Resurrection Row (Charlotte & Thomas Pitt Novels) (Hardcover)

by Anne Perry (Author)
Key Phrases: Godolphin Jones, Lord Augustus, Major Rodney (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal
This 1981 mystery, the fourth in the long-running series featuring Inspector Thomas Pitt and his well-born wife, Charlotte, is one of the best for its balance between the mystery itself and Perry's scathing portrait of Victorian society. It is bad enough that the recently deceased Lord Fitzroy-Hammond has been removed from his grave, but when it happens a second time and then other buried corpses start popping up, the normally unflappable Pitt is puzzled indeed. Is the perpetrator trying to hide a murder or call attention to one? The answer lies in a convoluted but perfectly logical merging of art, blackmail, politics, pornography, and prostitution. Perry (Paragon Walk) delights in showing how much of London, except for a handful of influential citizens, chose to ignore the shameful poverty surrounding them. This provocative tale, extremely well read by Davina Porter, is highly recommended for popular collections. Michael Adams, CUNY Graduate Ctr.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review
“Few mystery writers this side of Arthur Conan Doyle can evoke Victorian London with such relish for detail and mood.”—San Francisco Chronicle

“Anne Perry has made the Victorian era her own literary preserve. . . . Perry’s work is consistently top-notch.”—San Diego Union

“Perry is my choice for today’s best mystery writer of Victoriana.”—St. Louis Post-Dispatch

“When Anne Perry puts Thomas and Charlotte Pitt on the case, we are in exemplary Victorian company.”—New York Times
--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Severn House Publishers; 1 edition (January 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0727857908
• ISBN-13: 978-0727857903
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #7,116,312 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

• This is item 4 in The Thomas Pitt Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Anne Perry delights us once more!, March 26, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Resurrection Row (Mass Market Paperback)

This is the fourth in the Thomas and Charlotte Pitt series and is well up to Anne Perry's usual high standard! This one has a particularly ingenious plot and I was delighted to see that the interesting and mildly eccentric Aunt Vespasia is back again. She figured in the previous book, Paragon Walk. Charlotte's brother-in-law, Dominic, figures prominently in this book also.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars One of the better entries in the series -- so far . . ., April 10, 2003

By	Michael K. Smith (Gonzales, Louisiana) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

This review is from: Resurrection Row (Mass Market Paperback)

This is the fourth novel in the Charlotte and Inspector Thomas Pitt series of high Victorian mysteries, though I've read several others out of order. All of them seem to be a mix of police procedural and social commentary, in which Pitt has to delve into the depths of London's underclass while Charlotte wades through the unpleasantnesses of Society's drawing rooms. Sometimes the latter is better written and more interesting than the former, but in this case the mystery is interesting and also funny in an oddball way. The recently buried keep turning up out of their coffins -- sitting in hansom cabs, or in church pews, or leaning against their own tombstones. All were apparently natural deaths, so Thomas isn't even quite sure for much of the book whether any serious crime actually has been committed. Meanwhile, Mr. Carlisle, an avid and politically astute social reformer, is making converts to his cause of reforming the workhouses by dragooning his social acquaintances into visiting the slums and rookeries. Charlotte (who married down) is a likeable enough character, and her sister, Lady Ashworth (who married up), is well done, but Thomas himself seems to emote too much. Aunt Vespasia, on the other hand, is a marvelous depiction of a grand and starchy old lady who's smarter and more socially aware than most of her contemporaries. Although Perry repeats her bad habit of nearly blowing off the solution to the mystery in favor of sociological commentary, this is a pretty good read.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Bodies won't stay buried!, February 11, 2002

By	MLPlayfair (Ravenna, OH) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Resurrection Row (Mass Market Paperback)

RESURRECTION ROW is the fourth in the Charlotte and Thomas Pitt series that begins with "The Cater Street Hangman." Once again, Perry creates a fairly strong sense of place with very few details. She uses interesting twists and turns and colorful characters, and once again there's a certain amount of -- let's call it "unpleasantness." Her books aren't pretty. This time we get more insight into Thomas's character, because Charlotte isn't involved as much in this one. And, as with Perry's others, we get a good look at all levels of the class system in place in London at the time. The plot is fascinating and the conclusion is very satisfying.