Charlotte and Thomas Pitt's Thrilling Adventure in The Cater Street Hangman: The First Novel

aeb: The beginning and end of this is quite good, if predictable, but the middle is awfully repetitive and the characters-all of them- irritating.

United States on Oct 15, 2023

Theodore: A dangerous book for historians and mystery fans because once you have read this, nothing will stop you. from acquiring the entire set!

United States on Sep 01, 2023

Mrs E Perkins: Liked the setting & observation of them & us attitude.
Also the feisty heroine

United Kingdom on Jul 07, 2023

John K: This first book introduces all the main characters you read about in the next few books in the series. All very readable and the action draws the reader in immediately.
I found after reading the first four that I needed a break from all the upper classes and their privileged small lives.

United Kingdom on Jun 28, 2023

John Hopper: A week or two ago I had barely heard of this author; but when she passed away just recently, I realised I already had a couple of her books. This was the first in an eventual series of over 30 books in a whodunnit series set in late Victorian London. The whodunnit aspect however takes second place to the interactions between the characters, particularly the household of the upper middle class Ellison family, and they with Inspector Thomas Pitt. One of the daughters Charlotte is our principal character and, while I did warm her to as the novel went on, most of the other characters irritated me to a greater or lesser degree. I understand about the "everyone has their place and should know it" Victorian attitude, but I felt it was rammed down my throat ad nauseam, and a bit more plot would have been good in places. The eventual unveiling of the murderer in the last few pages was a little sudden and unlikely. I will probably follow the series at least part of its long way, though am in no rush to do so.

United Kingdom on Apr 28, 2023

Talia: I read this book as it was my book club read for the month. Not my personal choice, but it was an experience.

Solving murders in Victorian England was very different from today’s with its forensic science assistance. When a serial killer is garrotting women in the local area, hoping to catch the killer in their murderous act seems to be the best they can hope for. Hoping the killer will confess after being asked repeatedly seems to be another plan.

The women of this time were supposed to be seen and not heard. Women were expected to behave according to social norms and be fragile, delicate and keep their thoughts to themselves.

Then we are introduced to Charlotte. She is the middle of three daughters and she does not intend to keep quiet but speaks her mind and usually ends up in trouble with her family for doing so. When one of the family’s maids is killed, Inspector Thomas Pitt has the excuse to spend more and more time at the family home, speaking to the family. However it is clear that he is interested in Charlotte, admiring her for her quick thinking and her inability to hide her emotions. It is not long before Charlotte’s sister Emily is aware of...

United Kingdom on Sep 21, 2021

Marie: Having done things backwards and read the later T P books first , finally, I get to read the very first one. Charlotte and Emily...did Anne Perry name them after the Bronte sisters ? There is also an older sister named Sara about whom I cannot say more due to spoiler. I have noticed from other reviews that Charlotte did not appeal to many. For me I like her ,though I do agree with others who felt she was aggressive. I think this was due to boredom. Her intelligence needed feeding and she was not getting the sort of feeding she required. Unfortunately her father stopped her reading the daily newspapers which would have gone a long way in giving her brain the reading matter she yearned for. She had to resort to sneakily reading her brother in laws newspaper, thus developing fonder feelings for him than she should have had. It paled when the real thing came along in the shape of Pitt. What a pity her father had the attitude he had with regards to her interests. He could have had wonderful discussions with her but being the way he was, he never knew what he missed out on. Emily was intent on marrying a man with money, position and the bonus...a title. ! Their mother seemed to have to...

United Kingdom on Sep 08, 2021

SassyPants: I don't know what literary rock I have been hiding under, but Anne Perry's Thomas and Charlotte Pitt series has just come on my radar. Ms. Perry is an extremely prolific writer, producing 32 books in this series to date (written from 1979-2016). In addition, she has written another Victorian mystery series featuring William Monk, and numerous other books and short story collections. To make things even more interesting, Ms. Perry was convicted of participating in the murder of her best friend's mother. They were both sentenced to 5 years in prison. She was 15 years old at the time. The two girls had a rather obsessive relationship and killed the mother to prevent the family from moving away. If this sounds vaguely familiar, the movie Heavenly Creatures was based on the friendship and murder. So, fertile ground for a writer of mysteries.

The Cater Street Hangman is the first in the series of books featuring Thomas Pitt and Charlotte Ellison. It is set in 1881. Young women, both above and below stairs, are being garroted on Cater Street, a wealthy London neighborhood. Charlotte is the middle daughter in the Ellison family and is the most unconventional. Her older sister Sarah...

United States on Jun 19, 2017

Lost Adventuress: Anne Perry’s  The Cater Street Hangman (Charlotte and Thomas Pitt Series Book 1)  is one of the more uncommon murder mysteries that I’ve ever read. I call it a murder mystery because I’m not sure that I can properly call it a detective novel. The protagonist is a feisty young lady who hardly more than accidentally makes discoveries relevant to the case, and the actual police detective does almost nothing on the stage of the novel except question said young lady, who is not, as it happens, the murderer. The detective does not make use of any forensic evidence, nor is he shown interviewing suspects other than the ones in the protagonist Charlotte’s family. The detective, Inspector Thomas Pitt, is eminently likeable and clearly hardworking, but his work seems irrelevant. In the end, the case isn’t really solved—the murderer merely attacks the wrong person at the wrong time and is finally caught. So in this murder mystery, the plot action is carried along purely by circumstances, not by actual deduction. Despite this, Perry does a fine job of keeping the pace taut, a significant feat for this genre.

The one other detrimental factor, an actual flaw in the...

United States on Aug 23, 2016