Southampton Row (Inspector Pitt) [Paperback]

In the previous Pitt mystery novel, "The Whitechapel Conspiracy" Pitt defeated the Inner Circle's plan to replace the English monarchy with a republic. This feat earned him the enmity of Charles Voisey, who was to be England's first president. Now, Voisey is running for the south Lambeth seat in Parliament on the Tory ticket. Meanwhile Pitt, who instead of being able to return to his previous position at Bow Street, has been seconded to Special Branch -- a department within the police force that deals primarily with the terrorist threats of the Irish Separatists. Now, Pitt's brief is to keep an eye on Voisey, and to see if Voisey is doing anything underhanded to ensure that he wins the election. But from what little Pitt can see, Voisey seems to be doing nothing nefarious in order to sway the voters -- save being a rather charismatic speaker. And then Pitt's superior commands him to investigate the murder of the clairvoyant, Maude Lamont. Pitt discovers that Voisey's Liberal opponent for the Lambeth seat is Aubrey Serracold and that Serracold's flamboyant and outspoken wife, Rose, was one of Lamont's clients. There is the fear that either Rose had something to do with Lamont's murder, or that Voisey will use this bit of information to discredit Serracold. Pitt is determined to bring the murderer of Maude Lamont to justice, no matter who he or she is. But the question he fears is if his superiors at Special Branch will allow justice to be done, or if they too, like the Inner Circle, have their own agenda, and if they will do whatever necessary to break the Inner Circle, no matter the cost.

Against the backdrop of the political questions of the day -- Home Rule for the Irish, the fear that a disintegrating Empire could mean the fall of the British economy and the massive loss of jobs, and the demand for eight hour days -- the clash between the Tories and the Liberals; as well as the swirling human emotions of fear, ambition, grief and pain, Anne Perry has worked her magic again to produce a novel that is compelling as it is intriguing. (I really love the manner in which she makes all her characters real -- flawed yet tragically human. It's a no mean feat, and I've practically never really come acorss anyone else who can do this.) I didn't expect that the next Pitt mystery novel could top or equal "The Whitchapel Conspiracy." I was wrong: "Southampton Row" is a moer than brilliant follow up to "The Whitechapel Conspiracy."

The story involves Pitt becoming involved in an election process that will return Gladstone to power although it is early made clear that this will be a short lived government and that what is really going on is positioning for the next election. Perry's grasp of the British election process of the 1890s is excellent and the attention to detail extremely important.

By products of the election are the death of a spirit medium, a bishop doubting God and changing personal relationships. We also see the developement of Pitt's former superior, Cornwallis into something more than a former Naval officer. Tellman has moved up in the police world and is now an inspector. Pitt is bounced again from Bow Street and resumes working for the Special Branch and it's shadowland of combating treachery against the state. It is a little strange that in order to combat the Inner Circle and its shadowy operation, Pitt has found himself working for the very organization that would like to put the Inner Circle down. Pitt is shown to be out of his element in this area but when survival counts, he learns quickly.

Charlotte and the family are smaller elements in this story. It is to be hoped that the author remembers her audience base and gives Charlotte a greater role in up-coming books. However, being a mother in the 1890s, raising two children and running a home somewhat cut into crime solving time. It remains to be seen how Ms. Perry makes this situation work.

This is a fine read for those interested in pure mystery and late Victorian social issues. However, if a reader is looking for how Charlotte gets invovled, it will not be up to their expectations. In all, I found this to be a fascinating story and one that I will revisit.