Buckingham Palace Gardens

Anne Perry is a gifted writer whose books rivet attention. She writes (and we read) with effortless ease. Her insight is captivating, whether through plot, characterization or historical setting and events. Buckingham Palace Gardens is no exception.

I'm a long-time fan of both the Thomas Pitt and William Monk series. It constantly amazes me that at the rate that Anne Perry has novels published, that each story is so intricately-plotted. It's never a rehash of an earlier novel. BUCKINGHAM PALACE GARDENS featuring Thomas Pitt and as his sidekick, Gracie Phipps (instead of his wife Charlotte in this outing) is no exception. From the first page to the last the story moved at warped speed with never a dull moment. One thing I have always loved about Anne Perry is that she doesn't make it easy to figure out the plot. They enfold at a measured pace, so the suspense stays high. Her characterizations, as always, were excellent, and highlighted the darker side of human nature as she often does. You do have to pay attention while reading. The set-up of the story is often a bit confusing between trying to keep many unfamiliar characters straight, and getting used to the language with the various styles and dialects going on. It's worth it when it all clicks.

"Prolific" certainly describes Anne Perry. The author of current good British suspense and historical intrigue, whether it's Victorian or World War I periods, Perry keeps up her reputation of "good reads" with her latest Thomas Pitt adventure, "Buckingham Palace Gardens." Inspector Pitt, the irascible and intrepid central figure, is awakened "by his boss, Narraway, very early in the morning. He's got to investigate the murder of a maid. 'Can't one of the more junior policemen go to the scene of the crime,'" grumbles Pitt. 'It's at Buckingham Palace,' says Narraway." In Perry's very readable way, she narrows the suspects to a group of house guests who've been meeting with the Prince of Wales to persuade him to support the funding of the Cape to Cairo railway project, certainly a hot and timely topic! Naturally enough, there's plenty of court intrigue here, and as always, plenty of socially relevant significance. Perry gives us a fascinating picture of Palace life and her hero, naturally, belives firmly in the concept of justice; alas, he also witnesses how the privileged few seem to want to "make their own laws and (provide) their own justice," a theme that certainly is not unique to this particular period. Pitt is able to overcome the usual obstacles, as he has done in all of the Pitt stories. Still, Perry's style of writing--and she handles Pitt with care--carries the book, and with such great ease. Pitt came to literary life in 1979 with the mesmerizing "The Cater Street Hangman" and then proceeded to lead a successful series of some 18 other books. Perry's similar series, timewise, involves William Monk (debuting in 1990 with "The Face of a Stranger"). A "private equiry agent," Monk and his wife Hester hold their own lenghty series and later Perry introduces us to her WWI set, beginning with "No Graves as Yet." All three are excellent reading. Granted, Perry's conclusions rarely contain any major surprises, but that doesn't dilute the reading thrill and interest-grabbing moments she creates. "Buckingham Palace Gardens" is yet another of Perry's accomplishments!

Anne Perry delivers yet again with this deliciously perplexing Thomas Pitt installment, "Buckingham Palace Gardens." When one of the prostitutes hired to entertain the Prince of Wales and his four male companions is found butchered in a linen cupboard at Buckingham Palace, the Prince immediately summons the services of the Special Branch to clean up the mess and see that there is no scandal. And the police officer ordered to oversee such a miracle? None other than Thomas Pitt. Honest and with a strong sense of right and wrong, Pitt soon finds many of his cherished illusions about royalty sorely tested by developments in the case. But time is of the essence: the Queen is due back and the scandal must be death with before her return. And when Pitt's investigations reveal that the murderer can only be one of the Prince's friends, he quickly realises that he needs help ferreting out the truth about the rich and powerful. And so, while his superior, Narraway, flies around London using his contacts to find out more about the Prince's friends, Pitt enlists the help of his maid, Gracie, to discover the gossip "belowstairs" among the palace servants, never really anticipating the scope of conspiracy he would uncover and the effect it could have on his career... The disappointing part about "Buckingham Palace Gardens" is that Charlotte Pitt barely makes an appearance in this particular outing; I did miss her presence and the input that she could have provided this particular installment. That said, I thoroughly enjoyed "Buckingham Palace Gardens" and the manner in which Anne Perry used Gracie to act as Pitt's foil. As usual, the period details and ambiance were superb, and her character portrayals vivid and lifelike. At heart, the story-line was a deceptively simple one; but Perry did such a fantastic job of layering plot twist upon plot twist, that this seemingly simple mystery became an engagingly perplexing conundrum for Pitt and us to solve. If I had any criticism, it was that I didn't fully understand the reasons why one of the characters conspired against another -- but perhaps a rereading of the novel is in order. All in all, however, I'd say that "Buckingham Palace Gardens" was a delightfully engrossing read.

I first became familiar with Anne Perry's two Victorian series about a year and a half ago. I have since read each of the Charlotte and Thomas Pitt novels as well as the Monk series. I received my copy of Buckingham Palace Gardens earlier this week and finished the book within days. For Perry fans, this is Classic Perry. One follows Thomas Pitt as he unravels the mystery within the Palace. What's different with this novel is that it really does primarily take place within the Palace itself during the space of about a week, give or take a few days. I have no idea where the "Gardens" part comes in, as there is no real garden scenes in the book. Would rather have the book titled "Buckingham Palace Prison" to capture how the characters felt. I also want to learn more about Princes Alexandra from the scenes in the book. Gracie SHINES through on this story. She is courageous, she's questioning, she's a detective here. What did I miss in this book? I missed the continued exploration of the relationship between Gracie and Samuel Tellman (Would have LOVED reading what he thought of Gracie at Buckingham Palace! Wished he could have sneaked in to see her disguised as a delivery man or something.), I missed Aunt Vespasia's more meaningful involvement... and of course, the assistance of Charlotte. It is a good story, worth the read, can't wait for the next book! Kyra Author, "Martha Ann's Quilt for Queen Victoria"