Rating: 
Summary: Great combination of mystery and social history, very fun.
Review: Perry does a great job illustrating the foibles and inconsistencies in the Victorian culture (particularly with women) while moving a suspenseful mystery along. The charcters were real and interesting! I can hardly wait to read more from this author.
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic introduction to Victorian mystery series
Review: Perry sets the mood in this novel with extrodinary detail that keeps you guessing with every page. She develops the characters wonderfully and makes you see yourself in Charlotte or Inspector Pitt. I enjoyed the mystery but I also enjoyed the love story between Inspector Pitt and Charlotte Ellison. Warning, if you read this book you will be addicted to the Charlotte and Thomas Pitt novels. Read this captivating story of mystery, trajedy and love in the hardships of the Victorian social system.
Rating:
Summary: Perry blasts off a tremendous series
Review: Perry sets the mood in this novel with extrodinary detail that keeps you guessing with every page. She develops the characters wonderfully and makes you see yourself in Charlotte or Inspector Pitt. I enjoyed the mystery but I also enjoyed the love story between Inspector Pitt and Charlotte Ellison. Warning, if you read this book you will be addicted to the Charlotte and Thomas Pitt novels. Read this captivating story of mystery, trajedy and love in the hardships of the Victorian social system.
Rating:
Summary: An Intriguing Start to a Brilliant Series
Review: Read the Carter Street Hangman and you will find yourself quickly lost in the world of Victorian London. Full of mystery, high society, and murder, this book is intriguing to say the least.
This book is the first book in the popular Charlotte and Thomas Pitt mystery series and will have you running to the bookstore to get the second installement(if not the whole series, like me!) The Carter Street Hangman is a fabulous start to a wonderful collection of crime mysteries.What I found so refreshing about this book was that fact that it was so calm, so sophisticated. Because of it's Victorian setting there were no gunshots, no foul language or explicit sex scenes. Even though the characters were watching their servants, neighbors and family members die at the hands of a madman, they remain composed and somewhat calm. The high society Ellison family faces these deaths with a sense of purpose as well as dignity. The romance between Charlotte Ellison and police officer, Thomas Pitt begins to take place in this book, and by the end pages a true partnership is made. The sweet love affair between these two characters lends an enchanting twist to the story. Historical fiction and mystery lovers, you will find the perfect mix of both genres in this book. Read it and see for yourself.
Rating:
Summary: An Intriguing Start to a Brilliant Series
Review: Read the Carter Street Hangman and you will find yourself quickly lost in the world of Victorian London. Full of mystery, high society, and murder, this book is intriguing to say the least.
This book is the first book in the popular Charlotte and Thomas Pitt mystery series and will have you running to the bookstore to get the second installement(if not the whole series, like me!) The Carter Street Hangman is a fabulous start to a wonderful collection of crime mysteries. What I found so refreshing about this book was that fact that it was so calm, so sophisticated. Because of it's Victorian setting there were no gunshots, no foul language or explicit sex scenes. Even though the characters were watching their servants, neighbors and family members die at the hands of a madman, they remain composed and somewhat calm. The high society Ellison family faces these deaths with a sense of purpose as well as dignity. The romance between Charlotte Ellison and police officer, Thomas Pitt begins to take place in this book, and by the end pages a true partnership is made. The sweet love affair between these two characters lends an enchanting twist to the story. Historical fiction and mystery lovers, you will find the perfect mix of both genres in this book. Read it and see for yourself.
Rating:
Summary: AN EXCITING READ FOR A FIRST TIME NOVELIST
Review: This is a wonderful period novel that will instantly draw you into another world of excitement and danger. It is certainly a pager turner until the very end. The best part is that there are lots more in the series to read. It is so realistic that you find yourself becoming part of the character's lives...feeling their hopes and dreams, as well as thier sorrows. I would highly recommend Anne Perry's books to anyone who enjoys a good mystery with a different flair.
Rating:
Summary: Murder in Victorian London
Review: This is the debut of Anne Perry's sleuthing couple, Thomas and Charlotte Pitt. The mystery is well plotted and scary! The book is peopled by characters so real that you feel like you are in Charlotte's home, preparing to go out to make calls. Reading this will be a pleasure, because you can immediately go out and read the next one, and see your new friends again
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic introduction to Victorian mystery series
Review: This novel is the first featuring Thomas Pitt and Charlotte (Ellison) Pitt, and set in Victorian London. In some ways, the novel is a standard mystery, with the victims, suspects, police and other interested parties all involved, sometimes to the detriment of the investigation! What makes this novel stand above other contemporary novels set in the Victorian era is the author's obvious knowledge of that era and her attention to detail which makes the reader feel as if s/he has truly glimpsed what it must have been like to live at that time. I also thought that it was critical to spend a significant portion of the novel on the class system in Britain (London society in particular) during the late 1800s. This is more than mere background--it is crucial because the class system determines how the characters act and react to the murders around them, to the investigation, and to eachother. I also liked the romance which developed between Charlotte Ellison and Thomas Pitt, and found it entirely believable. Anne Perry pulls it off, despite Charlotte and Thomas being from different classes, because she had the foresight to make Charlotte something of a social misfit. She was honest. She said precisely what was on her mind without considering what the listener wanted to hear. She did not accept the double standard of behavior that her family, friends, and neighbors subscribed to (one set of rules for men, another more strigent set of rules for women). She read the newspapers and "unfeminine" books on topics such as military history to the shock and horror of her family and friends. All of these things made her, as her mother put it, "a liability on the marriage market". She would not attract a suitor of her own class (nor of the aristocracy nor gentry). The only option (not spoken of in the novel) is for her to marry down socially, but she also gains far more emotionally from her relationship with Thomas. She has found someone she can love and respect, and who loves and respects her in return. Thomas is also something of a social misfit as well. Anne Perry accomplishes this by making him a member of the servant class by birth, but because he was educated side by side with the Lord of the manor's son, he, too, does not quite "fit" neatly into one class or another. A good example of Thomas being not quite in the class that people expect is how his voice and appearance are described. In the Victorian era, as well as now, voice (and diction) are a good indication of class. Thomas, because of his education, did not sound like a servant or a tradesman (which is how policemen were ranked socially). The development of their relationship was also well done. There is no rush to sexual relations. The dislike that Charlotte and Thomas initially feel for eachother changes to respect, admiration, and finally each acknowledges their love for eachother. It was nice to see how Charlotte came to change her feelings about Thomas. The main characters actually get to know eachother beforehand! The ending was also a bit of a surprise--the murderer was not the obvious suspect, and the reason for the murders was unexpected. This novel was enjoyable all around. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: A Classy Debut
Review: Thomas Pitt, Inspector for the London police during the Victorian era, and Charlotte Ellison, the sassy young lady of society, meet and eventually fall in love in the first of this wonderful series of mysteries. Not only the Pitts, but also Charlotte's family, are marvelously drawn characters who, like those in Sue Grafton's books, grown and change with each new installment. Central to most of the books in this series, too, is the spotlighting of social ills of the time (some of which we still struggle with today, alas), and what those who care are trying to do about them, often at the risk of losing their social position were they to be found out. Exciting, amazing reading--as well put-together as a Swiss watch
Rating:
Summary: What a great beginning to a series
Review: Though Victorian times are a bit stuffy if you can get past that you will have a GREAT read. Kept me on the edge all the way to the SURPRISE ending. WOW! Can't wait to read more.
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