Charlotte and Thomas Pitt (1) - The Cater Street Hangman by Anne Perry
I usually don't read detective stories or crime thrillers, but this is a historical detective story so it doesn't count. Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce the first Charlotte and Thomas Pitt by Anne Perry - The Cater Street Hangman (in German Der Mörder von der Cater Street, in French not published yet). I read it in the original language where it contained 284 pages. Originally published in 1979. Age 15 (girls and boys).
London, the second half of the 19th century: Charlotte Ellison and her two sisters live together with their parents, their grandmother and the eldest sister's husband in one house and have to care for nothing except Aunt Susannah's coming for tea, fashion and doing some charity work from time to time. The only really tricky thing for Charlotte is to keep her crush on her sister's husband a secret. Until girls around the Cater Street are garotted, one of them the Ellison's maid. A mysterious Inspector Pitt starts the investigations - who seems to have an interest in Charlotte... She is forced to help Pitt where she can and to question her life, her family and society itself. Secrets are revealed that better stayed hidden and the household of the Ellison's and of every other family on the Cater Street slowly break apart.
What I appreciate most in this book is how the Victorian society itself is presented, with Inspector Pitt and the poor on the one hand, Emily Ellison and her Lord Ashworth on the other and Charlotte somewhere in between. The moral standards and all the details work together and form a network which shows how it was back than and how the people thought. Additionally the story itself is thrilling and the characters all different and very realistic.
Especially the girls are very diverse: Sarah as the beauty and jealous wife, Charlotte as the blunt, loving and loyal, Emily as the schemer and ambitious, but still a lovely girl.
I'm actually sorry for Charlotte. Whenever she wants to know something, she isn't allowed to! Good thing she has Dominic (who is dumb as a loaf of bread) and Caroline for help. I like it how she takes on the responsibility for first her maid, than her friends and their family and then hers. She's really couragous. And once she knows what she wants, there's no stopping her. Pitt is good for her, he's funny and intelligent and nice, an equal for her. I like it how she visits his bureau.
Emily is extra-ordinarily funny. And her plotting for Charles is so awesome! Good God, that girl is as determined as Charlotte – probably even more. She shouldn't have told Sarah, but apart from that, she still has a moral compass. And her commentaries!
Sarah is... well, cruel. At least sometimes. And stupid, unfeeling and self-centred. If you read about her, you couldn't believe she and the sensible other two girls are sisters. She and Dominic don't fit.
The parents are nicely described as well, I like especially the perspective of Edward in this. How he learns to appreciate Charlotte over the book.
And I'm so, so sorry for Caroline! As well as the vicar's wife. I do not envy her.
The Grandmother is... my, she's a pain in the ass. But she's nicely described.
I give this book a star for the whole investigation, for the characters, the style, the ideas and the historical background.