Even after reading so many of Anne Perry's novels, both the Pitt series and the William Monk series, I am still always startled at how quickly she ends the books. It almost seems jarring after the wonderful detail that she includes in her books. I do have to say that I came away feeling a bit unsettled about the relationship between Charlotte and Thomas and am hopeful that it is resolved in the next book. ( )

1887 and Inspector Pitt is called out to a crime scene in Devil's Acre - a body of a man, emasculated. Only to find out that this is not the first victim, and will not be the last. What could possible connected all this different men and what is the motive.
Once again it is up to Pitt with the help of his wife and sister-in-law, Lady Ashworth to discover the truth.
Another enjoyable mystery in this series which can be read as a standalone story. ( )

another high society Victorian murder

This book in the Charlotte & Thomas Pitt mystery series was so laughably improbable that it was actually fun to read. In brief summary, Pit is rousted out of his bed by a sargent in the police to investigate a murder in the notorious London slum of Devil's Acre. The victim has been stabbed in the back, but then his genitals have been cut off.

Of course the tabloid newspapers go wild, and in the subsequent days, several other people are murdered in a similar manner. Pitt, normally, quite intelligent, seems positively flummoxed. His wife Charlotte, always ready to "help" tries to question him but if met with an uncharacteristic attitude from her husband o "Mind your own business and take care of the house."

This would be like waving a red flag in front of Charlotte who immediately (and clandestinely) enlists the help of her sister Emily and gets on the case. There is a lot of clap-trap about bored society women becoming prostitutes and the usual sermonizing about the evils of those who feed off the poor, all leading up to a most ludicrous finale where Charlotte solves the case moments before Pitt bursts through the door.

I ask myself, why do I keep on reading these books, and all I can come up with is that they are my particular guilty pleasure. ( )

Perhaps reading 3 Pitt novels in close succession made this one boring beyond belief. In any case, it was. The plot (SPOILER ALERT) of upperclass prostitution was a bit thin. Solving the murders was also pretty much luck. The fact that Charlotte was in on the denouement a bit hard to conceive. ( )