Midnight at Marble Arch

Charlotte and Thomas Pitt, Book 28

By: Anne Perry

Narrated by: Davina Porter

Length: 12 hrs and 41 mins

Publisher's summary

In this superbly accomplished new Charlotte and Thomas Pitt adventure, Anne Perry takes us beneath the glittering surface of wealthy Victorian society into a nightmare world of fear and intimidation, where women are too often blamed for the violent attacks against them, and powerful men take what they want, leaving others to pay the price.

The horrifying rape and apparent suicide of Catherine Quixwood, wife of a wealthy merchant banker, falls outside the new jurisdiction of Special Branch head Thomas Pitt, but so pervasively offensive are the rumors about the victim that Pitt quietly takes a hand in the investigation.

Yet even with the help of his ingenious wife, Charlotte, and his former superior, Victor Narraway, Pitt is stumped. Why did high-minded, cultured Catherine choose not to accompany her husband to a grand party on the night of her demise? Why did she dismiss all her servants for the evening and leave the front door unlocked? What had been her relationship with the young man seen frequently by her side at concerts and art exhibits? And what can be done to avenge another terrible crime: the assault on Angeles Castelbranco, beloved teenage daughter of the Portuguese ambassador?

©2013 Anne Perry (P)2013 Recorded Books

A mystery of layers

Much angst among our favorites sleuths as this multi layered mystery starts to become clear .Meanwhile the heart-strings are pulling together for two beloved characters.

Review

I didn't like the end but I love these books. I hate when you change readers in the series, it took me 3 books to get used to the new voices.

Complicated but Well Worth the Rewind

The blessing and curse of audio books is that you can listen to them while doing something else. This one is so complicated with more than a handful of characters and subplots that I found myself going back a chapter or two more than once. Well worth it!

Another good read from Anne Perry.

I am not sure that men in Victorian England would care if women were raped. Given this I found the story less compelling than most of her books. Still a good summer read.

Too many, too much

Too convoluted, too much speculation and too many holes. I have loved every Pitt book I could find but this is the exception.

Another Excellent Pitt/Charlotte Story

"Midnight at Marble Arch" continues the improvement to the Pitt/Charlotte series which began in "Dorchester Terrace," in which the stories involving Pitt's career with Special Branch finally matched the quality of the novels concerning Pitt as a policeman. I think what made this book so enjoyable for me was the fact that Pitt's involvement in a series of crimes was not primarily in his role as Commander of Special Branch. Instead, he participated in the investigation clandestinely, outside of Special Branch. And the best thing about this book, for me, was that the crime was solved by the team of Pitt, Charlotte, Pitt's former boss Narraway (now Lord Narraway), and my favorite Perry character, Lady Vespasia Cumming-Gould.

Perry once again offers an intricate plot, involving several quite vicious rapes which may or may not be connected. The investigating characters spend a great deal of time and effort trying to figure out who, how, when and why, with the answers coming at the eleventh hour. But, as with most Perry novels, the ending is a just one even if not the happiest one. And I must say that the ending of the crime story involves one of Perry's best scenes of violent suspense.

My favorite characteristic of the Pitt/Charlotte books is the very well-researched and presented depiction of the place of upper-class women in the Victorian culture of England, and the restrictions and responsibilities placed upon them. In Midnight at Marble Arch, it is made quite clear that being raped may be the end of a Victorian woman's reputation and marriage prospects in life, so that even more than today women (or their fathers or husbands, who had all the power) refused to report such crimes and those women then had to try to live a normal life while hiding the terrific trauma of rape. They often could not live with it and committed suicide.

The final lovely development in the book is that Lady Vespasia and Lord Narraway are beginning to be quite fond of each other, and a loving relationship seems to be in offing.

Different Pitt mystery

I almost always enjoy Anne Perry's writing. I must say that Davina Porter's narration detracted for me from the story largely because I could rarely tell who was speaking. I have listened to a number of books narrated by Davina Porter and do not ever recall having this problem.

I found that I was constantly having to rewind a minute or two and listen again so that I could establish who was speaking. With Michael Page's narration, you always knew Victor Narraway's voice from Pitt's, and Aunt Vespasia's from Charlotte's. Since all four of these people figure prominently in this book, it was imperative to establish different character voices, and I don't think Porter succeeded.

From the way that the storyline proceeded, I understand that the sort of "cariacature" voice that Page established for Aunt Vespasia would not work when she became a major character (and a romantic interest!), but SOME major differentiation needed to be made.

This might be a book that you want to read in print.

Starting out badly.....

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Sure I like Anne Perry's books.

Would you ever listen to anything by Anne Perry again?

Yes.

Would you listen to another book narrated by Davina Porter?

Probably.

Could you see Midnight at Marble Arch being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

Would love to see Anne Perry's books made into TV series.

Any additional comments?

I find the first victim, the Portuguese diplomat's daughter, an unlikely one. There were 2-3 instances of this victim showing up at society parties where she runs into her tormentor and flips out. Considering people from this social strata attend the same parties, if the victim was raped and traumatized, is it reasonable for her to socialize at all afterwards? Not justifying the crime, but rather how likely is it that a traumatized victim would show up at a party after being attacked. At the least a concerned mother would have sent her back to Portugal or some place to protect her. The context of the first victim seems unreal and detracts from the story,

great Victorian era mystery

loved it would recommend if you appreciate no swearing no blood and guts no sex !!!

enjoyed the book

loved it very much a ANNE PERRY novel will read #29 next. Enjoyed this book.