Southampton Row

Starred review from January 14, 2002
Newcomers to Perry's series about Victorian police officer Thomas Pitt might be baffled by all the backstory from 2001's The Whitechapel Conspiracy
in this 22nd entry, but loyal fans should hit the ground reading. Bounced from his beloved job as superintendent at the Bow Street cop shop in the political backlash of the plot against Queen Victoria that he and his aristocratic wife, Charlotte, uncovered in that last book, Pitt not only has to work for the sneaky Victor Narraway of Special Branch but must also give up a much-deserved vacation with his family to look into the murder of a society spiritualist in London's Southampton Row. It seems that Charles Voisey, head of a secret society called the Inner Circle and the man whom the Pitts stopped from coming this close to turning England into a republic (with himself as president), is now running for Parliament as a Tory against a promising Liberal candidate, Aubrey Serracold. Voisey shouldn't stand a chance—unless Serracold's wife, one of the murdered medium's clients, really did knock her off. Since Charlotte spends virtually all of the book on Dartmoor, her place in the investigation is ably filled by her sister, Emily, married to another up-and-coming Liberal. As ever, excellent craftsmanship sets this series in the front rank of historical mysteries. (Mar. 1)Forecast:A 15-city author tour, national print and radio advertising as well as a sample chapter in the mass market edition of
The Whitechapel Conspiracy (Jan.) should help ensure another run up bestseller lists.

November 1, 2001
Another perilous case for Thomas Pitt. His enemy Charles Voissey is running for Parliament as a Tory, and the wife of his liberal opponent was present at a s ance run by a not-so-foresightful clairvoyant: she was subsequently murdered. Can Pitt solve the case and salvage the campaign?

Copyright 2001 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from December 1, 2001
The murder of a medium with ties to a secret society within Parliament threatens to topple the government and uncork the unsavory secrets of those who sought the medium's counsel. The action in this grandly complex addition to Perry's historical mysteries starring Thomas and Charlotte Pitt follows closely from the preceding novel, " The Whitechapel Conspiracy" (2000), which chronicled an ingenious plot to overthrow Queen Victoria's government. Bow Street Superintendent Pitt (now assigned to the Special Branch, overseeing spies, anarchists, and political revolutionaries) once again faces his archenemy, the insidious Sir Charles Voisey, who is bent on corrupting Parliament from within by becoming an MP. Pitt's assignment is to unmask Voisey before he's elected. As always, Pitt's marriage to the aristocratic and canny Charlotte allows him access to drawings rooms and private parties, while his naturally shabby appearance and copper credentials gain him entree into London's underworld. Perry's Victorian novels attain the societal sweep of Trollope or Thackeray; she has absolute command over both political history and the small, fascinating details of everyday life. Especially noteworthy here are two women characters: Pitt's sister-in-law, an MP's wife who, in the manner of Trollope's Glencora Palliser, thrives on political plotting, and the wife of an ineffectual and arrogant bishop, greatly her inferior, who yet finds a way to affect politics. Fast moving and utterly engrossing.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2001, American Library Association.)