Bedford Square - A Charlotte and Thomas Pitt Novel

Zusatztext “Few mystery writers this side of Arthur Conan Doyle can evoke Victorian London with such relish for detail and mood.”— San Francisco Chronicle “Perry scores again with a major Victorian thriller. . . . A tribute to master plotter Agatha Christie for its ingenuity.”— Chicago Sun-Times   “You can count on a Perry tale to be superior.”— San Diego Union-Tribune   “The mood and pace of the tale are exemplary.”— The Plain Dealer   “The denouement is a shock.” —Los Angeles Times Informationen zum Autor Anne Perry  is the bestselling author of two acclaimed series set in Victorian England: the Charlotte and Thomas Pitt novels, including  Death on Blackheath  and  Midnight at Marble Arch,  and   the William Monk novels, including  Blood on the Water  and  Blind Justice . She is also the author of a series of five World War I novels, as well as twelve holiday novels, most recently  A New York Christmas,  and a historical novel,  The Sheen on the Silk,  set in the Ottoman Empire. Anne Perry lives in Los Angeles and Scotland. Klappentext The freshly dead body sprawled on the Bedford Square doorstep of General Brandon Balantyne is an affront to every respectable sensibility. The general denies all knowledge of the shabbily dressed victim who has so rudely come to death outside his home, but Superintendent Thomas Pitt cannot believe him-for in the dead man's pocket, Pitt finds a rare snuffbox that recently graced the general's study. The superintendent must tread lightly, however, lest his investigation trigger a tragedy of immense proportions, ensnaring honorable men like flies in a web. Pitt's clever wife, Charlotte, becomes his full partner in probing this masterpiece of evil, spawned by an amorality greater than they can imagine. Leseprobe Pitt leaned out of the bedroom window in his nightshirt and looked down into the street below. The police constable was standing on the pavement staring up at him. The constable's face, yellow in the gaslight from the street lamps, was tense and unhappy, and it was for more reason than simply having woken the commander of the Bow Street police station at four o'clock in the morning. "Dead, sir," he answered Pitt's question. "An' I can't see as 'ow it could a' bin an accident, not 'ow 'e is, an' w'ere I found 'im. An' I oughta be gettin' back, sir. I darsen't leave 'im there by 'isself, sir. Someone might move 'im, like ... mess wif evidence." "Yes, of course," Pitt agreed. "Go back, Constable. You did the right thing. I'll get dressed and I'll be there. I presume you haven't had a chance to call the surgeon or the mortuary van?" "No sir, I come straight 'ere, seein' as w'ere 'e is." "I'll call them. You go back and stand guard." "Yes sir. I'm sorry, sir." "Don't be. You did the right thing," Pitt repeated, pulling his head in and shivering involuntarily. It was June--at least nominally summer--but in London the nights were still chilly, and there was a faint mist hanging over the city. "What is it?" Charlotte sat up in bed and fumbled for a match. He heard it scrape and then saw the flame as it caught the wick of the candle. It lit her face softly, gleaming on the warm, dark color of her hair, which was falling out of its long braid. She looked worried. "They've found a body in Bedford Square," he answered. "It seems as if he was murdered." "Do they really need you for that?" she protested. "Is it somebody important?" Since his promotion Pitt had been asked to concentrate on those cases which were of political significance or threatened scandal. "Maybe not," he replied, closing the window and walking over to where his clothes were hanging across the back of the chair. He took off his nightshirt and began to dress, not bothering with collar or cr...

Product details

• Authors: Anne Perry
• Publisher: Ballantine
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback
• Released: 04.10.2011
• EAN: 9780345523754
• ISBN: 978-0-345-52375-4
• No. of pages: 352
• Dimensions: 130 mm x 202 mm x 18 mm
• Series: Charlotte & Thomas Pitt Novels; Charlotte and Thomas Pitt; Charlotte and Thomas Pitt
• Subject: Fiction > Suspense