Customer Reviews

Resurrection Row (Charlotte & Thomas Pitt Novels)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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.

Exceptional. All of the Pitt series is good, but this may be one of the best. As an avid reader of mysteries, I found it wonderfully frustrating to get into the last chapter without actually knowing who the killer was. Better, Perry did it without cheating. Once you get to the solution, you realize that ever clue you needed was right there all along, and each false trail was masterfully done.

My only complaint in this book is that Perry padded large sections with irrelevant musings, and several were actually out of character for the person musing. There is a section with Thomas mulling all of the dead ends in a dispassionate mental voice that is completely different than in any other part of the series, and another with Charlotte using the same cadence, rehashing discarded leads. It feels as if her publisher came back and demanded about twenty more pages, and she scrambled to cram them into an otherwise tight and well-crafted book.

On the other hand, her mastery of the period is incomparable, tossing the assumptions and mundane details of the day into the story in a way that draws you fully into a remarkable and fascinating point in history. The characters are perfect and well-realized, as always, and this book introduces one of my favourite bit players--Aunt Vespasia, the Lady Cumming-Gould. Delightful, insightful, intriguing and unconventional, just like this book.

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.

Anne Perry can write some pretty decent mysteries but this isn't one. At the denoument of the best Agatha Christie mysteries, with a gasp of epiphany we suddenly see all the pieces fall into place - the psychological clues we had dismissed, the ironies we underestimated, the character interrelationships that had been only hinted at - and it all makes sense; we are embarassed when we realize the solution was unique. In Resurrection Row, the disinterment of the bodies is a very brilliant and daring introduction to the mystery, but the relationship to the murder could have been much more cogent and psychologically compelling (vengeful intent to embarass,religious zeal, etc), rather than almost an afterthought. Moreover, the rationale for the disinterments was flimsy and the murder could have been concealed much more easily and intelligently other than by this particular conceit.

I am really enjoying the Charlotte and Pitt series - the mixture of social conscience and crime. They are both lovable characters. I really enjoy Aunt Vespasia's role in Perry's books, she seems to be someone I would rather enjoy knowing. A great read, for those who haven't read these in order, I would highly suggest it, I look forward to seeing what Charlotte, Emily, Dominic and the rest are up to in each novel.

This book was so good I just couldn't put it down. So many bodies, so little graves. I enjoy Thomas and Charlotte so much. He doesn't let the "upper crust" get the best of him and he tries to put his personal feelings behind when he is trying to solve a murder plot. I like the way Thomas and Charlotte talk to each other and she helps him see things in a different way. I enjoyed the plot and for the first time I guessed who the murderer was (only because of a clue read in the linees). I like the fact that the series goes along as their lives do and their daughter is growing and their family is moving along also. I was just a little bit disappointed that there wasn't more about Emily's new son,especially since Dominic was someone they both knew. But that is so small its hardly worth mentioning.

Resurrection Row, by Anne Perry, is the fourth entry in the very solid Victorian England mystery series featuring Thomas and Charlotte Pitt. This book features a very solid case involving grave diggers and a good deal of gallow;s humor. This is a very enjoyable series as written by a gifted author who provided a great sense of place and setting.

This book is a solid three (3) star read. Great for series continuity and the growth of the Thomas and Charlotte relationship.

I read this book cover to cover in a span of about two days. I love the details about Victorian England. The characters of Thomas and Charlotte are easily liked and in between each book I wonder what is new with them. The books are easy to read and are great for holidays and weekends!

Anne Perry has been one of my favorite authors for many, many years. I was delighted to see that the Charlotte and Thomas Pitt series is available on Kindle. However, as I am re-reading the old favorites, I am very disappointed by the poor reproduction quality of the entire series. Many words are misspelled through obvious optical character recognition errors. The price of each book warrants at least a proofread of the content. My rating is based on this issue; a review of the writing and storyline would be much, much higher.