Silence in Hanover Close

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.

The pages continued to turn, although the plot was not especially riveting. Still, I didnt get bored as I sometimes do. The wealthy class awakening to the plight of others was more pronounced in this book. Charlotte, a step removed from her tonnish upbringing, is startled to realize her maid's threadbare nightclothes. Emily, thinking to marry an impecunious man whom she loves, finds herself surprised at that...and then learns first-hand how little time the servant-class has to themselves. Even Pitt, himself, learns that the degradation of prison life doesn't fully destroy the humanity of the prison-class.

While I usually enjoy the Pitt mysteries, this installment fell really flat for me. The premise is pretty okay--Pitt has to reopen an old unsolved case in which a member of the Foreign Office was killed in his home: was it a burglary gone wrong or something more sinister? Following the thread ends up with Pitt in his own trouble. This seems good, but I just could not swallow some of the plot lines. Not one but two members of Pitt's family go undercover, the motive(s) aren't well justified, and the explanation of the murder was unsatisfying to me. There are so many problems with continuity or believability that I could not believe this was from the same series I have enjoyed in so many previous volumes.

I was afraid this series was going to become too repetitive. But this entry made some nice changes. I like going undercover in Victorian London. There is also a bit of romance.

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.

7.5/10
More complicated than many of the previous Charlotte & Thomas Pitt novels, and, as is usual, a bit of a rushed ending.

Some really nice twists in this book that captured my interest - used the characters of Emily, Charlotte, Pitt and Caroline (Emily & Charlotte's mother) very well.