As a reader and fan of mysteries and thrillers, it pleases me to no end to know that each passing year gifts me with another Charlotte and Thomas Pitt novel by the great Anne Perry. Each year Perry shifts between this series and the one featuring William Monk. The Monk books tend more to the lower caste of citizens in Victorian-era London, while the Pitt stories typically travel in wealthier, higher-class circles.

MURDER ON THE SERPENTINE may be the most ambitious case that Thomas Pitt has ever faced. He is still fairly new to the role of Special Branch Commander and has just been thrown a potential murder case that could be the start of a far larger political situation.

Pitt is called into an investigation dealing with the apparent murder of a man who was a close confidant to Queen Victoria. The victim, Sir John Halberd, was found dead in a shallow part of the Serpentine lake inside Hyde Park. This was a powerful and influential political figure, and it forces Pitt to ask what secrets or potential weaknesses had moved someone to kill him.

"Perry delivers once again by simply doing what she does better than anyone else --- capturing the flavor, spirit and political temperature of Victorian-era London and spinning it into another marvelous mystery."

It is the turn of the century right around 1900, and the world and Europe are in turmoil and on the brink of great changes --- as well as world war and the current Boer War --- seemingly right around the corner. Far more personal to Pitt is potential evidence that shows that his mentor and father figure, Lord Victor Narraway, might have turned a blind eye to or suppressed information that could have prevented this tragic event. The only thing harder than this high-profile murder case for Pitt is facing up to the prospect that his hero might indeed be fallible.

Queen Victoria specifically requests that Pitt look into Alan Kendrick, a wannabe political player who she feels has been a bad influence on her son, the Prince of Wales. Kendrick also might have had reason to see Halberd eliminated. Ironically, Pitt cannot contact Narraway as he and his Aunt Vespasia are on a cruise to Rome. This is a nice aside as the most recent time we saw those two was in A CHRISTMAS MESSAGE when they were on vacation in the Middle East. Retirement obviously suits them!

This is a such a complex and sensitive case that Pitt needs all the assistance he can muster. To that end, his wife Charlotte takes advantage of a meeting with a circle of various influential women with whom she regularly gets together and uses this opportunity to learn anything she can about Halberd, Kendrick, and anyone else potentially involved in the homicide. It is here where Perry is able to work in her expected social message as Charlotte exclaims out loud how infuriated she is that women have absolutely no influence over government. This not only included their discussion on woman suffrage but also their inability to interject themselves into the current circumstances surrounding the Halberd murder.

As Pitt and his team, which includes the loyal but sometimes ineffective Stoker, uncover the fact that Halberd was indeed on his way to the Queen to report his findings about Kendrick, they also realize that the ridiculous accident on the Serpentine was indeed no accident. Now they have to figure out how they can find enough proof to bring down the person or persons responsible.

Whereas the previous Charlotte and Thomas Pitt novel, TREACHERY AT LANCASTER GATE, involved a thrilling courtroom battle, MURDER ON THE SERPENTINE is pure police procedural. The posturing, favor retrieving and other methods Pitt uses to build his case is a thing to behold. The Pitts are a formidable team, and the ending of this case proves to be most satisfying for all involved --- and may even end in a Knighthood for Pitt. Perry delivers once again by simply doing what she does better than anyone else --- capturing the flavor, spirit and political temperature of Victorian-era London and spinning it into another marvelous mystery.