The dead body of an unknown man is found in the doorway of a house in Bedford Square, and Superintendent Thomas Pitt is called in. The house belongs to General Balantyne, an old friend of Pitt’s wife Charlotte. The only connection between the General and the body is an expensive snuffbox found in the dead man’s pocket. Pitt soon discovers that a terrifying blackmail operation is somehow involved.

I loved this book, even though it had a few drawbacks. Once again, something I found obvious stumped the characters for far too long. The connection between the blackmail victims was mentioned an incredible number of times before anyone caught on, which was quite frustrating. Some authors keep their characters from putting the pieces together because they don’t share their knowledge; Perry thankfully avoided that, but instead they were all blind to the obvious.

Once again, I found that the ongoing characters were my favourite thing about the book. True world-building is rare in mystery novels, since they’re usually firmly based in reality, but Anne Perry brings the Victorian era to life in a way I’ve rarely seen in any historical novel.

As always, the case was engaging and complex, and Perry made me really care about the solution. She also did her usual excellent job of revealing the seamier side of Victorian London, without seeming preachy, or self-congratulatory about how far (we think) our society has come since then.

The Anne Perry novels I’ve read lately have confirmed for me that she’s a truly great mystery author as well as an inspired historical writer. ( )

Read this as an audio book. ( )