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Summary
Summary
Half Moon Street
Author Notes
Anne Perry was born Juliet Hume on October 28, 1938 in Blackheath, London.
Sent to Christchurch, New Zealand to recover from a childhood case of severe pneumonia, she became very close friends with another girl, Pauline Parker. When Perry's family abandoned her, she had only Parker to turn to, and when the Parkers planned to move from New Zealand, Parker asked that Perry be allowed to join them. When Parker's mother disagreed, Perry and Parker bludgeoned her to death. Perry eventually served five and a half years in an adult prison for the crime.
Once she was freed, she changed her name and moved to America, where she eventually became a writer. Her first Victorian novel, The Cater Street Hangman, was published in 1979. Although the truth of her past came out when the case of Mrs. Parker's murder was made into a movie (Heavenly Creatures), Perry is still a popular author and continues to write. She has written over 50 books and short story collections including the Thomas Pitt series, the William Monk series, and the Daniel Pitt series. Her story, Heroes, won the 2001 Edgar Award for Best Short Story. Her title's Blind Justice and The Angel Court Affair made The New York Times Best Seller List.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Prolific mystery author Perry (Bedford Square) explores the changing mores and social constraints of turn-of-the-century Victorian England in her latest novel featuring London police superintendent Thomas Pitt. Testament to his extensive stage (Amadeus), television and film credits, reader McCallum goes beyond mere narration to bare the depths of emotion represented by each of Perry's well-developed characters. Thus, he brings to life Pitt's diligent investigation into the murder of a young local photographer whose grotesquely posed corpse has been found floating in an abandoned boat on the Thames. With an array of dialects and perfectly timed inflections, McCallum leads the listener into the world of theater, underground pornography and the blossoming struggle for women's rightsDall areas with which Pitt comes in contactDand captures the ambience of an emerging bohemian society (represented by the beautiful and thought-provoking stage actress, Cecily Antrim) as well as the staid sensibilities of the older generation. Based on the Ballantine hardcover (Forecasts, Mar. 6). (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Booklist Review
Perry's Thomas and Charlotte Pitt series, set in late Victorian England, has set a standard for historical mysteries by using the past for more than ambience. Victorian mores drive the plots in these novels, setting context for the crimes and providing the psychological underpinnings for the characters' motivations. That is especially true here, as Perry sinks Inspector Pitt knee-deep in the morally suspect world of the theater and the completely subterranean culture of pornography. It begins with the discovery of a corpse floating in a punt on the Thames--not just any corpse but that of a man dressed like a woman, chained to the boat, and positioned in such a way as to suggest sexual ecstasy. With Pitt's wife, Charlotte, vacationing in Paris, the inspector finds himself relying on the amateur sleuthing of his mother-in-law, Caroline, who is married to an actor. The trail takes Pitt first to the theater, where avant-garde artists are daring to question the moral strictures of the era, and eventually to the demimonde itself--Half Moon Street, where photography galleries do a booming backroom business in pornographic images, one of which has provided the inspiration for the killer's costuming of the victim, himself a renowned photographer. If the final unmasking of the killer seems a bit staged, and if the dialogue occasionally rings false (especially in canned speeches about the value of artistic freedom), Perry does a superb job of capturing the disorienting effects of a changing culture on the fragile psyche of the individual. Cameos from Oscar Wilde and W. B. Yeats add to the sense of artistic turmoil set against middle-class timidity. Historical mystery fans will stand in line for this one. --Bill Ott
Kirkus Review
be better served by starting earlier on. (Author tour)
Library Journal Review
On the morning tide, a flat-bottomed boat drifts to the edge of the Thames. A body wearing a green velvet gown and strewn with artificial flowers rests within, chained in a ghastly parody of Ophelia. When the corpse turns out to be a young man, Superintendent Thomas Pitt of the Bow Street Station has to find out if the body is that of a missing French diplomat. Pitt's investigations take him into the shadowy world of some rather specialized photography. In the course of the search, some truly horrible family secrets are revealed, which in true Perry fashion seem more shocking for being disclosed in the context of the Victorian, mannered society. As in productions of several other Perry novels, accomplished actor David McCallum does a wonderful job with voices; each character is distinct and easily identifiable. For all public library collections.DBarbara Valle, El Paso P.L., TX (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Excerpts
Excerpts
Pitt turned back to the body and started to look more carefully at the extraordinary clothes the man was wearing. The green dress was torn in several places. It was impossible to tell if it had happened recently or not. The silk velvet of the bodice was ripped across the shoulders and down the seams of the arms. The flimsy skirt was torn up the front. There were several garlands of artificial flowers strewn around. One of them sat askew across his chest. Pitt looked at the manacle on the man's right wrist, and moved it slightly. There was no bruising or grazing on the skin. He examined the other wrist, and then both ankles. They also were unmarked. "Did they kill him first?" he asked. "Either that, or he put them on willingly," the surgeon replied. "If you want my opinion, I don't know. If a guess will do, I'd say after death." "And the clothes?" "No idea. But if he put them on himself, he was pretty rough about it." "How long do you think he's been dead?" Pitt had little hope of a definite answer. He was not disappointed. "No idea beyond what you can probably deduce for yourself. Some time last night, from the rigor. Can't have been floating around the river for long like this. Even a bargee would notice this a little odd." He was right. Pitt had concluded it would have to have been after dark. There had been no mist on the river yesterday evening, and on a fine day, even up to dusk, there would be people out in pleasure boats, or strolling along the embankment. "Any signs of struggle?" he asked. "Nothing I can see so far." The surgeon straightened up and made his way back to the steps. Nothing on his hands, but I dare say you saw that. Sorry, Pitt. I'll look at him more closely, of course, but so far you've got an ugly situation which I am only going to make even uglier, I imagine. Good day to you." And without waiting for a reply, he climbed up the steps to the top of the Embankment where already a small crowd had gathered, peering curiously over the edge. Tellman looked at the punt, his face puckered with incomprehension and contempt. He pulled his jacket a little tighter around himself. "French, is he?" he said darkly, his tone suggesting that that explained everything. "Possibly, " Pitt answered. "Poor devil. But whoever did this to him could be as English as you are." Tellman's head came up sharply and he glared at Pitt. Pitt smiled back at him innocently. Tellman's mouth tightened and the turned and looked up the river at the light flashing silver on the wide stretches clear of mist and the dark shadows of barges materializing from beyond. It was going to be a beautiful day. "I'd better find the river police, " Tellman said grimly. "See how far he would have drifted since he was put in." "Don't know when that was," Pitt replied. "There's very little blood here. Wound like that to the head must have bled quite a lot. Unless there was some kind of blanket or sail here which was removed after, or he was killed somewhere else, and then put here." "Dressed like that?" Tellman said incredulously. "Some kind of a party, Chelsea sort of way? Some--thing--went too far, and they had to get rid of him? Heaven help us, this is going to be ugly!" "Yes sir, " Tellman said with alacrity. That was something he was willing to do, and a great deal better than waiting around for anyone from the French Embassy. "I'll find out everything I can." And with an air of busyness he set off, taking the steps two at a time, at considerable risk, given the slipperiness of the wet stone. Pitt returned his attention to the punt and its cargo. He examined the boat itself more closely. It was lying low in the water and he had not until then wondered why. Now he realized on handling and touching the wood that it was old and many of the outer boards were rotted and waterlogged. It had foundered against the stairs rather than simply caught against them. It was obviously not a pleasure boat which anyone currently used on the river. It must have lain idle somewhere for a considerable time. Pitt looked again at the body with its manacled wrists and chained ankles, its grotesque position. An overriding passion had driven his murderer, a love, or hate, a terror or need, had made this disposition of the corpse as much part of his crime as the killing itself. It must have been a tremendous risk to wait long enough to take off whatever clothes the dead man was wearing, dress him in this torn silk and velvet gown and chain him onto the punt in this obscene position, then set the boat adrift out in the water, getting himself wet in the process. Why had anyone bothered? The answer to that might be the answer to everything. From the Paperback edition. Excerpted from Half Moon Street by Anne Perry All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
