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| Buckingham Palace Gardens: A Novel (Charlotte & Thomas Pitt Novels) | 
 enlarge | Author: Anne Perry
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Category: Book
List Price: $26.00
Buy Used: $2.65
You Save: $23.35 (90%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  27 reviews
Sales Rank: 7204
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 320
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.19999992371
Dimensions (in): 9.39999961853 x 6.59999990463 x 1.29999995232
ISBN: 0345469313
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.914
EAN: 9780345469311
ASIN: 0345469313
Publication Date: March 25, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: EX-LIBRARY; used item may have library binding and show stamps, stickers or other marks. Items not meeting quality expectations may be returned for refund. Buy with confidence - your satisfaction is guaranteed at B-Logistics!
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Product Description
Anne Perry’s Charlotte and Thomas Pitt mysteries are perhaps the best loved of all her Victorian bestsellers, luring us into the multilayered richness of London, from the great mansions and secluded drawing rooms to the city’s festering slums. Now, in her most mesmerizing novel yet, she invites us to a house-party at Buckingham Palace.
The Prince of Wales has asked four wealthy entrepreneurs and their wives to the palace to discuss a fantastic idea: the construction of a six-thousand-mile railroad that would stretch the full length of Africa. But, alas, the prince’s gathering proves disastrous when the mutilated body of a prostitute hired for a late-night frolic (after the wives have retired to bed) turns up among the queen’s monogrammed sheets in a palace linen closet.
With great haste, Thomas Pitt, brilliant mainstay of Special Services, is summoned to resolve the crisis. The Pitts’ cockney maid, Gracie, is also recruited–to pose as a palace servant and listen in on the guests’ conversations, scan their bedrooms, and scrutinize their troubled faces for clues to hidden rivalries and attachments that could have lead to murder. If Pitt and Gracie fail to find out who brutally murdered the young woman–as seems increasingly likely–Pitt’s career will be over, and the scandal may just cause the monarchy to fall.
With a cast of wonderful characters, among them the gentle Princess of Wales, and a twisting plot that takes us into the hidden world of the royal family, Anne Perry probes deeply the hearts of men and women ensnared by their own emotions. Never has this distinguished novelist told a story with more truth and passion.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 22 more reviews...
 A Thomas Pitt book with a different star April 5, 2008
32 out of 34 found this review helpful
Firstly I would like to say I am a long time fan of Anne Perry - I have followed all of her series and appreciate her accuracy and attention to detail as she takes us into. Two of her series are placed in the Victorian Era.
It is an earlier time with the Monk series, but with Thomas and Charlotte Pitt series, it is the waning days of the Victorian era - After Prince Albert died, Queen Victoria was almost a recluse in her grief and didn't execute her duties as she did.
The Thomas and Charlotte Pitt series has always been charming because it features a working class man, a policeman, Thomas Pitt, who through a murder investigation met a gentry family, and one of their daughters, Charlotte, and they fall in love and marry. She has to adjust to doing her own chores, and he has guilty feelings he is depriving Charlotte with the luxuries she is accustomed to - But they are rich with the love and respect they have with each other. They have 2 children, and have a maid, a whisp of a young woman, Gracie Phipps, who helps them. She literally grows up in the Pitt household.
The charm of this series is Mrs. Perry used all the adult characters to be involved in the mystery and resolution of it. But as Pitt has progressed from policeman to a member of Special Services, that cannot happen as readily. But this outing it is Gracie Phipps' time to shine.
There has been a murder in Buckingham Palace. The Queen is away and the Prince of Wales and his buds are at play, in the guise of meeting to plan a railroad that will run the span of Africa...when the ladies go to bed, they have prostitutes come in to 'entertain' them. Something goes wrong and one of the girls is found in the laundry closet and is naked and gutted - blood all around the sheets - and the Queen's sheets to boot!
With the sensitive nature of the crime, Narraway and Pitt are called in to find what happened and on the QT handle it.
Charlotte, and her sister Emily cannot come on this type of investigation. They used to go in and glean facts and clues for him in social situations, and enlist help from Emily's great aunt in law Aunt Vespasia Cumming Gould - she is a jewel in this series - once was hailed as the most beautiful woman of her time, she is still beautiful in the winter of her life and loves to help them.
But the only person who may be able to help in this Buckingham Palace mystery is Gracie Phipps - she is put undercover as a maid in the palace to see if she can find clues - servants in those days were just about invisible - they could be standing in back of guests dining and the guests treated them as if they weren't there - and the servants could hear a lot of juicy things...
There are brief appearances by our friends, Charlotte, Emily, etc. But thank goodness, Narraway goes to Lady Vespasia for advise about the people involved in the murder investigation. Her part is too short, but much longer than our other friends we are accustomed to seeing in the Pitt books.
The mystery is well layered with twists and turns, and Gracie learns that she is capable of helping Thomas. The difference in class is such a major factor - many of the servants even in the Palace cannot read - and they make a big deal that Gracie can read - and even read Oscar Wilde!
Palace's resolution is handled well, and it is another excellent work by Perry -
Hopefully Perry will give us more of our friends in the next Pitt book.
But Perry continues to write true reflections of the time.
Gracies Shines! March 29, 2008
7 out of 8 found this review helpful
I first became familiar with Anne Perry's two Victorian series about a year and a half ago. I have since read each of the Charlotte and Thomas Pitt novels as well as the Monk series. I received my copy of Buckingham Palace Gardens earlier this week and finished the book within days. For Perry fans, this is Classic Perry. One follows Thomas Pitt as he unravels the mystery within the Palace. What's different with this novel is that it really does primarily take place within the Palace itself during the space of about a week, give or take a few days. I have no idea where the "Gardens" part comes in, as there is no real garden scenes in the book. Would rather have the book titled "Buckingham Palace Prison" to capture how the characters felt. I also want to learn more about Princes Alexandra from the scenes in the book. Gracie SHINES through on this story. She is courageous, she's questioning, she's a detective here. What did I miss in this book? I missed the continued exploration of the relationship between Gracie and Samuel Tellman (Would have LOVED reading what he thought of Gracie at Buckingham Palace! Wished he could have sneaked in to see her disguised as a delivery man or something.), I missed Aunt Vespasia's more meaningful involvement... and of course, the assistance of Charlotte. It is a good story, worth the read, can't wait for the next book!
Kyra
Author, "Martha Ann's Quilt for Queen Victoria"
Perry Does It Again! April 26, 2008
7 out of 9 found this review helpful
"Prolific" certainly describes Anne Perry. The author of current good British suspense and historical intrigue, whether it's Victorian or World War I periods, Perry keeps up her reputation of "good reads" with her latest Thomas Pitt adventure, "Buckingham Palace Gardens."
Inspector Pitt, the irascible and intrepid central figure, is awakened "by his boss, Narraway, very early in the morning. He's got to investigate the murder of a maid. 'Can't one of the more junior policemen go to the scene of the crime,'" grumbles Pitt. 'It's at Buckingham Palace,' says Narraway."
In Perry's very readable way, she narrows the suspects to a group of house guests who've been meeting with the Prince of Wales to persuade him to support the funding of the Cape to Cairo railway project, certainly a hot and timely topic! Naturally enough, there's plenty of court intrigue here, and as always, plenty of socially relevant significance.
Perry gives us a fascinating picture of Palace life and her hero, naturally, belives firmly in the concept of justice; alas, he also witnesses how the privileged few seem to want to "make their own laws and (provide) their own justice," a theme that certainly is not unique to this particular period. Pitt is able to overcome the usual obstacles, as he has done in all of the Pitt stories. Still, Perry's style of writing--and she handles Pitt with care--carries the book, and with such great ease.
Pitt came to literary life in 1979 with the mesmerizing "The Cater Street Hangman" and then proceeded to lead a successful series of some 18 other books. Perry's similar series, timewise, involves William Monk (debuting in 1990 with "The Face of a Stranger"). A "private equiry agent," Monk and his wife Hester hold their own lenghty series and later Perry introduces us to her WWI set, beginning with "No Graves as Yet." All three are excellent reading. Granted, Perry's conclusions rarely contain any major surprises, but that doesn't dilute the reading thrill and interest-grabbing moments she creates. "Buckingham Palace Gardens" is yet another of Perry's accomplishments!
Murder at the palace May 8, 2008
7 out of 9 found this review helpful
The Prince of Wales had invited four wealthy businessmen and their wives to be guests at Buckingham Palace to discuss a scheme to build a railway line right across Africa, a plan which would greatly enhance the future profits of the British Empire. Following an elaborate dinner on the first night of their stay, the ladies retired to their rooms, leaving the men to drink heavily and to be entertained by three prostitutes who had been procured by the self appointed leader of the group, who was anxious to ingratiate himself with the Prince, to earn himself a peerage. When the body of one of the prostitutes is found next morning in a linen closet with her throat slashed and virtually disembowled, Special Service's Thomas Pitt is called in to investigate this gruesome murder. The household staff wants the murder solved before the return of the Queen from Balmoral, a few days hence, and so Pitt places his own housemaid, Gracie in among the palace staff to hear any gossip from that quarter. All of the visiting guests have reasons to lay blame on the other which makes for an interesting case. I found that the book dragged its feet a bit in the final pages while still coming to a satisfying conclusion.
superb Victorian mystery March 28, 2008
6 out of 22 found this review helpful
In 1893, the Prince of Wales invites four affluent businessmen and their wives to Buckingham Palace to discuss a proposal to construct a Pan Africa rail line. After the ladies turn in for the night the Prince offers special entertainment to the male quartet. The next morning a servant finds a mutilated corpse in a closet. The deceased was part of the previous night's entertainment.
Special Services Branch agent Thomas Pitt is assigned to solve the murder without bringing unneeded attention to the Royals. He is accompanied by his wife Charlotte and their maid Gracie Phipps, who goes undercover as part of the staff. With the help of the two females, Thomas eliminates the entire huge staff as suspects. Instead he focuses on the prince himself and his eight guests although the sleuth fears if it turns out to be the heir or if he fails to solve the case, the monarchy could be in trouble.
This is a superb Victorian mystery as Anne Perry brings alive the era through the investigation inside Buckingham and the increasing question of why a monarchy in the modern age. The story line is fast-paced as Thomas understands fully what failure could mean while the two women working for him add depth to the whodunit. Fans of the series will fully appreciate the latest tale even of knowledge of history ironically eliminates one of the nine suspects.
Harriet Klausner
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