Bluegate Fields [Mass Market Paperback]

Anne Perry (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1994

Inspector Thomas Pitt is shocked. The body of a boy, clearly from the upper classes, has been found in the filthy sewers of Bluegate Fields, one of London’s most dangerous slums. What’s more, the unfortunate boy had been violated before he was murdered. So vile a case is hardly a topic for drawing-room conversation.

But when the Waybournes, the boy’s family, refuse to answer the police’s questions, Inspector Pitt begins to wonder what secrets they are trying to hide. Pitt’s wife and helpmeet, Charlotte, is determined to find out–even if it means tearing down the façades of an oh-so-proper family.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“The period detail remains fascinating, and [Perry’s] grasp of Victorian character and conscience still astonishes.”—Cleveland Plain Dealer

“Perry is a forceful plotter and a consistently polished writer.”—Seattle Weekly

“Perry is [a] master of crime fiction.”—Baltimore Sun


“When it comes to the Victorian mystery, Anne Perry has proved that nobody does it better.”—San Diego Union-Tribune

“Murder fans who prefer their crimes with a touch of class should heat some scones and nestle back for the afternoon.”—Atlanta Journal-Constitution

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

From the Inside Flap

When an upper-class boy is found violated and dead in London's most dangerous slums, Inspector Pitt is shocked. But when the Waybournes, the boy's family, refuse to answer the police's questions, Inspector Pitt begins to wonder what secrets they were trying to hide. His wife and helpmeet, Charlotte, is determined to find out--even it if means tearing down the facades of an oh-so-proper family....
"The period detail remains fascinating, and [Perry's] grasp of Victorian character and conscience still astonishes."
THE CLEVELAND PLAIN DEALER --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback
• Publisher: Fawcett Books (March 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0449453170
• ISBN-13: 978-0449453179
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,979,922 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Anne Perry is the bestselling author of two acclaimed series set in Victorian England: the William Monk novels, including Dark Assassin and The Shifting Tide, and the Charlotte and Thomas Pitt novels, including The Cater Street Hangman, Calandar Square, Buckingham Palace Gardens and Long Spoon Lane. She is also the author of the World War I novels No Graves As Yet, Shoulder the Sky, Angels in the Gloom, At Some Disputed Barricade, and We Shall Not Sleep, as well as six holiday novels, most recently A Christmas Grace. Anne Perry lives in Scotland.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Pretty good mystery + social exposition, April 5, 2003

By 

Michael K. Smith (South Louisiana) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Bluegate Fields: A Charlotte and Thomas Pitt Novel (Paperback)

This is the sixth novel in the series and Inspector Pitt has to deal with the naked body of a young gentleman found in the sewers in a very bad part of town. The trail leads him into a web of deceit involving homosexual prostitution -- quite a different matter among Society than the usual sort of prostitution -- and accusations leveled against the tutor of the deceased, who is tried and condemned to hang. With Charlotte's help in the drawing rooms, Pitt must try to sort out who did what to whom and then overcome the protectiveness of the families involved in order to prove it. As with the others in this series, Perry has a good deal to say about life in Victorian London away from the realm of polite society.

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars strong novel with weak ending, January 3, 1999

By 

John Guzlowski "cfjzg" (Valdosta, GA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bluegate Fields: A Charlotte and Thomas Pitt Novel (Paperback)

Perry's novel shows her at her best and at her worst. Her strengths are in character development, historical background, and social milieu. Her treatment of the London slum areas and the interface between extreme poverty and extreme wealth are top notch. But for all of her considerable strengths, she displays what I feel may be a characteristic weakness in the novel's ending. The ending -- with its quickness and lack of development and lack of integration into the novel as a whole -- seems tacked on, seems an after thought.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good start - poor ending, February 2, 2004

By 

Train Chaser "sleuthraptorman" (Thornton, CO United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bluegate Fields: A Charlotte and Thomas Pitt Novel (Paperback)

This is the first Thomas Pitt Novel I've read. The plot outline is covered well in the other reviews. While the story is interesting, I thought it was rather predictable. There was only one twist that caught me by surprise. Compared to the rest of the book the end comes entirely too quick and with little thought. I got the impression the author was tired of writing and just wanted to be done with it. I am by no means a legal expert, especially of the Victorian system, but there are major shortfalls in the legal aspects the book. These oversights make the plot work but would have never happened. Using the "real" evidence for the first trial as a gauge, by the same measure there was more than enough later evidence to take to a judge and get it overturned. It is just inconsistent. The emotional state of some of the characters is a bit overplayed, sometimes to the point of distraction. If the police chief, Athelstan, was really that excitable, he would have had a heart attack years before attaining that office. On the other hand, it was an excellent portrayal of the young man's (name with held to preserve the mystery) realization of what every one had been talking about, and what he had done. There is no date given for the setting, but there are still a few anachronisms including the lack of use of the terms sodomite and carnal knowledge. I still recommend the book as an easy read, but will not be keeping a copy in my library. Unlike other reviewers I finished the book before writing a review.