Callander Square

It moved along ang flowed very nicely but there were a few things that I found odd and lost the book a 5-star rating. I also had to remember that women in the era that the books are set didn't have the freedoms that women have today. t seemed that at times Charlotte was not even that interested in the investigation. She spent numerous hours immersed in helping General Balantyne with his family history. There were great stretches of time when she made absolutely no moves toward resolving the case at all. Her only reason for being in the vicinity at all was to enable her to meet a secondary character and provide a link for the end of the story. Then suddenly her sister Emily was front and center playing a huge part in the solving of the show more mystery by providing information that Charlotte would have certainly been helpful in uncovering. This series very much offers an "insiders" view to the lives and thoughts of life during the Victorian era. This author and this series was one of my mother's all-time favorites and I try to read at least one book a year from her favorite authors or titles...this was 2023's. as a "modern woman" I am still slightly put-off by the hypocrisy and double standards of this era. In spite of that, I think Anne Perry does a fantastic job of immersing the reader in the time period. If you just want to escape into a good mystery...Anne Perry is an author to trust to provide this escape for you. show less

Thomas Pitt, a policeman, has been married to his well-born wife, Charlotte, for a relatively short amount of time. Charlotte is pregnant and quite happy with her marriage - she doesn't mind that she and Thomas don't have much money, or that she has to do housework. But that doesn't keep her from meddling in Thomas's work a bit.

Thomas's latest case involves the discovery of two dead infants buried in a wealthy neighborhood. There's no way to tell whether they were stillborn or murdered, although the one that's been dead the longest shows signs of deformities. It's a delicate case: the mother (or mothers?) likely worked or is still working for one of the nearby families. As Thomas questions the various servants, Charlotte and her show more sister Emily become involved as well.

I haven't read the first book in this series, but it didn't seem to interfere with my enjoyment much. I picked this up during a recent used book shopping trip, due to a recommendation in a comment on a Smart Bitches, Trashy Books post asking for historical romance recommendations involving working class couples. Unfortunately, the first book wasn't available, or I'd have started with that one.

The blog comment indicated that the books were mysteries with romantic elements, which I can sort of see but which set up expectations that Callander Square, at least, didn't fulfill. For example, while Thomas and Charlotte clearly loved each other, they didn't actually spend much on-page time together. I went into this book expecting Charlotte to give Thomas information more regularly than she did. I can't recall if she ever even admitted to Thomas that the "friend" she'd begun helping was actually General Balantyne, who might have had some connection, direct or indirect, to the dead babies. The number of sections from Emily's POV also surprised me.

Also, I didn't remember until after I started reading this that Anne Perry is the mystery author who, when she was 15, participated in the murder of her friend's mother. I'd always previously avoided her books because of that - reading murder mysteries written by someone who has actually committed one seemed...icky. On the plus side, at least there were no explicit on-page murders or "killer POV" scenes.

Anyway, back to the book itself. I really liked the beginning but started to become impatient as I got further in and there seemed to be no progress in the case. True, there were potential scandals galore (exciting!), but if it hadn't been for one particular murder, I doubt the mystery of the buried babies would have ever been solved. One very important detail didn't even come up until the last ten pages or so.

I really wish the book had included a character list/guide, or possibly a set of family trees, because keeping all the names straight was difficult. For a while there, I had a theory about the murderer's identity that involved one character's father, but I couldn't for the life of me remember if his name had ever been mentioned. It didn't help that some of the characters had relatively similar names and/or didn't get mentioned much. I kept on mixing up Carlton and Campbell, for example. And even if I remembered who the characters were and why they were important, I couldn't always remember who their spouses and children were.

Still, I enjoyed all of the various intertwined scandals and was surprised (in a good way?) that things actually worked out fairly well for several of the families, considering. The original mystery, the issue of what happened to the two dead babies, didn't grab me as much, maybe because it tended to be overshadowed by everything else.

One of my favorite things about this book was the way it handled its various female characters. Perry included a whole range of female characters, from annoying and silly to ruthlessly pragmatic. I liked some without reservation, disliked others, and found myself grudgingly respecting a few that I initially thought I'd 100% hate. The one thing nearly all of them had in common was that the men around them underestimated their perceptiveness and the depth of private lives and feelings. Even Thomas occasionally made this mistake, although he was good about listening to and learning from Charlotte, and was never so badly shaken by what he learned as some of the other men.

This was a bit slow for my tastes and didn't have Charlotte and Thomas on-page together as much as I'd expected, but I did enjoy it and plan on reading the next book at some point. I might also go back and read the first one, just to see what I missed.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.) show less

Inspector Pitt is called upon to investigate the possible murder of two infants buried in the common garden area of Callender Square. The wealthy and distinguished residents resent his intrusion into their lives and his revealing of their secrets. Charlotte Pitt, recently married to Thomas does not intend to involve herself in the investigation, but her sister, Emily, recently married to Lord Ashworth is in a position to call upon the residents of the square and surreptitiously gain information. Charlotte herself is pulled in when Emily arranges a position for her as secretary to one of the residents working on a family history.

I love the intelligence and gregariousness of both Charlotte and Emily. Where Emily is more devious and sly, show more able to comport herself in society with just the right attitude, Charlotte is rather unable to keep from saying exactly what she thinks. The juxtaposition of their marriages, Charlotte's "beneath her station" and Emily's "above" will, I think, allow the two sisters to assist Pitt on his investigations for many of the following books in this series. I'm delighted with both of them, as well as Pitt himself, who, while being resented by members of the higher society he must question, is also respected by those of whom are able to spot an honest, intelligent and earnest individual...that is, those with little to hide.
I very much look forward to more of these. show less

Skeletal remains of two infants are unearthed by workers in a small plot fronting Callander Square, a stuffy, rule-laden, class-conscious London neighborhood, and it’s only page one of Anne Perry’s historical mystery, Callander Square, the second book in the Thomas Pitt series.

It is 1883, two years after the events of The Cater Street Hangman. Thomas and Charlotte Pitt, now married, are expecting their first child, and Pitt is called in to investigate.

With the help of her wealthy sister, Emily (Lady Ashton), who provides access to all the right withdrawing rooms because she just so happens to be on a first-name basis with several women in the neighborhood, Charlotte helps Pitt ferret out the truth, but not before additional murders show more and suspicious deaths occur.

As the story unfolds, so do the suspects, clues, red herrings. There are characters aplenty with motive and means. We think we know who done it; we’re sure we do; but, then, again . . . . As is usually the case with Perry’s novels, readers are kept guessing until the final pages when the murderer’s true identity is revealed. Meanwhile, we cannot set the book down.

Although the theme of upper-class hypocrisy and convention is sometimes laid on with a trowel, the book is another masterful dive into Victorian society, a feast painted in minute and accurate detail. Lovers of historical novels and mystery—and of Perry’s characters, Charlotte and Thomas Pitt—will not want to miss this delicious read. show less

Two gardeners are digging a hole to plant a bush in the fashionable area of Callander Square, in Victorian England. What they find are two small skeletons buried in the plant beds. On closer examination, they are found to be human babies. Inspector Pitt is called in to handle the case.

The residents of the square are well-to-do and don’t like having police in their midst or poking into their private lives. There are some tawdry secrets that are best not to be revealed. Pitt is aware of this and has to work around it, or there will be serious repercussions.

Pitt’s wife, Charlotte, has married beneath her class. She is a strong willed woman who fell in love with a policeman. She no longer travels in the social circle she once did, but show more still has contact through her sister, Emily, who’s married to a lord. The two women plan and do their own investigations, unbeknownst to Pitt. While Emily is finding to secrets through her social activities — and there are some doozies — Charlotte takes on a secretarial job with a general who is writing his family’s history. She uses her maiden name and passes herself as unmarried. This gives her some access to the household staff. Between the two, they acquire better information than Pitt.

When Pitt finds out what the ladies are doing, it takes a bit to convince him of the advantage their information gives him. Especially when Emily finds out where a young girl is who is considered to have run away from home to marry some other man.

It is interesting to read of the double standards both men and women observed at this time. In public all is proper, but in private it is quite another world! show less

Another good one. Just like the first in the series, you find out who done it in the last page or two, leaves it right to the end. Wonder if all her books are like this?

Her characters are excellent, even the incidental ones have stories to tell. Very strong. Guess that's why she's been writing and selling these things for 30 years.

I think I might have preferred it for Charlotte and Pitt to have had maybe a transitional book or two, before they suddenly show up as a married couple and a baby on the way to boot. Oh, well. I have fallen back into Anne Perry's Victorian London and I don't foresee me climbing out again anytime soon.