Anne Perry, página 6 de 20

La autora recrea como nadie el ambiente de corrupción e hipocresía de la Inglaterra de finales del siglo XIX

Deep in London''s dangerous slums, Victorians transacted their most secret and shameful business. For a price, a man could procure whatever he wanted, but it happened now and then that the price he paid was his life. Now, in sunless Water Lane, respected solicitor Leighton Duff lies dead, kicked and beaten to death. Beside him lies the barely living body of his son, Rhys. The police cannot fathom these brutal assaults until shrewd investigator William Monk uncovers a connection between them and a series of rapes and beatings of local prostitutes. Then, shockingly, it begins to appear that young Rhys may have killed his own father. . . .

Secrets and lies, calumnies and evasions: in Anne Perry''s Victorian mysteries, these elements, rather than a hat or gloves, a bustle or a watch fob, are the usual accoutrements of refined ladies and gentlemen. Half Moon Street marks the return of Inspector Thomas Pitt (20 novels now, beginning with The Cater Street Hangman and still going strong) to the cobblestoned streets and elegant drawing rooms of 19th-century London. The inhabitants of those drawing rooms aren''t usually thrilled to see him, because he always comes bearing bad news. This time, a body has turned up in a boat on the Thames: Delbert Cathcart, a talented portrait photographer with a taste for blackmail. Clad in a velvet dress, wrists manacled, legs spread grotesquely, skull crushed, Cathcart reminds Pitt of a perverse echo of the Lady of Shalott, or perhaps a debased Ophelia. Which of Cathcart''s clients could have been pushed so far as to retaliate in such hideous fashion? Pitt''s official investigation is usually combined with another more idiosyncratic approach to the crime; this secondary analysis gives Perry free rein to dissect the manners and morals of Victorian society. In Half Moon Street, the genteel inquisition falls to Caroline Fielding, Charlotte''s mother (Charlotte, who must need a bit of rest after so many outings, has been packed off to Paris for a vacation; her presence in the book is restricted to letters marveling, rather tediously, at the scandalous iniquities of the Moulin Rouge dance hall). Perry''s readers will no doubt remember that Caroline scandalized society by marrying a much younger actor, Joshua. Half Moon Street introduces Caroline to his theatrical world, and to Cecily Antrim, a beautiful actress with liberal politics. Cecily poses both a personal and philosophical threat to Caroline, who is disturbed by her willingness to expose the realities of female sexuality on stage: "Should such things be said? Was there something indecent in the exposure of feelings so intimate? To know it herself was one thing, to realize that others also knew was quite different. It was being publicly naked rather than privately." This fear of exposure resonates through the worlds of theatrical and photographic art, as actors, diplomats, and genteel citizens race to hide their secrets from Pitt and Caroline. While Perry evokes the London atmosphere with her us

El inspector Pitt y su sagaz esposa Charlotte se enfrentan a un nuevo caso en el Londres victoriano. En esta ocasión, una bella y atrevida joven partidaria del feminismo y el darwinismo escandaliza a la alta sociedad, y poco despues muere en circunstancias misteriosas

It is January 1793. France is at war with Belgium, Prussia and Austria, and Louis XVI has just been sentenced to death. In Paris, a small group of people fears for the future of a throneless France surrounded by countries terrified that republican ideas -- or anarchy -- will spread throughout the continent. They are determined to rescue the king, but when their leader is murdered a plan must be pieced together and executed within three days.

En el Londres victoriano, el inspector Pitt y su perspicaz esposa Charlotte se enfrentan a un sórdido caso en su propia familia. El cuñado de Charlotte muere en extrañas circunstancias tras mantener una relacion extramatrimonial y poco despues tambien muere su amante. El escandañp esta servido

El marido de Genevieve Stonefield, Angus, un respetado hombre de negocios, lleva desaparecido tres días cuando ella se decide visitar a William Monk, un inspector de policía retirado metido a investigador privado. La señora Stonefield está convencida de que su marido ha sido asesinado por su hermano gemelo, Caleb: la relación entre ellos, según le cuenta Monk, ha llegado a ser violenta, y la señora Stonefield se teme lo peor. Sin embargo, Monk no está dispuesto a admitir que se ha cometido un asesinato, ni tampoco, por supuesto, a señalar a un culpable, aunque sí es verdad que angus parece haberse desvanecido. Sin el respaldo de la autoridad policial, Monk queda a merced de su propios recursos. Pero con la ayuda de sus amigos, incluyendo a su patrona Lady Callandra daviot y a la enfermera Hester Latterly, va a resolver uno de los casos más extraños y desconcertantes a los que se ha tenido que enfrentar.

En el Londres victoriano, aquel rutilante mundo de elegancia para unos pocos, hipocresía de esos mismos pocos y formal cortesía hasta para ir al retrete, se cometían crímenes como en cualquier gran ciudad. Y tambien estos seguian su particular protocolo social. Por eso los casos asignados al inspector Pitt resultan tan complicados para el, en particular el de esta novela, y sin embargo tan apasionantes y reveladores de las bajezas humanas para el lector

The tenth mysterious novel in the William Monk series from Anne Perry