Charlotte and Thomas Pitt Series by Anne Perry

I have realized that I did not include Anne Perry in my earlier posts.  Many years ago, I read a half dozen or more of the Charlotte and Thomas books, which comprise a series set in late Victorian London. I have a couple of problems with Perry's writing style, and those things sometimes leave me less than enthusiastic about the entertainment value of her work. I prefer crisp dialogue and nearly all of her characters give lengthy, tangential speeches. There may be substantial differences in the way people speak to each other between then and now, but these stullifying monologues are not quite believable somehow. Perry also tend to end her stories somewhat abruptly and I miss the tying up of loose ends that is the stock in trade of most writers of mysteries.

Lately, because I have oodles of time, and I have chanced to finish reading the books in the series that I didn't get to earlier. I have also re-read some of the earlier works. At this point, I am finding them interesting because of the information she includes about the era. These stories take place a little over a hundred years ago, and the comparisons to current time are fascinating. I'm working on developing more tolerance for her style quirks!

Perry has a fascinating story of her own. As a youngster in New Zealand, she was involved in a real life murder plot which became internationally infamous. There is now a book about her actual life titled Anne Perry and the Murder of the Century by Peter Graham.