The Hyde Park Headsman, Anne Perry

 The Book

    Two young lovers sneak down to the Serpentine in the dawn light for a romantic tryst in the dawn light. But instead of a few stolen moment, they find the decapitated body of Captain Oakley Winthrop, R.N. (Royal Navy). Since Winthrop comes from a distinguished and well connected family, newly promoted Superintendent Thomas Pitt is called in to manage the investigation. It's easily his toughest case to date, and now he has a new set of worries. Having passed up a promotion a few years earlier because he didn't want to be behind a desk, he isn't sure of his ability to command people. Will he let down Micah Drummond, his good friend and previous boss, the man who left his job to Pitt when he retired? For certain, Inspector Tellman, jealous of Pitt's promotion, will forgive no mistakes and make nothing easier for Pitt. He's a natural leader, and if Pitt cannot figure out how to win the man's, perhaps grudging, loyalty, he may not keep his job very long. 

    Meanwhile Charlotte is busy helping them move to a bigger house. And Emily is helping her husband, Jack Radley run for Parliament, so neither Pitt's wife, nor his sister-in-law can help him. Then, body after body shows up. And the police, living with their failure to catch Jack-the-Ripper look incompetent. Pitt is dragged into the middle of Jack's run for MP, and the public is fast loosing patience. Pitt needs to find out, what, if anything a navy captain, a gifted musician, an omnibus driver, and a butler have in common before the madman brings down Pitt and his entire family. 

My Thoughts

    So was interesting rereading this book, because I solved the case, but I wasn't certain if I had done it by deduction or by remembering. In the beginning, I had very little memory of this book, other than I knew Jack Radley had his second run for Parliament and Micah Drummond had left the police force to marry the woman he loved. 

    I knew once the particulars of the case became clear, that Perry was tying up some loose ends. It feels like this may originally been intended to be the last Charlotte and Thomas Pitt book. They move houses, Pitt has a new job, Jack runs for Parliament, Charlotte and Emily's mother remarries (shock of all shocks, an actor many years her younger). Grandmama moves in with Emily. It reminds me of what happens at the end of a long running TV series, where everything changes. And most of the characters end up with some sort of an imaginable happily-ever-after. That's what this book feels like. If that was what had been intended, then it is ironic that within a few short weeks of the publication of this book, Peter Jackson, (yes, that, Peter Jackson) will release a film, which sets journalists on the path to find out what happened to two teenagers who murdered one of their mothers 40 years earlier. What happens next might have ended Perry's career, but it did not. That's what I will be exploring next time on the blog. 

How Much My Library Card Saved Me

    This book entered my library on April 06, 2018 and is part of the Ballantine Books Trade Paperbacks. I don't know what number this book is in the Thomas and Charlotte Pitt series that answers to this pattern. It's the 14th book in the series. We have seen a number of books, originally marked as arriving a month earlier, and then corrected to April. I am now prepared to offer up a theory as to what happened. I know for a fact, that the way my particular library works under this particular set of managers is this, a budget is proposed and passed at the first of the year. The managers are then told to spend sparingly during the first half of the year. As winter turns to spring, and the end of the fiscal year comes into view, the budget is rechecked to see if we are on track. Having more than enough money in reserves, in March the entire set of Ballantine Books Trade Paperbacks was ordered. The copyright on it was 2011, and by counting the books released as listed in the front of the book, I can see that there are paperbacks that go all the way up to that date, but not beyond. Therefore, since Cater Street Hangman, all the way through the entire run, was purchased as a set. Moreover, even thought I wasn't on the board yet, I know there was some turnover in the department. I think this was a final gift of a retiring librarian who loved mystery novels as much as I do to the community they had served for a very long time.

    This book was 392 pages long (ooh, more page creep, I feel a random observation blog deep down somewhere). And cost $16.00. 

This Book                                $16.00

Blogged This Year                $832.10

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