Book: The Whitechapel Conspiracy By Anne Perry

[Krishna]

** Original post on March 23 **

For Anne Perry, this is an unusual topic to take. Usually, she writes like an Agatha Christie updated for modern times. As usual, she has set this one in Victorian England, and she has more than usual references to the political and historical happenings of the day.

This novel features Thomas Pitt and Charlotte Pitt. They are married now with two children, and Tellman and Gracie know each other very well. (Tellman is his assitant, who did NOT get along with him in earlier times in other novels.) They look like they are heading for marriage too. As I said before in an earlier review, Anne Perry sprinkles her mysteries with the personal lives and emotions of the detectives, which is nice.

Thomas Pitt’s evidence convicts John Adinett, in spite of otherwise lack of evidence on the charge of his murdering Martin Fetters. There seems to be no motive as Adinette and Fetters were the best of friends and held almost identical views and interests, but despite the lack of motives, the circumstantial evidence was strong enough for Judge Voisley to pronounce the death sentence on Adinette. It seems to be more complex than it actually is, when powerful forces are arraigned against Thomas Pitt, who is summarily ordered transferred to Bow Street, which is one of the worst and most unhygenic areas to assign a person to.

Charlotte is devastated, as Thomas has to leave the family and live there, maybe  forever. She sets out to find the motive for the murder (and thus the cause of her husband’s banishment) and slowly uncovers a fearsome conspiracy that attempts to change the fundamental way the British government is organized, leading to possible anarchy and chaos, in the name of eliminating injustice and order. A very powerful group of invisible patrons called the Inner Circle is determined to have its way and has punished Pitt with the transfer. Its reach seems to pervade even the police department that Pitt works for.

In the meanwhile Pitt is involved in uncovering a seemingly unrelated conspiracy to murder the sugar factory owner and make it seem like suicide.

Anne ties all these into a neat little knot, and also, unusually for
her, links it to a set of serial murders that rocked England at that
time.

It is classic Anne, except that there is no real great surprise at the end a la Agatha Christie. The ending is good, though, just different.

I would give it a 6/10.

— Krishna