( 8 reviews )
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Posted: Jul 6 2009
One of my favorite aspects about buying books from Amazon is the fact that I can buy used books from sellers across the country who have partnered with Amazon. I get them at a great price and in great condition. "Seven Dials" is one of my favorite titles from Anne Perry's Thomas and Charlotte Pitt series. I like listening to audio versions of books. I heard a sample of this one and the price for the CD version and the condition it was in was a "no-brainer" for me. It arrived in a condition I am pleased with. It has been used, but was well treated by it's previous owner. The seller got it to me in a timely fashion. I am most pleased and satisfied with this Amazon purchase.
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Posted: May 29 2009
A new Pitt & Charlotte book is always a cause for celebration, and this one is no exception. Pitt finds himself faced with a murder case that could have major national and international repercussions A seemingly open-and shut-case occurs. Apparently, an Egyptian woman Ayesha Zakari shot her lover in her back yard and then put him in a wheelbarrow in order to get rid of it.The police arrive quickly after a tip off, finding the body in the wheelbarrow. The gun that shot him belongs to Ayesha. But it becomes increasingly clear to Pitt that Ayesha, supposed mistress of a member of the Cabinet, is not the perpetrator of the crime, after all. Pitt finds himself faced with a murder case that could have major national and international repercussions, while Charlotte and her maid, the intrepid Gracie, look into the disappearance of Gracie's friend's brother, a valet. Gracie is a wonderful character, and her relationship with Inspector Tellman takes a step forward.
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Posted: May 1 2008
I've worked my way through this entire series now, and while the first dozen or so (this is no. 23) were generally well done -- good, reasonably accurate descriptions of London of the 1880s, pointed contrast between Society's drawing rooms and the miserable existence of the laboring classes, vivid character development of both working cops and the elite -- the last few have shown a definite decline. Thomas Pitt, Inspector and then Superintendent at the Bow Street station, and a both very talented and highly empathic detective, has now been stripped of his position by the Forces of Evil (the entirely fictional and extremely melodramatic "Inner Circle") and dumped in the lap of Special Branch, where he's beginning to learn how to be a secret policeman instead of a public one. The "Seven Dials" area of London is a pretty minor player in this one, too; the author should have called it "Alexandria," because that's where Pitt is sent to gather information on a beautiful and patriotic Egyptian woman living in London who is caught red-handed wheeling a dead bottom through her back garden in a wheelbarrow. Also implicated is a high Foreign Office official, which is how Pitt and his "M"-like boss, Narraway, get involved. If the details of the motive for the murder become public, the government could fall, Egypt could erupt in revolt, and Suez might even be lost. Can't have that, right? The action is low-key, the plot development takes its time, and the reader will enjoy the scenery, both internal and external. At least The Inner Circle manages not to appear this time, and it's fun watching Pitt trying to deal with a totally foreign milieu -- even though Perry could have spent a lot more time painting its details.
