Customer Reviews

Callander Square

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is the second in the Thomas and Charlotte Pitt series. I started reading it as soon as I had finished The Cater Street Hangman (the first)! Inspector Pitt is now married to his Charlotte and they make a delightful couple. Although pregnant with their first child, Charlotte does some detecting of her own in this case, helped by her well-to-do sister, Emily. The plot is excellent and the characters are very well-drawn. The strict rules regarding class which most of the Victorian upper-class people in this book feel compelled to follow appear somewhat laughable to us in this more enlightened age but are very destructive for all that! I could not put this book down until I knew whodunnit and I was quite a way through it before I guessed the culprit! A wonderful read!

This is the second book in Anne Perry's mystery series involving Charlotte and Inspector Pitt. But note, reading the first in the series, "The Cater Street Hangman" is not a requirement to understanding and enjoying "Callandar Square." Perry seems to have foreseen this issue and wrote the books in this series without any prerequisites. (Obviously, if one can read the books in order, than that's terrific too!) The story, as do most of Perry's works, is set in Victorian England. Perry is so natural in description of places, people and customs of this era, one wonders if she doesn't own a time-machine. In the mystery, two bodies of babies are found buried in the well-to-do, respectable neighborhood of Callandar Square. Rumors abound on who they were and who was the mother. Naturally, the well-born classes dismiss it as the desperate act of a chambermaid or some other lowly working-class girl. But when Inspector Thomas Pitt puts his sleuthing wits to the matter that assumption doesn't seem so easy. The Inspector has recently married Charlotte, who is from an established family. Those in their society may have seen the marriage as unprofitable for her, but Charlotte married for love. Charlotte is a delight with her brains and attitudes, and is ever so likable. She is a woman ahead of her times. Charlotte, through some scheming with her high-society sister, takes up a clerical position in one of the aristocratic homes in Callandar Square as an attempt to uncover any secrets about the discovered bodies. An array of concealments and hush-hush information unfolds as Pitt, Charlotte, and Charlotte's sister begin to delve into the lives of the residents of Callandar Square. There are surprises and heartbreaks as the killer is finally cornered. Perry's skill of dialogue is excellent as the reader learns intimately the attitudes of the various characters. The ending seems a little quick in the realization of the killer, but Perry makes up for it with a touching reflection that Pitt ponders in the final pages. Other readers of this series have suggested they wish there was more dialogue and action between Pitt and Charlotte together. Perhaps feeling a little spoiled from "Cater Street." But I see this as a compliment to Perry, not a fault. The characters so well drawn and their charms when together in a chapter, so relishing, that it will always leave one wanting more. Yet, there are only so many opportunities for a dual appearance in this particular plot. If Perry wrote anymore, it may have seemed forced. But fear not, there are plenty of Charlotte and Pitt books to get happily lost in. And "Callandar Square" was one of them for me.

Those who like to pillory the Victorians do so for their application of a double standard, licentiousness in private while appearing spotlessly upright in public. Callander Square is a powerful commentary on that double standard, as the story strips away the cloaks of respectability among neighbors in an upper class neighborhood.

Upper class lives were then seldom examined . . . except by ladies who were gossiping. When two dead babies are found by accident buried in Callander Square, it becomes Inspector Thomas Pitts' duty to examine all of those lives . . . looking for who the mother was. Pitts' theory is that if you can find the mother, you can find the murderer . . . or the circumstances of death if it wasn't murder.

The wealthy men and women in the square do their best to fend off Pitt by focusing him on their servants. Unsuspected by them, Pitts' wife, Charlotte, decides that she wants to find the mother too . . . but to succor rather than to accuse her. Charlotte and her sister Emily play an undercover role in which Emily is the Upstairs mole and Charlotte is the Downstairs mole. Soon, the skeletons are rattling in all the relevant closets. And crimes multiply!

This mystery presents an interesting problem. How do you investigate when all the "good" people either won't talk to you . . . or lie when they do? These people are so delicate that they won't even come out and discuss their concerns. One has to hint around . . . and hope that the message is received and understood. So there's a dance of manners involved here inside of a mystery which is inside of a dysfunctional society. For those who like novels of manners, there is much to enjoy here in addition to the mystery.

I give Ms. Perry great credit for hiding the villains until late in the book. You will know in the last 80 pages or so who did what, but it's a totally incomprehensible mystery before then. If she had shortened up the end a bit, I would have graded the book higher. But the climax is more like a tea party that's gone on too long than a climax until the last few pages.

The writing is superb. A large number of characters are fully developed, and the development is used well to advance the plot.

After reading "Cater Street Hangman", I had expectations that this book would be a creepy thriller set in Victorian London. Instead, this book is Victorian soap opera. When the skeletons of two babies are found in the garden, Charlotte, Emily and Thomas investigate the matter in their own ways. Which master of the house is sleeping with his parlor maids? Who had a secret abortion and died from it? Where did Helena disappear to? Who is blackmailing who? Is Christina pregnant by the footman or not? This book has very little suspense, and a surprise ending. But mostly it is soap opera drama. I never was drawn into really caring about the main mystery. I'm sure if you go in understanding that this book is entirely different from "Cater Street Hangman" that it will be quite enjoyable.

I have not read all of the Charlotte and Thomas Pitt series but enough to know that Callandar Square is both typical and essential to an Anne Perry fan. The intimate detail of a Victorian novel as well as a stunning depiction of the innuendos and intricacies of period manners styles and interactions is palpably present. I was a little disappointed with the rapidity and almost deus-ex-machina ending but must admit that I wept at Pitt's appreciation of the unique lovableness of Charlott in the end. Otherwise the character development and interaction was well-crafted and held my interest. A good read for fans, but not a starting place.

I thoroughly enjoyed Callander Square, although I found the end less intriguing than The Cater Street Hangman. I was completely shocked with the first one's ending, while this one was just okay. The characters were very interesting in this novel though, and I really didn't suspect who the murderer was, but his character was too underdeveloped in my opinion. I also was disappointed that Perry showed very little interaction between Charlotte and Thomas--I was looking forward to reading about their marriage and how they were managing married life. Overall a great read if you are looking for a fun, yet sophisticated, murder mystery!

Anne Perry's second Inspector Pitt novel once again presents the reader with an unflinching look at societal ills in so-called "proper" Victorian households.

The genteel residents of Callander Square all have something to hide. A gentleman enjoys secret trysts with his parlormaids. A desparate mother hatches a plan to cover up her daughter's own sexual indiscretions. An unhappy woman mourns a daughter who vanished after presumably eloping with an unknown and likely unsuitable admirer.

The residents panic when Thomas Pitt arrives to investigate the deaths of two newborn infants. With help from his enterprising wife, Charlotte, and her sister, Emily, he lifts the veils of respectability covering the shallowness and self-centeredness of each of the families. In the process, the residents demonstrate those in the upper classes are no better than low-born criminals. Most of the neighbors care nothing for the truth and show little human kindness; they look out for their own interests above all.

The mystery in "Callander Square" takes a back seat to drawing the reader into the family scandals -- secrets some would do anything to keep hidden. Those looking for a fast-paced thrill ride will be disappointed, but those who enjoy the novel of manners will appreciate the well-drawn characters and setting. By the end of the book, I'd almost stopped wondering who the killer was, because I was so engrossed in the lives of those in the story.

Having discovered a new detective series (new to me) with "The Cater Street Hangman," I was really looking forward to reading all the books in sequence. This one, however, didn't hold up to the pace or energy of the first one. I found it slow going, actually. And between the end of the last one and the beginning of this one Charlotte and Thomas were married -- cheating us all out of quite a bit of information, such as how her father took it, how everything went, etc. But it was an interesting plot and, I must say, I didn't guess the answer before the end, so all in all it was clever. I'm not really disappointed, but I hope the rest of the series regains the excitement of the first book.

If you like historical details, and want to know about Victorian London, manners and mores, this is the book for you. If you like full drawn characters that you can relate to, I'd skip these. I love serials, and bought the first four. I wish I'd only bought the first two. This is the second book and there is nothing about the courtship or wedding, or the relationship, or parents and sibling reactions. Anne Perry keeps telling me that Charlotte is independent, but I really only have her word for that, as marrying Thomas "beneath her station" seems to be the only independent thought she has. I'm disappointed in the characters, or lack of same; all of these people are strangers to each other, but even worse they are strangers to me. I disagree with other reviews that say the writing is good. It is adequate.

I enjoyed The Cater Street Hangman, but I think this book moved a little quicker and a was little less predictable. I really didn't figure out "whodunit" until it was revealed. I like Anne Perry's writing because it is not contrived, gives us a good sense of what the Victorian times were like and is not full of smut.