Belgrave Square, by Anne Perry

The Book

    Inspector Thomas Pitt is called into Superintendent Micah Drummond's office, there's been a murder and Pitt is going to be in charge of solving it. Despite it being outside of their jurisdiction. A usurer, William Weems, has been murdered by some sort of gunshot, at close range in the middle of the night. What's worse, he is also a blackmailer, one of his blackmail victims is Drummond's long time friend and fellow member of a secret society dedicated to doing good works called The Inner Circle. The friend, Lord Byam, confesses he was being blackmailed because he had accidentally encouraged a close friend's wife's infatuation with him. The friend, Lord Antiss, had forgiven him, but Lady Antiss, so the story goes, had been so furious with Byam's rejection of her that she had thrown herself off of the balcony at the the Anitss country estate and died from the fall. Although Antiss and Byam know it to be a suicide, the locals rule it an accident, possibly due to intoxication, to preserve the family reputation. Nonetheless, a letter purportedly from Lady Antiss to Lord Byam has made it's way to Weems, and he wants 20 pounds per month to keep quiet. Byam agrees, but now, Weems is dead and Byam was alone in his study during the relevant time window and cannot account for his time. He says he didn't kill Weems, and Pitt believes him. 

    So Pitt takes over the case, and is given help by the local constable, Innes. Together the two of them question witness and track down Weems' usury clients. But Pitt is disturbed by a second list, one that doesn't seem likely to be usury clients. All of them are men in different types of professions, a police officer, a low level judge, and several others. Some of them are marked as paid up, some as still owing money. Pitt takes the second list, as it's more delicate, and they begin the slow, depressing work of trying to figure out who killed this man who had enemies everywhere. 

    Meanwhile, Charlotte Pitt's new brother-in-law, Jack Radley, has decided he will run for Parliament. Charlotte's sister Emily, the former Lady Ashworth, pulls out all of her social connections to get him in the door. But Emily is now in the early stages of pregnancy, and is too sick some days to play party hostess. She asks Charlotte to step in. Charlotte, agrees, knowing how much it means to the possible reforms she wants to see pushed through. 

    When Pitt becomes stumped, and has few investigative leads, Charlotte agrees to listen at Emily's parties for any clue that will help Pitt with his work. 

    While Charlotte and Pitt are busy, Drummond finds he likes Lady Byam more than he should. And when she confides in him, that she thinks something awful has happened to husband, Drummond betrays his feelings to her. She kindly regards them gently, and within the bounds of what she may, causing as little embarrassment as she can. 

    All of that will come to head, as the plot thickens, and Lord Byam, despite his innocence at Weems' death, cannot stop being in the middle of the murder. 

My Thoughts

    Anne Perry has finally become comfortable and artistic in how she tells her stories. This is a puzzle mystery. And although I didn't remember the plot twist, there were several clues that an extremely astute reader should put together to come to the correct conclusion. The rules for the reader are the same as they are for the detective. 1) Nothing is the truth, until you can see if verified. 2) Make sure your deductions are sound, what the world seems, and what the world is, may be two completely different things. 3) Perry's personal rule, every action in the murder investigation will be met with a reaction. The crime is the beginning of complications, not the end. 

    Once you figure out who has the most to loose by the blackmail getting out, the solution is simple. Even this day in age, it should not come a surprise. And like many a Victorian murder before hand, this murder would not have happened today. Our society is no longer this judgmental. 

How Much My Library Card Saved Me

    This is not owned by my library. It was shipped via the consortium to my library from the one the next village over, called Grayslake. I would call this book in the middle of it's life. It is neither lightly ready, nor heavily read. It's in pretty good shape, but is beginning to show a little bit of wear and tear. At 361 pages long, this is the longest of the Charlotte and Thomas Pitt novels I remember reading to date, although I admit, I have not been keeping track. This is a Ballentine Books edition, circa 2011 at the earliest, but I suspect a touch later. There is a card pocket on the inside. Grayslake does not mark their books with the date it enters circulation as mine does. So I have no real idea how old the book is. The cover says it cost $15.00

This Book                                             $15.00

This Summer                                     $558.85

Still Here? 

    Do me a huge favor and subscribe to the blog. To get it in your inbox, subscribe here. Thanks, it means the world to me!