Dorchester Terrace

February 6, 2012
Scotland Yard’s Thomas Pitt worries about his fitness as head of Special Branch, a post he officially assumes in early 1896, in bestseller Perry’s suspenseful 27th novel featuring Pitt and his wife, Charlotte (after 2011’s Treason at Lisson Grove). When Pitt gets reports from his staff that someone has been asking questions about railway signals and points, he’s concerned that the inquiries might be a prelude to an assassination attempt during a train journey, though the target is at first unclear. Unfortunately, getting others in the British government to share his worries proves an uphill slog. And even with additional resources, figuring out the who, the what, and the when to prevent a crime that could have international repercussions isn’t easy. Perry convincingly demonstrates that this long-running series hasn’t run out of steam, and breathes new life into it by giving her capable lead new responsibilities and new challenges. Agent: Donald Maass, Donald Maass Literary Agency.

March 15, 2012
A dying adventuress holds entirely too many secrets for the miscreants who threaten Queen Victoria's government, whose peace Thomas Pitt is sworn to keep. Lady Vespasia Cumming-Gould, the wise and knowing aunt of Pitt's wife Charlotte, is right to be concerned about her old friend Serafina Montserrat. It's not just that Serafina's life is drawing to a close; her illness makes her mind wander, and oftentimes she says things she shouldn't--and, according to her niece, Nerissa Freemarsh, things that just aren't true. But Serafina speaks very much to the point when she tells Vespasia that she's afraid "they'll kill me" because "I know too much." Sure enough, the next time Vespasia comes to visit, Serafina has already died. Pitt, who's already been put on high alert by the hints about very contemporary terrorist threats Serafina has intimated to Vespasia, ascertains that the cause of death was an overdose of laudanum quite impossible for Serafina to have administered to herself. Whodunit? And even more important, why? It doesn't take long for Pitt (Long Spoon Lane, 2005, etc.) to focus his concern on Duke Alois Habsburg, a decidedly minor noble whose upcoming visit to his cousins in England seems increasingly likely to end with his assassination. But which of the slippery bureaucrats Pitt must deal with in his new capacity as head of Special Branch is the traitor behind the plot? And how can Pitt, who continues to be superstitiously reverent toward his alleged social superiors, smoke out the traitor and deal with him? Slow to catch fire, but full of pleasing twists once it does--one of Perry's most successful attempts to cloak contemporary geopolitical anxieties in plummy faux-Victorian periods.

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April 1, 2012

Best-selling author Perry brings back longtime Victorian-era favorites the Pitts (Treason at Lisson Grove). A traitor is hidden in the very ranks of the Special Branch, and when a retired spy is murdered, the couple know time is running out for his unit's mission. [See Prepub Alert, 9/30/11.]

Copyright 2012 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 1, 2012
The Charlotte and Thomas Pitt series continues to roll smoothly along. It's now 1896, and Thomas, in charge temporarily of Special Branch, has the unpleasant job of turning his investigative eye on his own people, looking for a mole in the organization. Meanwhile, Charlotte helps Thomas explore whether the death of a former spy has the potential to plunge Britain into full-scale war. As usual, the plotting is rock solid, with a terrorism-themed mystery that will resonate with contemporary readers, but it's the characters and their environment that make the book such a pleasure to read. Perry's Victorian England is well drawn, a broad-stroke portrait that gives readers the spirit of the time and place without getting mired down in too much detail, and Charlotte and Thomas remain two of the most vividly conceived protagonists in the historical-mystery genre. Another fine entry in an always entertaining series.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)