“Special Branch knew of the current plot, but not yet the leaders behind it, or –more urgently – the target of their violence.” (p. 4)
Where will the planned violence occur – in Britain or in Europe? A mysterious informant takes two agents from Special Branch on a whirlwind race through central London. When he is killed practically before their eyes, the agents follow the suspected assassin all the way to France, where he meets with other suspected dissidents. Meanwhile, back in London, the Head of Special Branch at Lisson Grove is accused of treachery and fired. How will he prove his innocence? Who is really in charge of the revolutionary plot? Could the culprit be hidden at the highest levels of the British government?
The action in Anne Perry’s newest Charlotte and Thomas Pitt novel, Treason at Lisson Grove, comes right out of today’s headlines. Thomas Pitt chases a suspected assassin all the way from the streets of London across the English Channel to St. Malo, where he stakes out a suspicious group of conspirators. In London, Thomas’s trusted superior Victor Narraway is accused of fraud resulting in the murder of an Irish informant and is fired from his position as Head of Special Branch. When Charlotte Pitt hears about this, she is terrified for her own family, since Narraway acts as a protector for Thomas.
In an effort to clear Narraway’s name and reveal the true culprit behind the plot to disrupt the government, Victor and Charlotte travel all the way to Ireland. They become entangled in a fiendish plot to implicate Victor in a murder. Thomas returns to London to find himself without a protector. In a strange twist of fate, he is appointed to Victor’s old job and charged with the duty of uncovering the terrorist plot. Will he succeed?
In Treason at Lisson Grove, Anne Perry takes readers on a wild ride through Victorian England, a time filled with uncertainty and violence – bombings, assassinations, strikes and revolutionary plots. Readers will be fascinated by the details of Victorian society. As the novel begins, Charlotte struggles with the daily drudgery of a Victorian household – laundry, chores and childcare. When Charlotte suddenly loses her maid before leaving for Ireland with Victor, she is in crisis. Readers will remember the new maid – Minnie Maude Mudway – from one of Perry’s previous novels, A Christmas Promise. At the other end of the social spectrum, readers will see the Irish aristocracy in their drawing rooms and get a picture of life at the highest levels of British government as Thomas dines with his political superior in the Home Office, Sir Gerald Croxdale. Surprisingly, evil can be found in all levels of English society.
Anne Perry is the bestselling author of two long-running Victorian mystery series, one based on the lives of Charlotte and Thomas Pitt and the other on William Monk. She has also written other historical novels and a series of Christmas novels. Readers will be thrilled with Treason at Lisson Grove not only for the complicated political and social relationships and fascinating twists and turns of the complex plot, but also for the heart-stopping ending where readers get to know an unexpected historical figure and Charlotte and Thomas face a challenge that they never expected.