- Paperback: 400 pages
- Publisher: HarperCollins; New edition edition (4 Dec 2000)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0006510922
- ISBN-13: 978-0006510925
- Product Dimensions: 17.2 x 11 x 2.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 752,065 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Review
‘The books are infused with morality without being moralistic’
Sunday Times One Hundred Masters of Crime
Product Description
The 18th in the popular Victorian murder mysteries featuring Thomas and Charlotte Pitt.
The conservative clergy of the Church of England are under attack from the growing popularity of Darwinism. But was it really such a threat to Reverend Parmenter that he killed his assistant for believing in it? Superintendent Pitt is called in to prevent a scandal. Parmenter was about to be made bishop, and his assistant was an uncommonly beautiful young woman.
What seems to be a tragically cut-and-dried case turns into a series of ugly revelations about the politics of the church, dubious personal lives of its clerics, ambitions thwarted, promises unfulfilled, passions frustrated. As the Parmenter family struggles under the pressures of private grief and public duty, Pitt encounters a figure from his own past who augurs trouble wherever he goes…
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Although this was a good detective story with twists and turns which kept me guessing until the end (nearly), there was not enough period detail for this to be called a "Victorian Murder Mystery". It could have been set at any point in time, apart from the obvious lack of DNA testing etc, and there was little that made it especially Victorian. It seemed like this may have been a gimmick, rather than helping the story. This is not to say that I didn't enjoy the book, I just felt cheated with regards to the Victorian element.
Format:Mass Market Paperback
This is an Inspector Pitt (a Victorian Detective) detective story by Anne Perry, and one of many in the series. I have jumped in at Brunswick Gardens.
Pitt is asked to investigate when a young lady, Unity Bellwood is found dead at the bottom of the stairs, after crying out "No, No Reverend". Witness heard her but nobody saw her fall, she does not appear to have tripped over and she was previously having an argument with Reverend Parmenter, soon destined to become a bishop regarding the translation of some work for which Unity was employed for. Unity's belief in Darwinism rather god's creation put some strains on this working relationship.
But it does not seem so straightforward to Pitt and despite pressure from the Bishop wishing to declare Parmenter insane to plead clemency in the act, their belief being it must have carried out the act, there is something that is not right. Pitt encounters the other members of the family, Vita Parmenter the Reverend's wife, who seems to be suffering in a rather odd way and displaying affection rather freely. Their daughters, Clarice and Tryphena have rather conflicting feelings for Unity, Mallory their brother who has revoked his faith to convert to Catholicism which caused much upset for his father and additional joy for Unity to barrack when testing the theories of their god and their ideas behind their faith. All their alibis stand up, and the servants are not given a second thought which I thought was an interesting twist on the plot of this acceptance that they were never considered suspects.
To Pitt's surprise though he encounters a face from his past, his personal family past Dominic Corde who has found solace with Reverend Parmenter and found strength in God and himself to pursue a life in the church. A far cry from ten years ago when he first met Dominic.
This is rather a meandering type of detective novel for me there were no exciting peeks and troughs although from a historical point of view (it is set in the late 1890s) there are some interesting class aspects but again this is the middle to upper classes. Servants are a given and they have their place, as do the police, which is why Inspector Pitt's home life is more interesting and actually helps spark the story along.
A pleasant bit of escapism, no violent scenes or bad language, the plot if anything makes you think about faith, beliefs, feminism and women's role in society at the time; they may study Theology but it will get them to no position in the church. The murder in some cases is merely a supporting plotline. A book of today, but set in the Victorian period when everything was so different.
Pitt is asked to investigate when a young lady, Unity Bellwood is found dead at the bottom of the stairs, after crying out "No, No Reverend". Witness heard her but nobody saw her fall, she does not appear to have tripped over and she was previously having an argument with Reverend Parmenter, soon destined to become a bishop regarding the translation of some work for which Unity was employed for. Unity's belief in Darwinism rather god's creation put some strains on this working relationship.
But it does not seem so straightforward to Pitt and despite pressure from the Bishop wishing to declare Parmenter insane to plead clemency in the act, their belief being it must have carried out the act, there is something that is not right. Pitt encounters the other members of the family, Vita Parmenter the Reverend's wife, who seems to be suffering in a rather odd way and displaying affection rather freely. Their daughters, Clarice and Tryphena have rather conflicting feelings for Unity, Mallory their brother who has revoked his faith to convert to Catholicism which caused much upset for his father and additional joy for Unity to barrack when testing the theories of their god and their ideas behind their faith. All their alibis stand up, and the servants are not given a second thought which I thought was an interesting twist on the plot of this acceptance that they were never considered suspects.
To Pitt's surprise though he encounters a face from his past, his personal family past Dominic Corde who has found solace with Reverend Parmenter and found strength in God and himself to pursue a life in the church. A far cry from ten years ago when he first met Dominic.
This is rather a meandering type of detective novel for me there were no exciting peeks and troughs although from a historical point of view (it is set in the late 1890s) there are some interesting class aspects but again this is the middle to upper classes. Servants are a given and they have their place, as do the police, which is why Inspector Pitt's home life is more interesting and actually helps spark the story along.
A pleasant bit of escapism, no violent scenes or bad language, the plot if anything makes you think about faith, beliefs, feminism and women's role in society at the time; they may study Theology but it will get them to no position in the church. The murder in some cases is merely a supporting plotline. A book of today, but set in the Victorian period when everything was so different.
Format:Paperback
I am reading this book at the moment so far it is as good as the other pitt novels I have read already
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