Customer Reviews

Death in the Devil's Acre

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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!

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.

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.

A doctor is found murdered in the part of London deservedly known as the Devil's Acre. What was such a respectable man doing there? And, even more puzzling, why did his killer horribly mutilate the corpse? Inspector Thomas Pitt must try to find the answers to those questions. For once his well born wife, Charlotte, can play no self-assigned role in the investigation. It has no connection at all to the life she once lived as Miss Ellison, and none to the life of her sister Emily, who is now Lady Ashworth. Not until other murders take place, one of them with a victim whose fiancee Emily does at least slightly know...and one with a victim whom Charlotte remembers from involving herself in Pitt's Callander Square case.

As usual, author Perry handles themes of Victorian social issues with spot on accuracy. She gets the details of the era right, too, unfailingly; and her characters engaged me even before some of my Callander Square favorites returned. There is nothing easy about the world Perry's writing depicts, but somehow she keeps me turning pages anyway.

--Reviewed by Nina M. Osier, author of 2005 science fiction EPPIE winner "Regs"

This is the 7th in the Charlotte and Thomas Pitt series. It starts off in the year 1887 with an interesting premise, and it moves steadily toward an exciting finish. The character of Thomas is more likable than last time, and his wife Charlotte, who doesn't have much to do in the first part of the book, becomes very active later, as does her sister Emily. And there are characters brought back from previous books. Along the way, because of Charlotte's unusual social circumstances and Thomas's profession, we learn some fascinating insights into the class system of that time and place.

The author is consistent in her ability to create a sense of place and character. In DEATH IN THE DEVIL'S ACRE the atmosphere is dark and moody, with a very unpleasant topic. But the book is well done and adds to the series.

Having previously read several of Anne Perry's short Sherlock Holmes pastiches, I desperately wanted to like this book. Her Victorian writing style was accurate, and general knowledge of the era seemed profound. Always appreciating an author who researches the time period in which they write so as to increase authenticity while avoiding jarring anachronisms, I was even more excited about her Thomas & Charlotte Pitt novels as the plots appeared much more promising than those of her pastiches.

The book's opening is both engaging and intriguing, hooking the reader with a winning blend of likable characters and fascinating plot. That the writing style was reminiscent of something more of an authentic feeling period piece rather than a book conspicuously written by a 20th Century hand trying to imitate Victorian writers was another bonus. The author did have an annoying habit of switching to multiple POVs, but this was overlooked. As was the rather dull way the story then unfolded with Pitt asking the obvious people obvious questions. I was expecting it to pick up pace in the second half, but was genuinely enjoying her characterizations and the Thomas/Charlotte interactions.

What I cannot forgive is how halfway through the book, Perry's POVs become erratic, shifting away from her main detectives to Emily (Charlotte's sister) then General Ballantyne, which was not only irritating after we've been introduced to and have warmed up to the former, but here she decides to bog the story down with excessive amounts of introspection/exposition that have more to do with an often misguided societal commentary than moving the story along. In small doses, it would have increased the book's authenticity. With the copious way it is used as useless filler it only makes for an annoying deviance from plot.

I also could not help but feel like this was not the book I signed up for (and spent $15 on). If I wanted to read about two women who attend boring dinner parties and ADMIT they veered off course and never even made the attempt to acquire the information they were there for, or traipse around the town prattling on about their dresses, etc., then I would have bought such a book. I like strong women characters, but these two seem unbelievable as that for the time period in which they live. I also seem to be in the minority as I prefer male dominated mysteries but of course am open to anything, so this has me further aggravated that most of the men are portrayed as either doormats, effeminate, or sleazes that, in differing ways, are only there to oppress womankind. Doing such does not, in turn, make your female characters more authentic or stronger willed. It just makes the author look unduly hostile... like some of her characters.

In summation, I have been reading Death in the Devil's Acre for well over three weeks and am now stuck firmly on page 163. I do not yet want to give up on this, though, and if I ever do finish, I might tweak my rating and review accordingly. But for the time being, I will say this is a HUGE disappointment and it's very unlikely I'll ever pick up one of Perry's novels again.

Pitt and Charlotte are at it again. The subjects Ms. Perry chooses always seem to startle me, only because I feel in the Victorian time, it would be such a scandal, which ofcourse is what makes it delicious for us. The women of the Victorian times are trying to break out from some of their perceived roles as women.

Having read these in order, it's fun to see characters reintroduced.

With all the shows on TV, like CSI,it's fun to see what things they did to identify bodies, how long they could keep a dead body, etc.

Very enjoyable read.

I very much enjoyed the mystery aspect of this book and could not wait to find out who the murderer was (I thought it was someone different than who it turned out to be). However, the thing that bothered me throughout the entire book was the odd interaction between Charlotte and Thomas. I have read a number of the other books and I certainly could not see that there was any type of "collaboration" between the two of them. There seemed to be very little contact between them to begin with and what there was consisted almost entirely of him telling her to mind her own business. Of course, being Charlotte, she ignored him and did what she felt was necessary to gather information which she never really gave to him. Nevertheless, the story was well written and kept the reader interested.

Anne Perry writes a very interesting story with mounds of character and period development. If you read the entire series in the order which she wrote the Thomas Pitt mysteries, you will get a lot more out of each book. You must read until you get to Cardington Crescent. Its got to be the best one she wrote so far.

This novel has all the twists and turns that Anne Perry is famous for in her historical novels. A great read by a great author.