As always, I love the interaction and blending of social mores and the politics of the times. In this case, so much was happening with the spread of the socialist movement which finally reached England. The first part of the book deals with Monk until Charlotte gets involved and goes off with Narroway who has been fired. This affects the Monk household and Charlotte wants to fix things. Monk undergoes some harrowing suspense also in his chases to find a traitor within Special Forces. I always look forward to a new Thomas and Charlotte Pitt book and its insights into life in Victorian England. But this book left me disappointed. Thomas Pitt is chasing a man he thinks is linked to a conspiracy against England itself that leads him to France and frustration. Back in England, his superior is charged with taking money that had been earmarked for an informant in Ireland who was later betrayed and killed. In order to clear his name, Pitt's superior travels to Ireland to try to clear his name and Charlotte Pitt agrees to accompany him traveling as his sister in order to help. I have to question this behavior. Charlotte fires her maid, finds a new maid the same day, leaves her children with this stranger--even though Gracie, a trusted friend agrees to look in on the children every day--and leaves England for Ireland? I doubt it. Once Pitt returns to England and realizes how high in the government the conspiracy has reached, he has to move quickly without knowing whom to trust. Unfortunately, I also found the ending of the book to be beyond belief even for a reader who is always eager to have the limits of reality stretched almost to the breaking point. I am a fan of Anne Perry and hope that this book is not an indication of where the next Thomas and Charlotte Pitt book is headed.
Do You like book Lisson Grove (2010)?
Met Anne Perry at 2012 Festival of Books. She signed this copy.
—lle1942
The usual Anne Perry - absolutely wonderful!
—ErinMarie
Another great read from Anne Perry.
—Juliagulia886
