Anne Perry

(Pitt Series, 32)

London, 1899.  Head of Special Branch Commander Thomas Pitt is summoned to Buckingham Palace by Queen Victoria for a secret mission. In the twilight of her years, the Queen is all to aware that the Prince of Wales will soon inherit her empire and must be beyond reproach.  she tells Pitt she tasked her close friend and confidante, John Halberd, with investigating the Prince's friends, specifically Alan Kendrick, a wealthy playboy and betting man, but before he could report back, Halberd was found dead in a rowing boat on the Serpentine. The death has been ruled an unfortunate accident and the investigation closed, but the Queen is not convinced that all is as it seems and tasks Pitt with finding the truth. Forced to act alone in this most sensitive of investigations, Pitt finds himself embroiled in a plot that threatens not only the reputations of men, but also the safety and reputation of the Empire ...

(Monk Series, 22)

London, 1869: The body of a middle-aged man is found tangled in a mass of rope and wooden wreckage near the dockside of the River Thames.  Commander William Monk of the River Police is called when initial investigations reveal the man was shot in the back.  When he learns that the man was a master forger who had just escaped prison, Monk's interest is immediately piqued.  But as his investigations lead him ever deeper into the murky world of smuggling and forgery, Monk is forced to confront his own forgotten past.  The unsolicited interference of an old foe takes precedence as it becomes clear to Monk that a bitter enemy is back for revenge and has him in his sights.  With his life and career in imminent danger, can Monk navigate his way to the truth before it is too late?  Commander Williams Monk –a man with no past– has only his conscience and instinct to guide him.

(Pitt Series, 31)

Gripping and provocative, the latest Thomas and Charlotte Pitt mystery by New York Times bestselling author Anne Perry peers unflinchingly into the corrupt affairs of Victorian society on the brink of the century’s turn. The world is poised for social and political change, but England holds tight to its traditions, classes, and prejudices.

When an explosion in London kills two policemen and seriously injures three more, many believe that anarchists are the culprits. But Thomas Pitt, commander of Special Branch, knows the city’s radical groups well enough to suspect otherwise: that someone with decidedly more personal motives lit the deadly fuse. As he investigates the source of the fatal blast, he’s stunned to discover the bombing was a calculated strike against the ranks of law enforcement. But still more shocking revelations await, as Pitt’s inquiries lead him to a member of Parliament hoping for a lucrative business deal, a high-ranking police officer with secrets to keep, and an aristocratic opium addict seeking murderous revenge. As he pursues each increasingly threatening lead, Pitt finds himself impeded at every turn by the barriers put in place to protect the rich and powerful –barriers which, as they start to crumble, threaten to bury him alive.

(Monk Series, 21)

In Corridors of the Night, nurse Hester Monk and her husband, William, commander of the Thames River Police, do desperate battle with two obsessed scientists who in the name of healing have turned to homicide. The monomaniacal Rand brothers –Magnus, a cunning doctor, and Hamilton, a genius chemist– are utterly ruthless in their pursuit of a cure for the fatal “white-blood disease.” In London’s Royal Naval Hospital annex, Hester is tending one of the brothers’ dying patients –wealthy Bryson Radnor– when she stumbles upon three weak, terrified young children, and learns to her horror that they’ve been secretly purchased and imprisoned by the Rands for experimental purposes. But the Rand brothers are too close to a miracle cure to allow their experiments to be exposed. Before Hester can reveal the truth, she too becomes a prisoner. As Monk and his faithful friends–distinguished lawyer Oliver Rathbone and reformed brothel keeper Squeaky Robinson among them– scour London’s grimy streets and the beautiful English countryside searching for her, Hester’s time, as well as the children’s, is quickly draining away.

Taut with intrigue and laced with white-knuckled terror, Corridors of the Night is Anne Perry at her magnificent, unforgettable best.

(Pitt Series, 29)

Britain is now in an arms race with other European powers.  When the mutilated corpse of a young servant, Kitty Ryder, shows up, Thomas Pitt is called in, since Kitty's employer was the rich and powerful Dudley Kynaston.  It looks as if he was being blackmailed into giving naval secrets to a foreign power.  When other murders occur, and Pitt struggles with the investigation, his wife Charlotte and her sister Emily start their own enquiries, as they used to together in previous books.  Emily's husband has had a promotion in the government and is now working with Kynaston.  Together they can reach parts of society and gain information that event Pitt can't.  Europe might ignite into a world war, if they can't.

(Pitt Series, 30)

When Commander Thomas Pitt is ordered to protect a young woman visiting London from Spain, he cannot see why this is a job for Special Branch.  When she disappears in the dead of night from Angel Court, however, he is faced with a dangerous mystery.  Sofia preached new, and some say blasphemous, religious ideals, and her life has been threatened.  But Pitt senses there is some deeper and more dangerous reason for her kidnap –if that is what it is. Three men are caught up in the hunt for Sofia –her cousin, a banker for the Church of England, a popular and charismatic politician, and a journalist who seems determined to goad Pitt to the truth.  Each seem to be hiding something, and as the search for answers stretch from London to Spain, Pitt knows that time is running out, and the nation's security could be at stake...

(Monk Series, 20)

London, 1856.  It is a time of progress, with the Empire's interests expanding and the Suez Canal nearing completion.  Many people stand to gain –and to lose– as the world rapidly changes.  When a Thames pleasure boat is blown up with the loss of many lives, an Egyptian man is quickly sentenced to hang for the crime.  But William Monk, head of the River Police, discovers the evidence was flawed.  As he and his wife Hester investigate further, Monk begins to wonder if the wrong man was convicted.  If justice itself has been tainted, exposing the true culprit will be far more hazardous ...

(Monk Series, 19)

Inspector William Monk searches for proof of his friend's innocence in a controversial and dangerous case, in the nineteenth novel in Anne Perry's acclaimed series. Oliver Rathbone, now a judge, is presiding over a trial for corruption. Proud of his elevation to this position, he is determined to be proper and fair, and, with much skill, convicts a deeply corrupt man. On the back of this success Rathbone is given a controversial new case: that of a charismatic minister accused of using other people's faith for his own gain. This will be a real test of skill, perhaps even dangerous –is this what Rathbone wants? A sensational case begins. True to his principles, Rathbone delivers justice –but at a cost, as murder and suicide ensue, and he is arrested under the charge of blackmail. Can Monk unravel the truth behind the court hysteria? Or will Rathbone spend the rest of his years in prison for exposing a relevant truth, in an appropriate way, for a cause he saw as just?

(Pitt Series, 27)

The year is 1896. Newly promoted to Head of Special Branch, Thomas Pitt is forced to face the danger his new position brings when he uncovers the work of a traitor in his department. Not knowing who to trust, he must unmask the conspirator, whist simultaneously protecting a suspected target, Austrian state visitor Duke Alois. Meanwhile, Victor Narraway is investigating the mysterious death of Serafina Monserrat. Once the holder of many sensitive, political secrets, Serafina had suffered from dementia in her later years and Narraway is unsure whether what he has uncovered in his search for answers is the confused ramblings of an old woman, or a catastrophic plot which could trigger a war the likes of which the world has never seen before. As the two investigations come ever closer it is clear that bluff and double-bluff are at play. When Pitt finally comes face to face with the suspected traitor will he, knowing the fate of the world is at stake, find the strength to stop the man by any means necessary?

(Pitt Series, 28)

Loyal, honest and, above all, principled. There is no finer detective in Victorian London than Thomas Pitt. It is 1896, and Thomas Pitt is in charge of Special Branch. He is beginning to understand the power he now commands, but is still ill at ease at the glittering events he and his wife Charlotte must attend. During a lavish party at the Spanish Embassy, a policeman breaks into Pitt's conversation with investor Rawdon Quixwood to break the terrible news that Quixwood's wife, Catherine, has been viciously assaulted at their home, and left for dead. Worse still, it appears that the assailant was someone she had trusted as she opened the door to the attacker herself.

(Monk Series, 18)

Can Monk uncover the truth behind a deadly opium conspiracy? It is 1864 and on the bank of the Thames, Monk is appalled at the shocking mutilation visited upon the body of a woman found on Limehouse Pier. But when exquiries into the brutal killing unearth a connection between the victim and Dr Lambourn, a brilliant, recently deceased scientist and staunch supporter for a new pharmaceutical bill aimed to regulate the sale of opium, it becomes clear that not all is as it seems. Lambourn's widow refused to believe the official verdict that her husband's death was suicide; she is convinced that he was murdered after the research he was conducting was discredited by government officials intent on keeping the lucrative trade of opium flowing. With pressure mounting for the river police to find the Limehouse killer, Monk is propelled headlong into an investigation that will delve into the darkest depths of the opium trade and threaten to expose corruption in the very highest echelons of society.

(Pitt Series, 26)

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?

(Monk Series, 17)

When the body of a small-time crook named Mickey Parfitt washes up on the tide, no one grieves; far from it. But William Monk, commander of the River Police, is puzzled by the expensive silk cravat used to strangle Parfitt. How has this elegant scarf  –whose original owner was obviously a man of substance–  ended up imbedded in the neck of wharf rat who richly deserves his sordid end? Dockside informers lead Monk to what may be a partial answer – a floating palace of corruption on the Thames managed by Parfitt, where a captive band of half-starved boys are forced to perform vile acts for men willing to pay a high price for their midnight pleasures. Although Monk and his fearless wife, Hester, would prefer to pin a medal on Parfitt’s killer, duty leads them in another direction–  to an unresolved crime from the past, to blackmail and more murder, to deadly confrontation with some of the empire’s most respected men.

Acceptable Loss provides, to a superlative degree, colorful characters, a memorable portrait of waterfront life, and a story that achieves its most thrilling moments in a transfixed London courtroom, where Monk faces his old friend Oliver Rathbone in a trial of nearly unbearable tension –in sum, every delectable drop of the rich pleasure that readers expect from an Anne Perry novel.

The Sheen on the Silk is an epic historical novel with a heart-stopping love story at its core, and a deep spiritual quest. It is set in the gorgeous, cosmopolitan and enlightened city of Byzantium, in the twilight years of its Empire. Surrounded by the fierce Ottomans to the East, Saladin and the infidels to the South, the barbarian European tribes to the North and the powerful Venetian Empire to the West, Byzantium’s Emperor badly needs an ally. The city has never recovered from its sack by the Venetians in 1204, and now, in 1272, it’s in acute danger. Another Crusade is being mounted, and Byzantium is in its path.

This is the city into which Anna arrives. A handsome woman with an unhappy past, she has just learned that her brother has been imprisoned for murder. Unable to believe that he’s guilty, she will stay in Byzantium until she can find out the truth and secure his release. However, she needs a way to move freely in all levels of society. This isn’t something she can do as a woman and as a stranger. She will pose as a eunuch; this cadre, while past its heyday, still has power and influence. And she will work as a doctor. As the future of Byzantium grows ever darker, Anna struggles to navigate the complex truths of her brother’s guilt or innocence, the intrigues of the powerful, long-simmering revenge plots… and the even more perilous currents of her heart and her spirit. Only in Byzantium’s darkest hour does she discover the truths that will lead to salvation for Byzantium and the soaring path to the forgiveness and love of God.

(Monk Series, 16)

1864 and, once again, Inspector William Monk, now of the Thames River Police, must face a dangerous foe. After a game of cat and mouse, Monk has finally captured Jericho Philipps, main suspect in the brutal slaying of mudlark Water ‘Fig’ Figgis. In doing so he believes that he has taken the first step in bringing to justice the man responsible for running an evil child prostitution ring and avenged the memory of Durban, his old commander, who was convinced of Philipps’ guilt. When Philipps comes to trial however all does not run smoothly. Oliver Rathbone, Monk’s friend, is hired anonymously to represent Philipps and he immediately casts doubts over the police case. The result is that Philipps is swiftly freed. Monk, determined to prove Philipps’ guilt, begins the investigation again. But as he ventures deeper into London’s murky underworld, he realises that Durban may have had another reason for pursuing Philipps and, even more worryingly, that Philipps’ depraved tastes reach further into civilised society than anyone could have ever imagined…

(Pitt Series, 25)

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...

In late 1918 and end to the conflict seems in sight. Behind the lines, violence is increasing and there is abuse of German prisoners. When a nurse is raped and killed, the prisoners are suspected. The Peacemaker’s German counterpart has crossed the lines and is about to reveal the identity of the Peacemaker, but can Matthew rescue him in time..

July 1917 finds Joseph and Judith at Passchendaele, and among the fatalities is the trusted commanding officer of Joseph’s regiment. Into his place steps the pompous and incompetent son of a general, but soon he, too, is dead, killed by his own men. Twelve men are arrested, including a courageous doctor who has been put forward for the Victoria Cross. And behind the scenes the Peacemaker continues his sabotage...

(Monk Series, 15)

Monk is now a superintendent with the Thames River police and is struggling to earn the respect of his men. While on patrol near Waterloo Bridge he notices a young couple at the bridge railing. Are they embracing or is she pushed, as horrified, Monk sees the young woman fall to her death in the river. With the help of Hester, the young mud lark Scuff, Sutton the rat catcher and his dog, Snoot, Monk investigates more deaths and must race against time to prevent further tragedy...

In March 1916, Joseph Reavley is still at the front, at Ypres, as is Judith, now an ambulance driver. By the time Joseph returns to the family home in tranquil Cambridgeshire, rumours of spies and traitors are rampant. And when the savagely brutalised body of a brilliant weapons scientist is found, it must be suspected that the Peacemaker has been at work...again.

(Pitt Series, 24)

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...

(Monk Series, 14)

Monk is commissioned to find the stolen ivory from the hold of Clement Louvain’s ocean-going schooner. The river Thames –‘the longest street in London’– is new territory for Monk, and without the help of the River Police, he does not stand a chance of finding the thief, or even of keeping his own life. Hester’s clinic admits a woman with a mysterious connexion to Louvain. We meet, for the first time, the street-wise Cockney orphan, Scuff, who will feature more in the lives of Hester and Monk.

By April 1915, Captain Joseph Reavley, now a chaplain in the army, attends to his soldiers in the trenches. An arrogant young war correspondent, Eldon Prentice, nephew of the respected General Cullingford, is found dead in ‘no man’s land’. But he has not been killed by enemy fire. Joseph has his suspicions as does his sister Judith, who is driver to General Cullingford. Behind the scenes, the man the Reavley’s have nicknamed ‘The Peacemaker’ is sabotaging Britain’s war effort.

On a sunny afternoon in late June, 1914, Cambridge don, Joseph Reavley is summoned from a student cricket match to learn that his parents have died in a road accident. Joseph’s brother, Matthew, as an officer in the Intelligence Service, reveals that their father had been en route to London to turn over to him a secret document –allegedly with the power to England and damage the British Empire. At the same time, events in Sarajevo will propel Europe, and the whole world, into war. But there are some tragic deaths on the home front and where is this mysterious document...if it exists at all?

(Pitt Series, 23)

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...

(Monk Series, 13)

For the prostitutes of Leather Lane, nurse Hester Monk’s clinic is a lifeline, providing medicine, food and a modicum of peace. However, the mysterious death of Railway magnate Nolan Baltimore in a sleazy neighbourhood brothel overshadows all else. Meanwhile Monk acquires a new client, who asks him to ascertain whether her fiancé, an executive in Baltimore’s railway firm, has become enmeshed in fraudulent practices that could ruin him. As Monk views the last railway tracks of a new line being laid, his past comes back to haunt him and warn him of a new tragedy about to unfold....

(Pitt Series, 22)

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 Series, 21)

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...

Five hundred years after the Book is sealed and Tathea has kept it guarded, the great enemy wakens again. It is time for Tathea to gather the Warriors who will stand beside her in the last battle of the world, good against evil, in the final destruction. The gates of Hell will be opened and its legions be let loose; the fighting will not cease until the final war is won.

(Monk Series, 12)

Hester serves as a volunteer nurse for Dr Kristian Beck, an intense Viennese émigré. Beck’s wife, Elissa, is English but the two met during the 1848 revolution in Austria when both were freedom fighters. When Elissa and another woman are found murdered in the studio of an artist, suspicion falls heavily on the doctor. The social evils of gambling addiction and anti-Semitism are some of the unexpected results that come to light...

(Monk Series, 11)

Monk agrees to attend a dinner party at the lush home of arms dealer Daniel Alberton, whose daughter is madly in love with the American Lyman Breeland, who wants to buy munitions for the Union Army. But then the handsome Confederate Philo Trace appears on the scene and he just happened to have secured a deal with Alberton beforehand. When Alberton is found murdered and his daughter has run off to America with Breeland, Monk and Hester follow only to find that they may be chasing the wrong suspect...

(Pitt Series, 20)

For Pitt, the sight of a dead man riding the morning tide of the Thames is unforgettable. He lies in a battered punt drifting through the morning mist, his arms and legs chained to the sides of the boat, flowers strewn over his body. Pitt’s search for the victim’s identity leads him into London’s bohemia to the theatre where beautiful Cecily Antrim is outraging society with her bold portrayal of modern woman, and into the studios where masters of light and shadow are experimenting with the fascinating new art of photography.

It is June 1792 in Paris, three years after the start of the Revolution. The city is hungry for justice, for bread, and for vengeance –and so is Célie. Employed in the household of the celebrated Mme de Staél, she leaves her baby each day in the care of her friend Amandine, but when the child dies, and Célie’s own plot is almost perfect– nothing is as it seems...

It is January 1793, and revolutionary France is at war with Belgium, Prussia and Austria and Louis XVI has just been sentenced to death. The public believes justice will be done, but there are those who realise that his execution will bring about even greater disaster. Célie’s life has changed and she is reduced to working for the secretive Monsieur Bernave, who is determined to rescue the King. But four days before the execution, M. Bernave is found murdered...

In one bloody and brutal night her husband and son are murdered, and she, once Empress of Shinabar, becomes a hunted exile pursued through the desert. In an attempt to find meaning in her desolation, she embarks on an extraordinary journey of the spirit to find eternal truths. When she brings the truth to the world, written in the priceless Book, it inspires love and hate, and the birth of a new faith.

(Pitt Series, 19)

The freshly dead body sprawled on the doorstep of General Brandon Ballantyne’s home, is an affront to every respectable sensitivity. The general denies all knowledge of the shabbily dressed victim, but Pitt does not believe him. In the dead man’s pocket he finds a rare snuff box that up until recently graced the general’s study. Pitt must tread carefully as it seems that many men, including his own police boss, are deeply involved in a complex web of blackmail, and further deaths may follow...

(Monk Series, 10)

A young groom enlists private investigator William Monk to track down his fiancée, Miriam Gardiner, who disappeared suddenly from a party at a luxurious Bayswater mansion. But Monk soon finds the coach in which Miriam fled and nearby, the murdered body of the coachman. There is no trace of Miriam. Monk and Hester, newly married, chase down the clues as to why Miriam would run away from a marriage that promised so much...

(Pitt Series, 18)

In affluent Brunswick Gardens the battle over Charles Darwin’s revolutionary theory of evolution intensifies as the respected Reverend Parmenter is boldly challenged by his beautiful assistant, Unity Bellwood, a ‘new woman’, whose feminism and aggressive Darwinism he finds appalling. When Unity, three months pregnant, tumbles down the staircase to her death, Pitt is certain that one of the three deeply devout men in the house has committed the murder, but which one...

(Monk Series, 8)

In sunless Water Lane, respected solicitor Leighton Duff is found, kicked and beaten to death. Beside him lies the barely living body of his son, Rhys. The police cannot fathom these brutal assaults until Monk uncovers a connexion 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...

(Pitt Series, 17)

When a group of powerful Irish Protestants and Catholics gather at a country house, Ashworth Hall, to discuss Irish home rule, contention is to be expected, but when the meeting’s moderator, government bigwig Ainsley Greville, is found murdered in his bath, negotiations seem doomed. To make matters worse, it seems that the late Greville had a less than savoury private life. Pitt and Charlotte must root out the truth or the simmering passions and hatred may boil over to plunge Ireland into civil war and destruction...

"Elegant period novel with a contemporary resonance… Perry has a wonderful feel for period and remains utterly convincing." The Guardian 

(Monk Series, 9)

In a sensational breach of promise suit, two wealthy social climbers are suing on behalf of their beautiful daughter, Zillah. The defendant is Zillah’s alleged fiancé, brilliant architect Killian Melville, who adamantly declares that he cannot and will not marry her. Melville’s counsel, Oliver Rathbone, enlists the help of Monk and Hester and the court case ends in a tragic outcome that no-one could have foreseen....

(Monk Series, 7)

It had been twenty years since Countess Zorah Rostova’s countryman Prince Friedrich abdicated his throne to marry a woman who was an unacceptable consort. Now the Prince is dead and Countess Zora claims that Princess Gisela murdered him, but cannot produce a scrap of evidence to this accusation – and neither can Monk or Hester. But as events unfold it seems that the most likely suspect is the Countess herself...

(Pitt Series, 16)

The ritual murder of a prostitute in a bedroom in decrepit Pentecost Alley would ordinarily cause little commotion, but under the victim’s body was found a Hellfire Club badge inscribed with the name of the prominent Finlay Fitzjames, son of a wealthy businessman and soon to be appointed as an ambassador. The case appears closed when the prostitute’s pimp confesses, is tried and hanged, but then another identical murder takes place, and the case is thrown wide open again. Emily befriends the sister of Finlay Fitzjames and together they unmask the real culprit while Pitt battles against the accusations of police incompetence.

(Monk Series, 6)

In his family life, Angus Stonefield had been gentle and loving; in business, a man of probity; and in his relationship with his twin brother, Caleb, a saint. Now Angus is missing and the depraved Caleb is suspected of killing him. Monk must find the body and discover the means and the motive for murder – and the missing murderer’s whereabouts. The more he investigates the more bizarre the twists and turns become...

(Pitt Series, 15)

Someone in the Colonial Office is passing secrets to Germany about England’s Africa policy. While Pitt investigates this treason, he is quietly looking into the tragic ‘accidental death’ of his childhood mentor, Sir Arthur Desmond. Pitt believes he was murdered and that the crime is connected with the treachery in the Government. Only when a Thames waterman finds the strangled body of a society beauty floating near Traitor’s Gate, do Pitt and Charlotte untangle the threads of passion and intrigue...

(Monk Series, 5)

Hester’s job is to accompany the elderly and infirm Scottish lady, Mrs Mary Farraline, on a train journey to London. However, the elderly woman dies during the night and post mortem examination reveals a lethal dose of medicine. Hester is charged with murder and faces the gallows. Monk must find the calculating killer amongst the prominent and coolly unassailable Farraline clan and barrister Olive Rathbone can only sit on the sidelines as this case is heard before a judge in Edinburgh, where Scottish law rules....

(Pitt Series, 14)

Newly promoted Pitt has to investigate the gruesome beheadings of three apparently unconnected victims but he is bedevilled by a lack of cooperation from his superiors, Charlotte is pre-occupied with moving house and Emily is absorbed with her husband Jack’s election to Parliament. Together they uncover domestic scandals and the invisible hand of the evil secret society, the Inner Circle...

(Monk Series, 4)

Prudence Barrymore, a talented nurse who had worked with Florence Nightingale in the Crimea, is found strangled to death in a London Hospital. While Monk investigates, Hester takes a job at the hospital to learn more behind the scenes. He discerns the shadow of a tragic evil and more of his own murky past, and some unsavoury truths are revealed in the courtroom...

(Pitt Series, 13)

When a distinguished judge dies of opium poisoning, the death, by crucifixion, five years before, of Kingsley Blaine is brought back into the public eye and it is screaming for revenge. The police had arrested a Jewish actor who is condemned to be hanged soon. Pitt, who is investigating the judge’s death finds that the judge was about to reopen the earlier case. While Pitt faces a wall of silence from officialdom Charlotte uses her high society connexions and they both come to the same sinister and deeply dangerous truth...

(Pitt Series, 12)

Belgrave Square. When low-life money lender William Weems is found murdered, there are few to mourn his passing. But when Pitt finds a list containing the names of some of London’s most distinguished gentlemen in the murdered man’s office, he recognises the smell of blackmail. While Pitt investigates the victims of Weems’ cupidity, Charlotte and Emily have entree into London’s upper crust that is closed to routine police investigation. The sinister influence of a secret society becomes apparent...

(Monk Series, 3)

Although esteemed General Thaddeus Carlyon meets his death in a freak accident at home, his beautiful wife, Alexandra, confesses that she killed him. Monk, with the help of Hester and the brilliant counsel for the defence, Oliver Rathbone, work feverishly to break down the wall of silence raised by the accused and her husband’s proud family, culminating in a dramatic court room scene....

(Monk Series, 2)

Inspector William Monk has his hands full when an aristocrat’s daughter is stabbed to death in her own bed. His efforts are hamstrung by his own amnesia and the ineptitude of his superior, who would love to see him fail. With Hester’s help, he unravels the shocking truth... and learns more about his own past.

(Pitt Series, 11)

Clemency Shaw, the wife of a prominent doctor, has died in a tragic fire. But whether the blaze was set by an arsonist aiming for the doctor, or set by the doctor himself, Pitt is not certain. With the scarcity of clues, Pitt turns to Clemency’s stuffy but distinguished relatives. Meanwhile Charlotte retraces the dangerous path that Clemency walked the last months of her life, and finds herself enmeshed in a sinister web that stretches from the lowest slums to the loftiest centres of power...

(Pitt Series, 10)

"Her finely drawn characters couldn't be more comfortable within the customs and sensibility of their historical period, for which Ms Perry once again demonstrates her true and lively passion." New York Times Book Review

(Monk Series, 1)

This introduces us to William Monk, a detective with the police in London of 1856. After recovering from a serious accident in a carriage, he finds he has lost his memory. He is assigned to investigate the brutal murder of an aristocratic Crimean war hero and in the process finds out more of his own past – and is terrified of what he sees. Did he commit this crime himself? During his investigations he meets Hester Latterly, a forthright young woman of middle class, who nursed with Florence Nightingale in Crimea...

(Pitt Series, 9)

When Pitt is asked to re-open a three-year old murder case which had taken place in London’s luxurious Hanover Close, he knows that his superiors want him to handle the investigation delicately, diplomatically and smooth everything over. But that is not the way Pitt operates! While Charlotte penetrates behind the reserve of high society to do her own brand of detective work, Pitt discovers more shocking secrets that could lead to further deaths, even his own...

(Pitt Series, 8)

When George March, a womanising aristocrat, is found dead over his morning coffee, his wife Emily is accused of murder. But Emily’s sister is the indomitable Charlotte, who, with her husband Thomas, take on the seemingly irreproachable March clan and discover an insidious web of corruption and depravity that leads them from the elegance of Cardington Crescent into the hideous London slums, and more murder...

(Pitt Series, 7)

When a doctor is found brutally murdered, even the neighbourhood’s most hardened residents are stunned. Then three more bodies are found, killed in the same inexpert way and Pitt and Charlotte race against time to find the killer, as a treacherous mystery unfolds...

(Pitt Series, 6)

When an upper class boy is found violated and dead in London’s most dangerous slums, Inspector Pitt is shocked, but when his family refuse to answer any of Pitt’s questions, he begins to wonder what secrets they are trying so desperately to hide. Charlotte refuses to be sidelined from Pitt’s work and begins her own investigation into this oh-so-proper family...

(Pitt Series, 5)

When Charlotte learned of her mother’s distress in losing a locket with a compromising picture in it, she did not know it was the beginning of several bizarre events that would end in sudden death. Hidden beneath the sumptuous elegance of Rutland Place were terrible secrets, secrets so horrible that only murder would conceal them...

(Pitt Series, 3)

The residents of Paragon Walk tighten their lips when Inspector Pitt begins his investigation after young Fannie Nash is murdered. Pitt’s wife, Charlotte, with the assistance of her sister Emily, discover the ugly secrets that lurk behind the respectable face of Victorian society, something that could lead to more scandal, and more murder...

(Pitt Series, 4)

It is bad enough that the recently deceased Lord Fitzroy-Hammond has been removed from his grave, but when it happens a second time and then other buried corpses start popping up, Pitt is puzzled indeed. Is the perpetrator trying to hide a murder or call attention to one? The answer lies in a convoluted but logical merging of art, blackmail, politics, pornography and prostitution....

(Pitt Series, 2)

The bodies of two newborns are discovered buried in a garden in the posh Callander Square region of London. Thomas Pitt and his young wife, Charlotte, begin solving the crime from two different perspectives. While Pitt pursues his investigations, Charlotte, behind the scenes, is rattling the closets of the very rich, listening to gossip and unearthing truths that could push even the most proper aristocrat to murder...

(Pitt Series, 1)

While the Ellisons were out paying calls and drinking tea like proper Victorian ladies, a maid in their household was one of a number of young women garrotted to death. Inspector Thomas Pitt investigates the scene and finds that no one is above suspicion. As his intense questioning causes many a composed facade to crumble, Pitt finds himself drawn to the independently minded Charlotte Ellison. Yet a romance between a society girl and so unsuitable a suitor was impossible in the midst of a murder investigation....

Christmas 1900. Victor Narraway, Thomas Pitt's former boss and his new wife Vespasia are on holiday in Jerusalem.  Although enjoying their time together and the interesting people they meet, Vespasia soon becomes concerned that someone is watching their every move. When one of their new acquaintances is found murdered, the only clue is a mysterious piece of parchment written in a foreign tongue, and a message imploring Narraway to continue the stranger's quest.  Sensing its importance, Narraway and Vespasia decide to fulfil their dead friend's wish. Continuing to Jerusalem with the parchment in hand, they quickly find themselves embroiled in danger.  With Vespasia's fears suddenly realised, and a watcher on their trail, will Narraway and Vespasia's fates follow that of their friend or can they make it to the Holy Land unscathed?

For countless readers, Christmas time means a delicious new holiday mystery from New York Times bestselling author Anne Perry. A Christmas Escape, her thirteenth noel to the season, transports us to the Mediterranean island of Stromboli for an unconventional Yuletide adventure –and an unforgettable volcanic encounter. Lonely Charles Latterly arrives at his small hotel hoping that the island’s blue skies and gentle breezes will brighten his spirits. Unfortunately, there’s no holiday cheer to be found among his fellow guests, who include a pompous novelist, a stuffy colonel, a dangerously ill-matched married couple, and an ailing old man. The one charming exception is orphaned teenager Candace Finbar, who takes Charles under her wing and introduces him to the island’s beauty. But the tranquility of the holiday is swiftly disrupted by a violent quarrel, an unpleasant gentleman’s shocking claims of being stalked, and the ominous stirrings of the local volcano. Then events take an even darker turn: A body is found, and Charles quickly realizes that the killer must be among the group of guests.

Featuring Jemima from the "Pitt" series.

Dark Secrets threaten the highest of New York society in the twelfth Victorian Christmas novella. New York, 1904, Jemina Pitt arrives in a city where new American money and old English aristocracy collide.  She's here to chaperone her friend, Delphinia, who has crossed the ocean to marry one of New York's richest men, but Jemima discovers a secret that could destroy Phinnie's future. Drawn into the crisis, Jemima desperately wants to protect her friend.  And she must use all her courage and wits to decide whom to trust, and how to thread her way through the snowy streets of this brash new city.

London,1868. As the Christmas season begins, Claudine Burroughs feels little joy in the endless rounds of social calls and extravagant events. Helping at Hester Monk’s clinic for desperate women has opened her eyes to a different world, and her husband’s cold disapproval makes her unhappier still.  Then her two worlds collide. A woman is brutally beaten during a Christmas party, and it becomes clear she was a prostitute, smuggled in by some unknown guest. Poet Dai Tregarron is accused of the attack but he insists he was trying to protect her from the violence of three rich young men. Claudine finds she believes Dai’s story, but with society closing ranks against him, how can she prove his innocence without risking everything?  

A Christmas Hope is a festive tale of courage, faith, and the importance of fighting for the truth…

This features Narraway in his first posting s a young army officer, sent to India in the midst of the violent and ruthless Indian mutiny.  He's given the job of defending a medical orderly who seems to have allowed an Indian prisoner to escape, who then caused the ambush and murder of several British soldiers.  The evidence looks incontrovertible, and Narraway is at a loss as to how to defend the man in any way that makes it look like justice is being done and doesn't make himself look like a helpless amateur.  This is the story of the making of Narraway as a man, and as a policeman.

Audio Book 

Beneath a pile of innocuous antique books, Monty Danforth unearths an ancient scroll secreted away in a biscuit tin. Soon after this discovery, he is visited by several men as disquieting as they are varied; an old man led by an eerily beautiful child; a bishop cloaked in obscurity; and a devoutly un-celestial scholar. They have one thing in common: they want the scroll at any price, and by any means necessary. In the days that follow, it becomes clear that the stakes to obtain the faded scroll far surpass money. After the murder of his boss, Danforth’s life begins to give way to an insidious evil plagued by horrific visions and moral uncertainty. The conclusion reaches a feverish pitch that pits good against evil, faith against truth, and blurs the line between light and darkness.

A Victorian tale of murder and intrigue taking place on a snowy Christmas in 1897. During a bitter snowstorm, a mysterious stranger descends on the Netheridges' country home in Whitby, where a group of renowned actors have gathered to prepare a Boxing Day production of Dracula.  Amidst an atmosphere of competing theatrical egos and artistic disagreements, the unknown Mr Ballin is brutally murdered. Determined to uncover he truth, but without help from the police who cannot reach the house through the snow, Carline Fielding begins to investigate the circumstances surrounding the puzzling affair.  Who was the victim?  Was his appearance at the house as innocent and as circumstantial as he professed?  And which of the guests knows more than they are letting on?

In her beloved Christmas Novels, Anne Perry brings readers both the authentic Victorian charm and the nail-biting suspense that have made her Thomas Pitt and William Monk tales bestsellers for a generation. Though rife with intrigue, these special seasonal stories beam with the blessed light of the holiday.

Ten days before Christmas, as an icy wind cuts through London, wealthy James Wentworth feels not joy but grief. His reckless son, Lucien, has been lured into a deadly world of drugs and wild passion. Wentworth's only hope, he believes, is his old friend Henry Rathbone, who volunteers to search for the prodigal son. Rathbone knows nothing of the sensation-obsessed underworld where Lucian now dwells, but he acquires two unexpected new companions who do: Squeaky Robinson, a reformed brothel-keeper who now works in Hester Monk's medical clinic, and Crow, a mysterious slum doctor who turns no one away, however undeserving. Slowly this odd trio gathers clues - about Lucien's mad infatuation with a beautiful woman names Sadie and about Shadwell, the ruthless man who owns her and, like the Devil, never lets go of one of his own. Rathbone, Squeaky and Crow even welcome into their little band a most valuable recruit: young Bessie, a teenager whose courage holds fast even in the depths of the slum. And so they set forth on their odyssey into London's dark streets, on a mission whose outcome they cannot begin to guess.

Anne Perry's novels are supreme masterpieces of suspense, and A Christmas Odyssey ranks with the very best. The days leading up to Christmas may prove to be fraught with challenges, but 'tis the season for comfort and joy and miracles.

Three days before Christmas, in the freezing slums of London’s East End, thirteen-year-old Gracie Phipps encounters Minnie Maude Mudway, who is only eight, alone, and determined to find her friend Charlie. However Charlie is no ordinary companion: He is a donkey who belonged to Minnie Maude’s Uncle Alf. Gracie is shocked to learn that only the day before, someone brutally murdered Uncle Alf and made off with his rag-and-bones cart and the beloved beast who pulled it. Now, come hell or high water, Minnie Maude means to rescue Charlie–and Gracie decides to help. But the path that Uncle Alf had taken to his death was not his regular route, and in his cart were not just the usual bits of worn silver and china but also, the children are told, a dazzling golden box. What its contents may have been no one can say, for, like Charlie and the cart, it too has vanished.

Uncertain where their four-legged friend may be, the children are drawn into an adult world far beyond their innocent imaginings. And in a shop gleaming with beautiful objects, they recruit an unexpected ally: Mr. Balthasar, who warns them that the shining prize may be a Pandora’s box of evil. Set in the Victorian world where Anne Perry reigns supreme, A Christmas Promise culminates in a radiant finale that will remain with you long after the final page is turned.

With Christmas approaching, Emily Radley, Charlotte’s sister is suddenly called from London to be with her dying aunt. Alone, she makes the journey to Connemara, on the west coast of Ireland. A tragic legacy haunts this close-knit community and a lone shipwreck survivor threatens to unlock old wounds, but also to offer a solution to an old crime and bring peace and resolution to the community.

Superintendent Runcorn of Scotland Yard is spending Christmas on the wild and beautiful island of Anglesey. While out on a walk he discovers the body of Olivia Costain, the local vicar’s sister. Only an outsider could have committed such a heinous crime, he is assured, but as he delves deeper into Olivia’s past, he uncovers some disturbing secrets, and opens the door to a new future for himself...

Dominic Corde is thrilled to ‘fill the robe’ as substitute vicar in the village of Cottisham while the Rev. Wynter is away on leave. Dominic and his new wife Clarice arrive during an exceptionally frigid and snowy season. The welcoming and cosy vicarage and the hospitable neighbours seem all too perfect, until they find that the Rev. Wynter has not gone on holiday at all...

When vinegar-tongued Grandmama Ellison is obliged to spend Christmas away from home in the wind-swept Romney Marshes, with Charlotte Pitt’s parents, Joshua and Caroline Fielding, her mood becomes even more sour. The arrival of Joshua’s cousin Maude does not bring out the best in Grandmama Ellison, but when Maude is found dead, she turns detective and learns something unexpected about herself...

Henry Rathbone arrives to spend Christmas at the Dreghorn family manor house near Ullswater. He is greeted by the news that the master of the house, Judah Dreghorn, has died, presumed accidentally drowned. Not only this, but Judah’s good name is being slandered by someone claiming to be the rightful owner of the manor and estate. Rathbone and Judah’s brothers must investigate.

A tranquil weekend party in early December at a magnificent country house is shattered by a suspicious death. A young Lady Vespasia Cumming-Gould must help her friend Isobel who has made a very cutting remark about Gwendolen Kilmuir on the night when she was supposed to be getting engaged. Gwendolen flees the room and the next morning is found dead; suicide. Isobel, accompanied by Vespasia, must make a journey of expiation to the Scottish Highlands, with an unexpected result...

DVD & Audiobook

What is backstory?  It’s everything that happens to your characters before your story begins.  Where do you get ideas for back story,  almost anywhere you like.  Newspapers, other books that you’ve read and found interesting, or films or television series myths or legends history … There are no rules except that you should respect your sources and I would suggest that if you take somebody else’s story you don’t make it recognisably theirs.

DVD

In response to questions about how to start writing, Anne Perry is producing her first instructional DVD Put Your Heart On The Page: An Introduction To Writing.  This  provides  Anne’s unique tips on story structure, characterization, and everything a beginning writer needs to start writing commercial fiction. 

 «I am very fortunate to be given the opportunity to talk about my passion –writing– and passing on little nuggets of advice at the numerous writers’ conventions at which I attend each year.   The writing workshops I give are not that long and you cannot express all that you’d like to say about writing in about 45 minutes, so I hope that those who are unable to attend such events will get the opportunity to learn the basics of writing with this instructional DVD» , she adds.

This is the third exciting book by Anne Perry in Barrington Stoke's brilliant Timepiece series. When Rosie travels back in time she arrives on a ship bound for America. She soon discovers that she is on an illegal slave ship, trading after the abolition of slavery. First it seems there's nothing she can do until the crew all start turning blind. It's up to Rosie to keep the ship running until they reach America. A touching and thought provoking story giving an insight into the cruelty of the slave trade to struggling readers.

The second novel in the brand new series from Barrington Stoke publishers. Rosie is in trouble at school again - and only because she struggles with reading. When Rosie picks up an old watchin in an antique shop, it transports her to a WW1 Red Cross hospital. As a nurse she listens to the men's stories and meets Edith Cavell –who helps soldiers to escape from the Germans. When Rosie learns of Edith Cavell's arrest, she has to make a tricky decision ...

The start of a new series from Barrington Stoke Publishers. Anne Perry makes her first foray into young adult writing with the captivating opening instalment of Barrington Stoke's new time-travel series. Rosie hates her life, but everything changes when she is given a mysterious old watch and wakes up at Elizabeth I's court with the Spanish Armada approaching. When Rosie uncovers a spay she knows she must act and warn the Queen. Can she make it to the port before it's too late? Thrilling historical adventure from a master of the genre.