Farriers' Lane: A Charlotte and Thomas Pitt Novel (Charlotte and Thomas Pitt Series Book 13)

Anne Perry's mastery of these tales keeps you guessing till the end.

This novel is somewhat slow reading, perhaps because there seems to be an excess of extraneous details, e.g., you may learn more than you want about baking fruitcakes. On the other hand, some details related to the case never seem to be fully explained. The plot is somewhat transparent for a whodunit, i.e., you can guess the identity of villains before they are exposed.The setting is London in 1889. Five years earlier a brutal murder had outraged the public. Police were previously criticized for not catching Jack the Ripper. Pressures for an arrest in this case led to the conviction and hanging of a Jewish actor. Anti-semitism had run high with attacks on Jews and Jewish owned businesses. Now questions have been raised.A Justice who had served on the appeals court for the case is looking into it again. When he dies during a theatre performance, Inspector Thomas Pitt is assigned to investigate, and he re-examines the old case the Justice was reviewing. There is strong pressure not to rock the boat. A reversal in the five-year old case would embarass many people from individual policemen to Justices of the appeals court. Some surprising facts are revealed as the case draws to its conclusion. As a sidelight, Charlotte's maid Gracie acquires a young admirer.Like other novels in this series, we are provided with a picture of Victorian era society in London. The novel has some amount of violence and some references to sexual encounters.

Again, a great read. Anne Perry really knows how to keep her reader hooked. The Farrier's Lane deals with the death of a Judge in the Court of Appeals, who had worked on a case five years previous, involving a man who had been killed and nailed to a Farrier's door in the manner of a crucifixion. The suspected murder, an actor and a Jew was hanged, after appealing his case. He had professed his innocence until the day he was hanged, and his sister, also an actress, had championed his innocence for the past five year, making a nuisance of herself with all manner of the judicial system. Pitt believes the two murders are connected, but cannot find the link. Again Charlotte, her sister Emily and Aunt Vespasia throw themselves into the depth of society in order to gain information that Pitt would not be made privy to, since he was not born of the gentry. A gripping tale.

I’ve been a Perry fan for decades. I’m now rereading and listening at the same time with Whispersync— my favorite new obsession. Unfortunately not all Pitt and Monk books are whispersynced yet. But Perry always surprises— this one I was positive I’d figured out. Wrong again.Another good thing is the mystery is usually solved at the very end. No denouement. So when rereading many years later, the solution is still illusive.

I have been reading Anne Perry since she started many years ago. As each Pitt or Monk or WWI or Christmas book was released, I bought and devoured it. Her characters and plotting are generally excellent, and Farrier's Lane is no exception. Now that I am in Kindle land, I find it fun to re-read some of her older books like this. They are just as much fun now as they were years ago. The original books were donated by me long ago, and if I am not careful I will end up re-purchasing all of Perry's works. What makes her so good is the charm of her characters, the feeling of London in the 1880's, and her fine plots. Generally, I guess the villain about two-thirds of the way through, but the stories are so much fun it doesn't matter. You really are transported to Victorian England through Anne Perry's books.

I happen to be an Anne Perry fan and like how she combines history, social conditions, economic conditions, and the differing perspectives of various social classes in Victorian England to tell engaging and thought provoking stories. It makes me realize how far we have come from those times and also how resonant some of these issues still are in our current time.

Anne Perry Books are informative and fun - hard to put down. Enjoyable read.

Not only was the crime unusual and twisted - the reasons and emotions behind the crime were just as twisted. Anne Perry's characters are so well written, that we suffer, laugh and gasp right along with them. Re-reading the series now, and discovering details and sub-plots I missed before. Yes, I can strongly recommend this

I really enjoyed the plot. Charlotte gets involved without doing anything outrageous.I refrained from giving 5 stars because I felt the subplot with Caroline was silly and unbelievable. She wouldn't have acted in that manner. Her getting involved in detecting was believable. Also it is hard to feel sympathy for her as a couple of books ago she was advising Charlotte to abandon Pitt when he had his difficulties.Also it does get a bit tiresome with Charlotte always saying she feels guilty about her lies and excluding Pitt. Just stop already.

I'm a fan of Anne Perry and "Farriers' Lane" doesn't disappoint. The who-dunnit is full of Victorian period detail and I learn so much about the life and times of the fledgling Metropolitan Police Force and the River Police. It makes a change that there isn't a nagging policeman's wife (indeed Charlotte helps him with his cases - and solves this one!), and that the underling (Pitt) actually gets on and likes/respects his chief. An excellent read with a surprise endings.

Great book to read

I have not been able to read it all yet as I keep getting an error. A trying to sort this out. I know that this is a great book but will have to wait until I can finish it.

As always well written book excellent historical details, and plot as usual Anne Perry superb author,cannot get enough of her Thomas Pitt and William Monk books.