Buckingham Palace Gardens, Anne Perry

The Book

Thomas and Charlotte Pitt are back again. This time Special Branch is called in to hush up a scandal of royal proportions so that a Cape to Cairo  Pitt is dispatched to investigate the murder of a prostitute in Buckingham Palace. Apparently the Prince of Wales has thrown a wild party with his houseguests while his mother is away. One of the guests is apparently insane, but able to hide it, because a sex worker was found gruesomely murdered. Narraway and Pitt are certain it's a guest because all of the servants can account for their time. 

When a maid quits on the spot afterwards, Narraway and Pitt ask Pitt's maid, Gracie Phipps, to go in undercover and work on the case. Along the way, Gracie makes enemies of the other workers, but she uncovers several important clues. Then, she notices one of the guests seems to be detecting as well, Gracie, knowing this woman knows the other guests better than she, tries to figure out what she knows. Then, the woman is found dead and her husband is blamed for it. Gracie and Pitt are appalled. Gracie, does not back down. She and Pitt go over the clues one by one. Gracie finds out that this woman also knew several of the clues Gracie found. There is a killer on the loose and either the woman's husband is a complete madman or there is a very cold, calculating killer amongst these captains of industry and their wives. 

My Thoughts

I picked up the book, read the back blurb, knowing I had read this book previously, and still, had no idea of the plot. Until we got to the first rounds of alibis and then I remembered who the murderer was and that Gracie was brought into the mix. What I don't understand is why the book is called Buckingham Palace Gardens, when it takes place in Buckingham Palace and the gardens aren't really a part of the plot at all. 

In this series, the books are all named for real streets and places in 1880s and 1890s London. It has taken us from the very swank Belgravia to the very slummy Whitechapel area. Perry has taken her time to research and take us into this time period with both methodical precision and soft, literary evocation. I have learned much from the series, giving me a surprising understanding of the British underpinnings of WWI. (And that is 15 years in the future of this novel!) 

I also believe this is Gracie Phipps' farewell book. I know she is going to marry Inspector Samuel Tellman in the very near future, although I don't know if that happens between this book and the next one or the one after that. I don't remember. Although, we are getting fairly close to the point in the series where I have not yet read. 

The mystery itself is well concocted ad definitely one of Perry's best puzzle mysteries. Astute reading of Agatha Christie and her work should leave a reader well prepared for Perry's diabolical twists, because this book is both the epitome of fair play and great plot twists, if only you assemble your context clues. 

How Much My Library Card Saved Me

I picked up this copy of Buckingham Palace Gardens at This Old Book, Grayslake. It's a fantastic bookstore located in the heart of downtown Grayslake which is 3 streets wide and 4 blocks long. Small town America at it's most quintessential. Love that place! 

This 369 page paperback from 2009 is both well and lightly read. The creases in the spine tell me it was read over and over again, whereas the perfectly kept interior tells me whoever owned this book revered them like they were library books with book marks and clean fingers. Bravo former reader, BRAVO!

I don't remember how much I paid for it, but cover says if purchased new in 2009 it would have been $7.99. That's the number I will use. 

Library Books

This Book                                                        $00.00

Items Reviewed This Year                             $484.82

Private Books

This Book                                                         $7.99

Total of Private Books                                    $52.88

Total of All Items Reviewed This Year         $557.58

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