Very good , except ending vague!! And abrupt. I wish Perry had made a smoother, more detailed ending... I didn't think there was closure; and after all that tension !!

Victorian mystery series.. I haven't read her for a couple of years and in the interim, like many others became a Downton Abbey fan. Many of the characterizations reminded me of those in the PBS series and thus I put those faces in the characters in this story. Her Thomas & Charlotte Pitt series is traditional mystery fare and becomes formulaic over the series, but interesting & enjoyable nontheless. Like coming home to friends.

Anne Perry delivers another thought provoking, suspenseful, and entertaining read.

Another very good story from Anne Perry although I must say, the last two books of her's that I've read that involve Thomas and Charlotte Pitt end rather abruptly. Anne has a very good sense of how to build up her characters, the locations she chooses for her stories seem extremely real to the reader and many of the characters can really infuriate you. The smugness, the completely blind and ignorant way the wealthy seem to live in the Victorian period never ceases to amaze. One minute they speak of God and Christianity and the next they're bad mouthing their family members and twisting proverbial knives into their kin. The mysteries that were created in this particular book brought two miserable and nasty realities to the reader- one is dealing with baby farms and the other is how a wealthy man and his absolutely hideous mother care not about anything but their own selfish desires and the havoc it causes.

Also, it's extremely infuriating to see how women had to play the part of "children" to some degree and not even be able to confront their own husbands when they were unfaithful, lest it be shown as bad taste, etc. The way Emily had to deal with her husband's stupidity and blatant wooing of another woman in plain sight was completely tasteless and pathetic on his part yet she couldn't do anything to stop it and is even told to grin and bear it.

Really enjoyed most of this story, the last half was especially good and I would have given it 4*s but for the very last page or 2 when it ended rather abruptly with an unsatisfying ending.

Love, lust, and murder in a Victorian nouveau riche family. Charlotte's sister Emily is at risk of being blamed. After the last book I read (challenging science), I was looking for some literary slumming, but this was lower than slumming. I've liked a couple other books in this series for their airplane reading level of brainlessness, but this one was pretty lame and kind of dragged

This is the eighth book in the Thomas and Charlotte Pitt series. I was surprised to realize that I had read that many stories pertaining to them. Guess that is what you get when you have a interesting series.

Charlotte's sister and brother-in-law, Lord and Lady Ashworth, are staying the month at his relatives. Unfortunately, Emily's husband, George seems to be having an affair with his cousin'wife. Emily is heartbroken but there are rules, spoken and unspoken, in Society and she has no choice but to act unaffected or unaware of the situation. Finally, in a last desperate attempt to save her marriage, she flirts with another guest visiting also. That very night, Emily overhears her husband having an argument with his lover. Later, he comes to Emily's room and she realizes that things will be just fine between them. The next morning, Emily's world comes crashing down worse than she ever imagined. Her husband is died and the doctor says it is murder. in a house full of her husband's relatives with only one that truly cares for Emily, Charlotte comes to help her sister. Thomas is in charge of the case but he has another important case that needs solving--the unidentified cut-up corpse of a woman. The problem is that even in Victorian times, the spouse is always suspected of killing their loved one. Charlotte has to help her husband find the real killer before Emily is socially ruined or worse yet hanged for the murder. To make matters worse, the family is banning together and insisting she is the murderer especially after the lover is killed also. Two deaths and no clear suspects. Emily fears she will be blamed or maybe the man she flirted with got so carried away with the situation that he killed Emily's husband thinking that opened the door for him. Who could possibly be the real killer and Why? The fear and drama are mounting and the tension is unbearable.

This is an excellent mystery. The drama is intense and if you have read other books in this series, you will feel for Emily and many of the other characters. You also could read this book as a stand-alone and enjoy it just as much. The love that the main characters feel for each other's and the people that matter to them make this series so good. You hurt for them and cheer for them in the middle of the fear and suspicion that follows a murder. I loved how you did not know who the killer was until ever so far into the story and until you understood the motive, you still were half unsure if you had the correct suspect. I am reading to hunt down the next book in the series and keep on being entertained.

I am slowly reading through all Anne Perry. This is the 8th in the Pitt series, where Charlotte frequently helps her husband Thomas, who is a police inspector in Victorian London. This book begins with a grotesque murder which seems unsolvable. Then there is another murder, Charlotte's sister Emily's husband has been poisoned. Eventually, Charlotte discovers one murderer and it leads to the other murder . A very complex plot that comes together, as Perry always does, at the very last moment. Can't wait to see what happens to Emily in the future.

I love the great, engaging Anne Perry and would wish to meet her. She is such a stellar authoress, gaining me as a fan from volume 1: and I am not keen on historical fiction! I would tell her the death of the protagonists’ Sister, Sarah helped me through that of my young cat, while reading “The Cater Street Hangman”. I gave it and many books 5 stars, the latest lower but this eighth, “Cardington Crescent”, is a fresh winner. It nearly received 5 stars, for sheer enthrallment and appreciation of changes that are a boon to this series. It is not so focused on action, that it is spare on mid-scene detailing, like usual. I hope 300 pages have become the standard.

Charlotte married inspector Thomas Pitt, beneath her family’s Victorian station and her Sister, Emily married George Marsh; a lord who was above her family’s station. This is the wonderfully relatable premise that shows us in 1987, the bizarre class system of 1887 in England. Charlotte and Emily become privy to murders and help Thomas investigate them, when there is a connection to high society. I also love George’s Aunt Vespasia. When I wondered how the creative authoress might tie-in the sleuthing ladies again: George’s death is personal. Readers are more highly invested. Feeling for Emily and her Son is emotional. What’s more, Charlotte stays with Emily, with full run of the Marsh relatives’ house.

Thomas raised my ire for shaking Charlotte physically, no matter that it was out of fright for a safety risk she undertook. I thought it was a needless addition for the Marshes to furnish an obscure clue to another case. Otherwise, I was pleasantly surprised by Anne’s exciting changes. The principal mystery contained multiple personal stories and secrets, that were all supremely rewarding!

I Like Anne Perry’s Style

This is my first time to read Anne Perry. I like her writing style and the husband/wife team of Thomas and Charlotte Pitt. The time period in which the story is set is one of more favorites. I found the book enjoyable. The story line kept me interested. I’ll read her again.

Charlotte and Thomas Pitt are back at it again. Thomas is an Inspector for London police. The setting is in Victorian England. A dismembered woman's body has been discovered and he and his crew are trying to learn her identity.

Charlotte's sister, Emily, is enjoying a holiday with her husband, George, at his cousins' country estate. Only Emily is not enjoying herself. George seems besotted with Sybilla March, wife of a cousin. Emily is about beside herself but bears up as well as she can. George finally seems to come to his senses and he and Emily have a conversation one night and they feel they are working their way back together.

The next morning Emily discovers George in bed and he is dead; he has been poisoned. Emily is devastated and sends for Charlotte to come to her. Also, Thomas is asked to be the police presence to investigate the murder. Emily and Charlotte are very thankful that Great Aunt Vespasia is also there. She is the only member of the family who know Emily did not kill George. All the other relatives believe Emily is guilty. Charlotte and Thomas are working from both ends, trying to clear Emily and discover the real killer. Then another murder occurs, this time Sybilla is killed.

These murders which take place in a aristocratic setting seem at odds with the dismembered woman's body. And yet they end up being connected.

I liked the story.

La trama e' intrigante e ben narrata, pero' come tutti i libri della Perry la conclusione e' veloce e senza troppe spiegazioni.In questo caso avrei voluto una conclusione un po' piu' esauriente, non in mezza pagina! La Perry e' cosi': pagine in cui ti attira con le sue descrizioni, ed un finale sempre troppo corto.