Rutland Place by Anne Perry

 The Book

    Rutland Place is the new address of Caroline and Edward Ellison, Charlotte's parents. Caroline invites Charlotte over now that Charlotte has a maid to watch Jemima. In strictest confidence, Caroline tells Charlotte she believes a piece of jewelry has been stolen by one of her new friends. She asks Charlotte for help, and Charlotte gives her mom advice, but fears it doesn't sink in because Caroline is so upset. While taking tea, a beautiful neighbor Mina drops by. Mina insinuates she knows many secrets, and Charlotte finds her a bit disagreeable. She makes a few more with her mother, to meet the neighbors, and then goes home, worried about hos upset her mother is. 

    A few days later, Pitt is called in to investigate the untimely death of Mina, a death that is definitely not by natural causes. While Pitt tries to determine if Mina committed suicide, Charlotte tries to help her mother find the missing jewelry. The investigations grind to halt, with very little being accomplished except Charlotte has determined her mother is infatuated with Paul Aleric, one of Emily's neighbors. Eventually Charlotte convinces Emily to help her, but all they really accomplish is convincing their father to be more attentive to their mother. 

    Eventually, when a second, tragic accident and then later a death of a young man in Rutland Place also occurs, Pitt is made aware of who might have killed Mina, and why. The question is, will he be able to prove it. 

My Thoughts

    Once again, on page 48 we have an aside in close third person from Anne Perry. She must be drawing on her own past here when she writes; "Murder was a double tragedy--not only for the victim and those who cared for her, but for the murderer also, and whoever loved of needed or pitied the tormented soul." Certainly, it is a strange thing for Pitt to contemplate. 

    I found this book to be the strangest of all of her books so far. First of all, after reading them so closely together, I am struck that so many books have elapsed between the introduction of Caroline Ellison and her next appearance. Really, where has she been, if only in letters to Charlotte for the past few books as Charlotte was pregnant and then a new mother to little Jemima? Perry herself never was a mother, and I can only think this oversight shows that reality. 

    Next up, although we are returning to the puzzle mystery genre here, Perry is not as good as Agatha Christie at planting clues. The characters in this book seem ill formed, with the exception of our series regulars, and I found the insertion of Paul Aleric from the Paragon Walk novel to be bizarre. There was almost no explanation given to his appearance, and like in Paragon Walk he shows up at the last moment to give some crucial information after having lurked in the background all book. I don't personally find him compelling. This is not her best work, although it is an enjoyable read. 

How Much My Library Card Saved Me

This book is the ninth printing done in 1990. There are no markings to tell me when this book entered into circulation, but it does have one of the checkout card holders glued into the front, so the scanning system was put into the library after this book was purchased. That makes sense. As usual, the spine of this paperback was reniforced, and despite gentle reading, this book is coming very near to the end of it's natrual life. The glue in the spine has worn out, so the pages are gradually separating from the spine. I've had this happen to other paperback books I own from a similar time period. This copy could be ready several more times, but I expect it will be pulled before too much longer. The spine says this book cost $5.99, ah I remember these days, when I had enough money to purchase a book a week. The US Treasury Department's Inflation Calculator says that in dollar for dollar comparison, this book would cost $13.94. Since the book spine is the measure we have been using to date, I will keep with that convention. 

This Book                             $5.99

This Summer                    $167.07