Plot or Premise

Charlotte Ellison is an unmarried woman who tends to be blunt and outspoken rather than dissemble when speaking with men. She is vaguely in love with her sister’s husband and a little bored with life, until a murderer claims a neighbour. And then a couple of maids. Who will be next? Who is killing the young women of Cater Street, a Victorian-era upper-middle class neighbourhood? Inspector Pitt is investigating the case, suspecting everyone equally until they can be eliminated. When he isn’t becoming increasingly smitten with Charlotte.

What I Liked

The setting makes the romance side of things surprisingly decent, more subtle and understated rather than the harsher more brash aspects of contemporary romance mysteries. I had read the book some 20 years ago and only had a vague recollection of the killer (I knew why, but a little off on who).  The tension is good as is the elements of suspecting various friends and neighbours.

As an aside, a long time ago, I was a member of an online group whose rules of etiquette were the standard ones you see in any social media group, except they had one content element — no discussions of Anne Perry’s personal life. Apparently people had previously gotten off topic more than once when discussing her books, and it led to acrimonious arguments about the writer, not the books. I sought her work out PRECISELY because people thought it was relevant; after I read it, I decided I didn’t care. I like the books, don’t care about her old criminal behaviour.

What I Didn’t Like

I would have liked to see more of the Inspector with Charlotte discussing non-crime-related topics, sharing more casual intimacies than was suggested up to the denouement. However, by contrast, there is a lot of time spent on women openly discussing double standards or a long-time mistress of one of the main characters, neither of which were likely for the time portrayed. The mistress thread even lends a red herring with no real subterfuge or payoff.

The Bottom Line

Come for the murder, stay for the romantic intrigue