratching my head numerous times and required great leaps of imagination. On to the story. This time Pitt is asked to look in a cold case, an unsolved murder from three years ago that involves the Foreign Office (spies!) and whether or not the widow of the victim was involved in any way. As always as soon as Charlotte learns of the case she find a way to involve herself in it. This is the first puzzle for me. After nine cases are you telling me that no one attends the same parties? No one knows or recognizes Charlotte at all. They keep saying society is small but apparently not that small after all. She gains the trust of the young widow Veronica but it unable to learn much of anything from her. Then came the part where I thought Anne Perry decided to turn from a mystery author to a comedy author when Emily decides she will go and become a ladies maid to Veronica, after her own maid fell (or was pushed) out of a window (I won't get into that). I was expecting to see Emily be somewhat like Queenie from Rhys Bowen's Royal Spyness Series, clumsy, burning holes in clothes, spilling. Somehow Emily who has been waited on all her life is quite capable of doing the work of a lady's maid and even able to fool those around her, but changing her accent. Even though she did concede she was bad at ironing this was all a bit too perfect for me. Frankly I was also a bit disappointed as it's grey and miserable outside and I looked forward to having a good laugh. That's where this otherwise entertaining story lost it's five star lustre. Charlotte is thrown into more turmoil when Pitt is arrested for murdering a prostitute and servants and local merchants refuse to do business with her. The story truly went from being a five star to a four maybe three and a half at best as it went on. There were times when the book got bogged down by details and my eyes wandered off the page, and then there was the ending. My first thought was Perry was channeling Agatha Christie and Hercule Poirot, calling all the suspects together in one room to reveal a murderer. It didn't happen quite like that and the ending was rushed again and I just didn't find it believable at all. I would say three stars, but will give three and half, as I said it was mostly entertaining and you can't beat Perry's description and setting the scene, she is always able to make me feel like I am right there with my characters. Too bad I wasn't, I might've smacked some sense into parts of this story.
samanthawattam's review
5.0
I loved this book, really exciting the main characters were isolated to a degree and weren't able to rely upon each other as they had in previous instalments. Emily was brilliant and really came into her own. And love new character Jack Radley hope we see a lot more of him. The only thing I would like there to have been more Aunt Vespasia she is great.
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