Buckingham Palace Gardens

January 28, 2008
The detecting and diplomatic skills of Thomas Pitt, now assigned to the Special Branch, are tested as never before in bestseller Perry's solid 25th novel to feature the Victorian sleuth (after 2005's Long Spoon Lane
). In 1893, the discovery of a prostitute's mutilated corpse in a Buckingham Palace cupboard after a stag party presided over by the prince of Wales could spell political disaster for the monarchy. Pitt soon eliminates the members of the sizable household staff as suspects, narrowing his focus to the prince himself and his close friends, who, it turns out, have been planning a major construction project in Africa—a railway that would run from South Africa to Egypt. Though the sensitive nature of Pitt's assignment precludes any active involvement by Charlotte, his wife and partner in earlier cases, he's able to place her maid, Gracie Phipps, on the palace staff to assist him. Perry does a nice job with some plot twists, even if most readers will quickly discount the heir to the throne of England as a viable suspect.

With a plot as winding as the 6,000-mile railroad that stretches the full length of Africa, upon which this mystery is based, Anne Perry's latest delves into subterranean aspects of the aristocracy, probing emotions as well as morality and politics. Navigating an alluring world of Victorian crime and intrigue, Inspector Thomas Pitt investigates the death of a prostitute, found naked in a palace linen closet while the Prince and Princess of Wales are in residence. Narrator Michael Page deftly becomes Perry's versatile cast of characters as the author explores her usual themes: the mores of the various British social classes and the preservation of the Empire. His smooth delivery is well paced; however, his women's voices sound shrill. A.W. (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine