books

Anne Perry

Books: Mystery | Historical | Fantasy

Thomas and Charlotte Pritt

The Cater Street Hangman (1979), Callander Square (1980), Paragon Walk (1981), Bluegate Fields (1984), Death in the Devil's Acre (1985), Cardington Crescent (1987), Silence in Hanover Close (1988), Bethlehem Road (1990), Highgate Rise (1991), Belgrave Square (1992), Farriers' Lane (1993), Traitors Gate (1995), Pentecost Alley (1996), The Hyde Park Headsman (1997), Ashworth Hall (1997), Brunswick Gardens (1998), Half Moon Street (2000)

William Monk

The Face of a Stranger (1990), A Dangerous Mourning (1991), Defend and Betray (1992), A Sudden Fearful Death (1993), The Sins of the Wolf (1994), Cain His Brother (1995), Weighed In Balance (1996), The Silent Cry (1997), A Breach of Promise (1998) The Twisted Root (1998), Slaves of Obsession

Tathea (1999)

Anthologies

Powers of Detection (2004), The Best Paranormal Crime Stories Ever Told (2010), The Mammoth Book of Historical Crime Fiction (2011)

I'm a sucker for Victorian mysteries! My favorites are the William Monk novels. My grandmother prefers the Thomas and Charlotte Pritt mysteries. The Twisted Root I enjoyed much more than A Breach of Promise by not as much as the books earlier in the series.

Tathea (1999)

I have to say I was very disappointed with Anne Perry's Tathea. My grandmother and I quite like her mysteries, so I was curious as to what her fantasy writing would be like. I had picked up the book in large paperback, because I saw it before a trip to Baltimore, and I thought my grandmother might enjoy it, so I bought it and left it with her. Got it back this winter, but did not have a chance to read it until recently.

It wasn't dreadful. But it was great either. The plot mostly held together, but I did get lost a couple of times, and she took a twist about a third of the way into the book that struck me mostly as strange rather than intriguing.

But what irritated me the most were the heavy religious overtones. Now don't get me wrong, I like books on religion, and I like fantasy books where religion is a theme, but the religion of this book just grated on my nerves. Perhaps it was because it seemed to be thinly disguised Christianity--but I'm not sure I can put my finger on it. After all, there should have been a lot to recommend it: it extolled the evils as well as the virtues of religion, and the primary prophet of the religion was a woman.

But I just couldn't get into it. I could barely sympathize with the characters. It wasn't badly written, it wasn't a bad idea. I just couldn't make myself care about what happened to the characters

Rating: 4/10

Anthologies

Powers of Detection (2004) edited by Dana Stabenow

I like fantasies. I like mysteries. So… “Stories of Mystery and Fantasy” sounds like a good thing. Plus Charlaine Harris has a Sookie Stackhouse short story, and that had to be a good thing.

Well, it was an okay thing.

The Best Paranormal Crime Stories Ever Told (2010) edited by Martin H. Greenberg & John Helfers

I wouldn’t say the best necessarily, but it’s not a bad selection of stories. And the fact that I got to read it for free probably helped.

The Mammoth Book of Historical Crime Fiction (2011) edited by Mike Ashley

Brodie and the Regrettable Incident by Anne Perry was… okay. I think that’s all I really have to say about it.

It was an enjoyable anthology, reminding me of several authors I need to read, as well as re-read.

Published by Robinson

Rating: 8/10