It is Spring, 1892 and Queen Victoria persists in her life of self-absorbed seclusion.  The grisly killings of Whitechapel prostitutes by Jack the Ripper remain a frightening enigma.  In a packed Old Bailey courtroom, distinguished old soldier John Adinett is sentenced to hang for the inexplicable murder of his friend Martin Fetters.  It should be a time for Pitt to rejoice and bask in the praise of his superiors, but through the machinations of the Inner Circle he is sacked from Bow Street and transferred to Special Branch.  Far from his family and home he is now in the squalid and dangerous slums of London’s East End, but Gracie, the maid, is there to help him...

Charles Voisey, of the Inner Circle, plans to run for Parliament against the Liberal candidate, Aubrey Serracold, whose wife attends séances in Southampton Row.  But when the stylish clairvoyant is found brutally murdered the scandal could damage Serracold’s reputation and allow Voisey the chance to sweep to power and corrupt Parliament from within.  Emily, wife of an MP, steps in to help Pitt with his investigations, as Charlotte and the children are away on holiday at the coast, but are they free from danger...?

Pitt, now the mainstay of Her Majesty’s Special Branch, is summoned to Connaught Square mansion where the body of a junior diplomat lies huddled in a wheelbarrow.  Nearby stands the tenant of the house, the beautiful and notorious Egyptian woman, Ayesha Zakhari, who falls under the shadow of suspicion.  Pitt’s orders are to protect – at all costs – the good name of the third person in the garden, senior cabinet minister, Saville Ryerson.  Pitt’s journey takes him to Alexandria and back to London, to the slums of Seven Dials, and to a packed court room where shocking secrets are revealed...

Early one morning Pitt is summoned to Long Spoon Lane where anarchists are plotting to attack.  Bombs explode, destroying the homes of many poor people.  He finds there is more to the terrorism than the destructive gestures of misguided idealists.  The police are running a lucrative protection racket and clues suggest that Inspector Wetron of Bow Street is the mastermind.  He is the shadowy leader of the Inner Circle and is using his influence with the Press to whip up fears of more attacks.  Pitt must team up with his old enemy, Sir Charles Voisey, and with Charlotte and Great Aunt Vespasia, they must stop a conspiracy that will strike at the very heart of the British way of life...

The Prince of Wales has invited four wealthy entrepreneurs and their wives to the palace to discuss an ambitious and lucrative project, the construction of a six-thousand mile railroad that would stretch the length of Africa.  The Prince’s gathering proves disastrous when the mutilated body of a prostitute, hired for a late night frolic, turns up amongst the Queen’s monogrammed bed linen in a cupboard!  Pitt is hastily summoned to resolve this crisis.  Gracie is recruited as a Palace servant, to pick up the gossip behind the scenes.  Together they must solve this murder, to save Pitt’s career and to prevent a scandal that could severely damage the Royal family...

* No. 20. New York Times Best Sellers list*

Another fantastic Pitt novel from the master storyteller of the Victorian mystery.

1895 and an increasingly violent tide of political unrest is rising fast all over Europe. Special Branch’s Inspector Thomas Pitt knows that they must find those responsible before England is overrun by reformists intent on overthrowing the government. When he finds himself in pursuit of a suspected terrorist, Pitt has no hesitation in following the chase all the way to France.

But events take a sinister turn when Narraway, Pitt’s superior, is accused of involvement in the death of an Irish informant and abruptly removed from office. Aware that her husband’s own career is also in jeopardy if he is not reinstated, Pitt’s wife Charlotte determines to help Narraway clear his name.

As Charlotte and Narraway depart for Ireland and Pitt is drawn deeper into the investigation in France, it becomes clear that outside forces have conspired to separate them at a crucial time in the country’s history. With no one else to trust can they make it back to England and stop the revolt before it’s too late?

ANNE PERRY TALKS ABOUT HER LATEST PITT NOVEL "BETRAYAL AT LISSON GROVE" from ariodante on Vimeo.