Death in the Devil's Acre [Mass Market Paperback]

Anne Perry (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1989

When a doctor is found brutally murdered in the lurid section of London aptly named “Devil’s Acre,” even its most hardened residents are stunned. But shock soon turns to horror when Inspector Thomas Pitt discovers three more bodies with the same gruesome “calling card”: a stab wound in the back and a rather inexpertly executed mutilation. As Pitt and his wife, Charlotte, race against time to find the killer, a treacherous mystery unfolds. And no one, not the lowest brand of ruffian or the most established aristocrat, will escape unscathed.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Perry’s Victorian novels attain the societal sweep of Trollope or Thackeray.”—Booklist, starred review
 
 
“For readers longing to be in 1890s London, Perry’s tales are just the ticket.”—Chicago Tribune

 
“An exquisitely detailed addition to Perry’s outstanding series!”—Library Journal
--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

From the Inside Flap

"Give her a good murder and a shameful social evil, and Anne Perry can write a Victorian mystery that would make Dickens's eyes pop."
NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW
When a doctor is found brutally murdered, even the neighborhood's most hardened residents are stunned. But three more bodies are found, killed the same inexpert way, and Inspector Thomas Pitt and his wife Charlotte race against time to find the killer, as a treacherous mystery unfolds. No one, not the lowest brand of ruffian or the most established aristocrat, will come out unscathed.... --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 (September 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0449447766
• ISBN-13: 978-0449447765
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)

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

17 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gruesome killings and great detective work!!!, July 19, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Death in the Devil's Acre (Mass Market Paperback)

Death in Devil's Acre was filled with completely disgusting mutilations and odd killings;skills no ordinary killer would ever obtain.Ordinary he wasn't either.Anne Perry brilliantly achieved the skills of a great writer and put much creativity and hard work into this book.You'll never be able to put it down! The detective work was incredible and the murders were beyond belief!

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars There's nothing like a night on the town in old London . . ., March 28, 2003

By 

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

This review is from: Death in the Devil's Acre (Mass Market Paperback)

In this seventh novel in the Charlotte and Thomas Pitt high Victorian mystery series, we leave the exclusive circles of high London society for the brothels and slums, where first a seemingly respectable doctor and then Max, the blackmailing footman from CALLANDER SQUARE, are not only murdered but mutilated -- and then a third murder brings into play Charlotte's connections with London's drawing room society. Perry does a good job in this one, especially in delineating the characters of those whose existence middle class London would rather know about.

4.0 out of 5 stars Intoxicating Thriller with Mesmerizing Characters, August 10, 2011

By 

Susan Anderson "Susan Russo Anderson" (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Death in the Devil's Acre: A Charlotte and Thomas Pitt Novel (Mortalis) (Paperback)

Death in the Devil's Acre is the seventh book in Anne Perry's Thomas and Charlotte Pitt historical mystery series is an intoxicating thriller from start to finish with mesmerizing characters.

A doctor of good standing and impeccable character is found slashed to death in the Devil's Acre, one of Victorian London's slums near the docks. Then another body is found with the same "calling card." A serial killer?

Pitt is called on to investigate. Recurring characters figure prominently in this mystery, especially Charlotte, helping Pitt with his investigation, but the crimes are not solved until the final pages after a particularly exciting chase involving some of Perry's most riveting characters.

Another unputdownable Perry mystery, one that satisfies the lover of historical mysteries with period detail and, in particular, facts about the poverty and suffering of children in this rigid and hypocritical society.

I admit to the book's being one of my favorites in the Pitt series, and, I believe, with it, Ms. Perry's mastery of the genre comes into its own. What sets it above the earlier novels, I think, is the fascinating character development of the antagonist and other minor villains.

However, since a review is supposed to focus objectively on what historical readers would like--given character development, intricacy of plot, accuracy of historic detail, and the requisite number of suspects, clues, and red herrings, its solution logically formed without an undue stretch of circumstance--I need to give it a four-star rating. It is a novel I re-read from time to time, and also listen to Davina Porter's wonderful unabridged reading of the story. It would be 4.5, if we were allowed half sizes.