Bluegate Fields: A Charlotte and Thomas Pitt Novel (Mortalis) [Paperback]

Anne Perry (Author)

Book Description

Series: Mortalis | Publication Date: September 29, 2009

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.

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

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

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books; Reprint edition (September 29, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345514017
• ISBN-13: 978-0345514011
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.6 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #519,397 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.

18 of 20 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.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, but..., June 23, 2010

By 

Julie H. Bloch "Printmaker" (Hurleyville, New York United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bluegate Fields (Mass Market Paperback)

I've been reading the Anne Perry novels of Thomas Pitt from the beginning, and loved them. Ms. Perry has a gift for characterization and cliff-hanging plots, and occasionally a bit of description that has me flagging it as an example of really wonderful writing. This novel is no exception. However, I am rather disappointed in her confusion of homosexuality with pedophelia. The two are quite different, and I find the homophobic attitude quite disturbing. Nevertheless, I will continue with the next in the series, in hopes that she abandons her blatant display of this particular bigotry. I really hope this is the last of it; I really love her stories otherwise.