El caso de Farrier's Lane

Charlotte & Thomas Pitt #13

by Anne Perry, Diego Friera Acebal (Translator), María José Díez Pérez (Translator)

El juez Stafford ha sido envenenado con opio y el inspector Pitt es el encargado de investigar este crimen, asunto que cada vez se va haciendo más y más complejo, pues tropezará con una serie de tramas sentimentales entre sus amigos y conocidos, con las contradicciones de la justicia, con el antisemitismo latente en la sociedad victoriana y con las peculiaridades del mundo teatral. Y a medida que sigue investigando, el inspector Pitt irá recomponiendo una triste historia familiar.

Genres: Mystery, Historical Fiction, Historical Mystery, Historical, Fiction, British Literature, Crime

498 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Anne Perry, born Juliet Hulme in England, lived in Scotland most of her life after serving five years in prison for murder (in New Zealand). A beloved mystery authoress, she is best known for her Thomas Pitt and William Monk series.

Her first novel, "The Cater Street Hangman", was published in 1979. Her works extend to several categories of genre fiction, including historical mysteries. Many of them feature recurring characters, most importantly Thomas Pitt and amnesiac private investigator William Monk, who first appeared in 1990, "The Face Of A Stranger".

Her story "Heroes," from the 1999 anthology Murder And Obsession, won the 2001 Edgar Award For Best Short Story. She was included as an entry in Ben Peek's Twenty-Six Lies / One Truth, a novel exploring the nature of truth in literature.

Series contributed to:
. Crime Through Time
. Perfectly Criminal
. Malice Domestic
. The World's Finest Mystery And Crime Stories
. Transgressions
. The Year's Finest Crime And Mystery Stories

Reviews

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this 13th book in the 'Thomas and Charlotte Pitt' series, the Scotland Yard detective and his wife look into the murder of a judge. The book can be read as a standalone.

*****

Detective Thomas Pitt and his wife Charlotte are at the theater when an appeals court judge, Justice Stafford, is murdered in his box.



It seems Stafford may have been planning to look into the conviction and hanging of Aaron Godman five years before. Godman was accused of killing married playboy Kingsley Blaine who was dallying with Godman's sister. Blaine had been stabbed and crucified and Godman was Jewish - all of which inflamed the public and may have led to a hasty judgment.



Could it be that Godman was innocent and someone doesn't want Stafford to rake the case up? Detective Pitt investigates Stafford's death (with the help of his wife Charlotte as usual). Pitt questions persons of interest, makes observations, consults with relevant lawyers and judges, and so on.



My problem with the book is that too many characters repeat the same evidence/story ad infinitum which becomes long and tedious. The book could have been edited to be a third shorter without losing any important threads. Also, a number of characters spout anti-Semitic sentiments, which I found offensive but is probably authentic for the time period.

Overall, it's a decent mystery with plenty of memorable (if not particularly likable) characters. The book's resolution was surprising but believable. In any case it's always fun to read the author's depiction of the rigid customs, foibles, and hoity-toity attitudes of the British 'upper classes' of the 1800s.



You can follow my reviews at https://reviewsbybarbsaffer.blogspot....

[Paul Weiss · Rating 2 out of 5]

“She tried to imagine [his face] contorted with the hatred that would stab a man to death and then crucify his corpse.”

In one of the most sensational cases to ever rock Victorian England – the stabbing and post mortem crucifixion of the corpse against an alley way door – the convicted and subsequently executed murderer was a Jew. That the capture of the allegedly blasphemous suspect and his conviction was completed with unseemly haste was always known but all and sundry were convinced that the verdict was correct and that justice had been done. Five years later, when Justice Stafford, a distinguished judge on the court of appeals, was murdered by opium poisoning in his theater box and later found to have been questioning that long established verdict and re-examining the evidence, the case is quietly re-opened. Police Inspector Thomas Pitt finds himself investigating two murders and swimming upstream against a veritable tsunami of anti-Semitic venom and hatred.

I have to give Anne Perry full credit for a colourful, if somewhat contentious and controversial thematic idea for this entry in the Thomas and Charlotte Pitt mystery series. But the execution, in my opinion at least, was deeply flawed. Pitt’s investigation consisted of asking the same entirely obvious questions (over and over and over again … and then some more) regarding the first murder of a string of reluctant witnesses, police officers, and appeal judges who gave the same answers (over and over and over again ... and then some more) and persisted ad nauseum in their belief of the validity of the original guilty verdict and the subsequent execution of the convicted perpetrator. It became really quite tedious. But what’s even worse is that the story evolved quickly into something disturbing, disgusting and heart-breakingly tedious when those interviews were overlaid with a resounding drumbeat of outrageous anti-Semitism. I get it! Anti-Semitism was a fact in Christian Victorian England but Anne Perry’s use of that fact in her story went way beyond the pale.

It’s an unavoidable logical inevitability that when an author pens a multi-novel series, one of the entries in that series MUST be the worst of the lot. While I still consider myself a member of the Thomas and Charlotte Pitt fan club, FARRIER’S LANE gets my vote for the worst of those that I’ve read. Not recommended. Look elsewhere in the series.

Paul Weiss

[Kike · Rating 4 out of 5]

De los mejores de la serie, con un inesperado giro que hace más emocionante la historia y sobre todo toca el tema de la intolerancia religiosa un tema que sigue siendo muy actual

[Ira · Rating 4 out of 5]

It a sad storyline.

A young man found guilty and hanged because he was a Jew.
His sister tried for years to restore his name and didn't believe he was guilty.
One of the judge who believed her, tried to open the 5 years old case, but then someone killed him too.

Is not an easy case for Thomas, racist very thick in 19th century England and Micah, his boss wanted him to take over his position:)

Bitch Grandmama been told off 😂 and Caroline (Charlotte 53 years old mum) feel in love with an actor who was 17 years younger than her and a Jew! Go Caro!😜

I tried to find the right pic for Thomas, who is described as an average looking guy with dark curly hair, tall and lean with intelligent eyes, beautiful voice and untidy, no matter how smart he was looking the first time in the morning:)

Charlotte who is described not beautiful but a handsome lady, tall, intelligent and absolutely stunning when she dress up and start talking in all confidence she have which not normally found in those times.

If they make this series again, I pick Benedict as Thomas, while I always think Emily as Charlotte:)



Charlotte Pitt



Thomas Pitt



London

[Kathy Davie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thirteenth in the Charlotte and Thomas Pitt historical mystery series set in late Victorian England.


My Take
I love it, I love it...Grandmama finally gets all her nastiness thrown back in her face. And about frickin' time! It's also rather sweet to see the about-face that Mrs. Ellison is performing. A new love, a new attitude.

These are just about the only bright notes in this story. Public outcry and political pressure along with the horror of the crime caused the police to speedily find a culprit who fit within their parameters. The pressure the police brought onto the witnesses makes me understand thoroughly why Drummond is so insistent about Pitt taking on this promotion! I can understand wanting to make people feel safe, but I cannot understand doing it at the price of an innocent person. What purpose does it serve to throw some random individual to the wolves if it isn't the right person? The person who actually did the crime? I don't understand that. I'd be so much more terrified of a police force that will jam up anyone they can make fit AND is okay with leaving the real criminal running about loose to repeat his (her) crime.

Equally, reading the outcry (a very tiny, unprepossessing word for the situation) against the Jews. Assuming that a crucifixion automatically makes it a crime committed by a Jew. What a bunch of idiots!! Hullo! How incredibly simple it would be to use this to make it appear that way. I mean, really, duh… Then that stupid attitude about "breeding". Oh. My. God. Can people...what am I saying?? Of course they can be that stupid and ignorant. There are still stupid and ignorant people out there today...hard as it is to believe. I just wanna smack 'em all! Where are the Darwin Awards when we need them!??

Oh god, that woman! To have to listen to her spout her absolute nonsense was just...impossible! Oh yeah, uh-huh, I can figure out the real reason her son was deformed the stupid, ignorant, old besom. The damage such ignorance and prejudice can cause! And so condescending in her ignorance!! I couldn't decide if I should laugh or scream or both!

Oh, Joshua has such a sweet comment in response to Caroline's worry. We should all be so lucky to love someone like him.

It's odd that just about everyone on the old case is uncomfortable with it. Why didn't the police hunt the pawn shops for the necklace? So many of the witnesses and experts were having second thoughts, why didn't this send up questions? As for Charlotte's worry about her mother...what a hypocrite!

Interesting historical references to opium being given to wounded soldiers during the Civil War in America and thinking that "it would be less addicting than ether or chloroform, especially if given by the then new invention..." There's a bit where Gracie and Charlotte are doing some cleaning and Perry mentions their homemade recipes...makes ya grateful for Formula 409, Comet, and other such household cleaning products. Can you imagine having to find your own useful recipes? Having to mix your own cleaning solutions?


The Story
The murder of a prominent judge and its possible connection to a notorious case that ended in a hanging has everyone rushing about and a great deal of pressure being brought to bear by the Home Secretary to clear the case. Clues are everywhere, but none seem to connect or make sense. The only clear lead is that it must be connected to a horrific crime committed five years ago. Yet, the convicted suspect is dead. The evidence was clear. Even the appeals court ruled against him. Yet, Justice Stafford revisited every one of the involved parties the afternoon of the evening he died. With a quite firm idea that the case must be reopened.

Of course, it's always possible that the cheating wife and her lover may have had a hand in his demise...

On a more personal note, Mrs. Ellison has fallen in love with someone completely unsuitable and Charlotte is mortified.


The Characters
Charlotte Pitt is a Victorian woman who married down, my dears, but she is extremely happy with her police inspector husband and her life as a housewife. And never more so than when she's "helping" him on a case. Thomas Pitt is the son of a gardener on a noble's estate and was taught along with the son of the house, which accounts for his posh accent and his comfort level in the houses of the aristocracy. There is nothing that can account for his slovenly dress, however. Their daughter Jemima is seven now and young Daniel is five. Gracie is her now-17-year-old maid who also shares in Charlotte's investigations. Lady Emily is living retired in the country while she awaits the birth of her next child. Lady Vespasia Cumming-Gould does come to Charlotte's aid with a most unexpected personal result.

Caroline Ellison is Charlotte's widowed mother who shares her home with her curmudgeonly mother-in-law...what a bitch she is! Mrs. Ellison is quite proper in dress and manner. Although, with her new freedom as a widow, Mrs. E is getting quite feisty.

Micah Drummond is Thomas' increasingly unhappy supervisor; he's also a member of the Inner Circle. And badly, baldly in love with the widow of a dishonored man, Eleanor Byam. Chief Inspector Charles Lambert was the officer in charge of the Farriers' Lane case five years ago. Police Constable Paterson was the investigating officer while Deputy Commissioner Aubrey Winton is Drummond's superior and the senior police officer in charge of the men who investigated Farriers' Lane.

Kingsley Blaine was a dreamer and a dilettante having an affair with an actress, Tamar Macaulay, promising to leave his wife Kathleen and marry Tamar. It's Tamar's brother, Aaron Godman, who was jammed up and tried for his gruesome murder. Kingsley's friend, Devlin O'Neill, was briefly questioned and ended up marrying the widow and they live in her family's home: Mrs. Adah Harrimore is the grandmother while Mr. Prosper Harrimore is her father.

Barton James was the barrister for the defense and Ebenezer Moorgate was Aaron's solicitor. The trial judge with the interesting story was Thelonius Quade who had an affaire with Lady Vespasia twenty years ago. The appeals court judges were Samuel Stafford (his wife is Juniper Stafford), Ignatius Livesey, Granville Oswyn, Edgar Boothroyd who has since retired and sunk himself in drink, and Morley Sadler. Adolphus Pryce was the prosecutor in the Farriers' Lane case and is currently Juniper's lover.

Joshua Fielding is a prominent actor and was also in love with Tamar at the time as well as a suspect---and a Jew!!!---as was Aaron; he seems to be veering in a more upwardly direction now. Clio Farber is another actress and friendly with both Tamar and Kathleen. Even Oscar Wilde has a part to play.


The Title
The title refers to the case tried five years earlier in which a murder occurred in Farriers' Lane.

[C. (Comment, don't blank click reviews). · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Anne Perry’s compassionate, witty, intelligent characters. They are blended believably into original, action-packed work. I read only one or two of her novels per year to savour them. Thus, I cannot believe that “Farrier’s Lane” is already volume 13. We know the regular and occasional cast of characters very well, whom their authoress alternates in the spotlight of her mystery stories. The series evolves, with Emily remarried and Mama, Caroline embracing the freedom of her single life. So relatable are bleakly disapproving relatives, that scenes in which Caroline tells off her Mother-in-law are gratifyingly encouraging. Charlotte rattles her Grandmama subtly.

Anne crafted original circumstances again, each memorable from the last but I gave four stars to this mystery. Disturbing mindsets in many of them reinforce the need to shine a bright light against prejudice of any kind. It spoils nothing to say that I still doubted that any educated person would believe paranoid things about what children inherited and kill out of that fear.

The year 1993 brings us approximately to the Victorian year 1893, each novel 100 years from its present day publishing. London abounds in actors and socialite Caroline literally let her hair down in the enthralling rush of being invited into their mêlée. Grandmama argues that the company of actors is unbecoming to their status, whereas Caroline has learned from Charlotte, Thomas, and her own experience that fine manners are a different matter from a shallow adherence to pretentious, hollow expectations. She means to seize life happily now.

When her favourite actor is accused of a murder, Charlotte & Thomas hope she can handle the truth, with her new openness of spirit and affection. This heralds Charlotte’s help, while Thomas learns that when he solves this case, his supervisor is retiring to his true happiness.

[We Are All Mad Here · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thirteen books in and still not a single literary agent, literary agent's assistant, copyeditor or other kind of editor has said, "Your main character here, the detective, is a blazing moron."

Honestly it's no wonder they had to have Sherlock Holmes back in the late 19th century. Also it's no wonder that Sherlock was addicted to drugs. Who wouldn't be, if they were the only detective in AN ENTIRE NATION capable of solving a crime?

Once again, Pitt walks away from more than one conversation thinking, "well, that's that, now I know," when in reality HE ONLY KNOWS WHAT SOMEONE DECIDED TO TELL HIM. HE HAS NO IDEA WHETHER THAT THING WAS A TRUE OR, GASP, A LIE. I don't want to yell out this entire paragraph so I will switch back to lowercase to add that in the course of a murder investigation, typically at least one of the persons questioned tells at least one lie. Spoiler: in this case, the murderer does indeed tell at least one lie directly to Pitt. Gasp again. Who'd have thought.

Another thing: has anyone ever witnessed the actual blood draining from another person's face? Assuming that person was not being drunk from by a vampire? It happens so frequently in this series and I generally let it go right by me, I get the effect it is intended to make and it works. But I think in this book #13 maybe it happened one time too many. Because, it got me thinking about whether it really happens in real life and my verdict was: I DON'T THINK SO.

Perhaps it's time for a break from the Pitts, much as I do love Charlotte and Gracie and other side characters.

One highlight of mine from this book: "There were some moments so precious the ache to hold on to them was a physical thing. He had to force himself to have faith that others as good would come, and the letting go must be easy, or they would be crushed in the very act of clinging."

[Sandi · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is full of anti-Semitic issues. I had no idea that there was so much of this kind of hatred in Victorian England. I was raised by parents that did not harbor hatred of people that were of different races or religions. This time period is not one that I am very familiar with but I am certainly learning more about it as I read each one of Anne Perry's book. She makes one think about why people had such fallacies about those of the Jewish faith. I know in the Old Testament that it was considered unclean to marry outside of the Jewish faith, but in a more modern society/world, for Christians to believe that mixing with Hebrew blood would contaminate them was very strange to me. While I did enjoy the story I thought it did drag on a bit in places.

[Alexandra · Rating 2 out of 5]

Strictly speaking this was a good, well put-together mystery. However, I picked it up wanting a nice whodunit to curl up by the fire with and it turned out to be simply far too dark for that. The anti-Semitic sentiments expressed by many characters, though they are in keeping with the general mindset of the times (this is the Victorian age, after all), were so disturbing that for me they marred the book beyond the point where I could enjoy it. And the racist superstition [SPOILER ALERT] which turns out to be a crucial motivation for the culprit, but is only spelled out near the end, is something I imagine most decent people in the 21st century wouldn't be familiar with. So it stopped me, as I suspect it did for most readers, from having any chance of solving the crime. Perry, a gifted mystery writer, has done far better work.

[LJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Farrier's Lane - VG
Perry, Anne - 14th in Pitt series

When Justice Stafford dies of opium poisoning, his demise resurrects one of England's most sensational cases.

Such an excellent series. I love the characters and the way in which Perry captures the time period.

[June Ahern · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm on an Anne Perry kick lately and Farrier's Lane was just the ticket to keep me up reading. Police Detective Thomas Pitt is on a gruesome murder case and his wife Charlotte, as usual, has to take part in helping to solve the case, often to against her husband's wishes. But this old murder and new murder does some how involve her mother's love interest. It is set in London in 1889 with the first murder (gruesome) still unsolved. A murder that caused great public outcry and a man was hanged for it - but was he actually the killer? Could be but the second murder, Thomas begins to learn is very tied to that murder. Ms. Perry always brings social issues of women rights (or non rights), high society (ugh - the English snobs) and as well as prostitution . In this story it includes anti-semitism. As said above, the police and courts are under great pressures to convict and the result is the hanging of a Jewish actor.

The present death is a Judge or as called in GB a justice dies from a seemingly natural causes, a heart attach while at the theatre and Inspector Thomas Pitt is assigned to inquire about it. It appears that the Justice had been poisoned and later learned that he was one of the Justices that had served on the appeals court for the case for the Jewish man hanged for the old case. He was looking into again.

I enjoyed the mystery and all the frills about society and Pitt's household happenings. The novel has some violent and (light) sexual descriptives. Ms. Perry's use of the cockney can be a bit difficult to read.
The Skye in June

[Anne Hawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the story of a heinous crime which was committed five years prior to the time of this novel's setting. A young man was stabbed and hung, as if in crucifixion, a fact that leads the police to conclude that the assailant was a Jew. A young actor, who was Jewish was tried and executed, but his sister has always insisted that he was innocent. The story opens with the death of an Appellate Judge's death, which just happens to occur in the Opera Box next to the one in which were Charlotte and Thomas Pitt. It seems that this judge had received a visit from the young man's sister and something she said made him interview a number of the participants in the earlier trial. It seems as if the Farrier's Lane murder is at the heart of this murder.

While it is hard to figure out who the guilty person is until near the end, there are "facts" that are accepted as evidence that are easy to see through. There are several examples of circular logic which even Pitt accepts during most of the book. Usually Anne Perry is more subtle than in this book, but it doesn't distract from the story

[The Library Lady · Rating 4 out of 5]

To solve a murder he witnessed Pitt must go back and re-investigate an older murder that caused riots, and he may be in for promotion again. Meanwhile Charlotte's mother is in love with an actor, and it's amusing to see how little continuity there can be, even from a fine writer like Perry. In one place Charlotte's father died "quite recently," elsewhere it is said to be five years ago. And the Ellisons seem to have moved briefly from Cater Street in one book, but in the last and this are clearly back in Charlotte's childhood home.

Aunt Vespasia Age Watch: She is again said to be 80 or so, but there is also talk between Charlotte and Pitt about how invigorated she seems.Perhaps the first dose of youth serum that will have her age regress in later books first starts here.....

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this novel, dense with clues. It took me until late in the novel before I began to suspect the real culprit because as we follow Inspector Pitt through an old case with bearing on a current case, there are dead ends everywhere. Perry packs so much atmosphere and detail into these novels and they are really fun to read, even when the subject matter is dark. Charlotte, the maid Gracie, and Charlotte's mother, Caroline, all assist with the detective work in an effort to clear a possibly innocent man's reputation.

[Lori · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although I appreciated a couple of twists in this book, overall the pace of the story was too slow and reduced my satisfaction with this book.

[Kathi · Rating 4 out of 5]

9/10
A very satisfying mystery—or rather, serious of mysteries, as Thomas & Charlotte Pitt and their companions strive to solve the current apparent murders while re-investigating a 5 year old horrific murder case, looking for the connections that may tie the deaths together. Parallel to the main mystery are developments in the personal lives of the central continuing characters. One of the best, so far, in this series.

[Tory Wagner · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this book, the 13th in the series featuring Charlotte and Thomas Pitt, the focus is on Thomas while Charlotte takes a more minor role. In working on a case involving the death of a judge, Thomas realizes that it harkens back to a case that may have been solved incorrectly. Much of the book is quite sobering, but the interaction between Charlotte and Thomas is still enjoyable.

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book! It was much better than the two that came right before it [especially book:Highgate Rise|821177]. I think Perry is at her best when looking at cold cases. In any case, things really moved forward plot-wise, both for the mystery of the book as well as how things might turn out for Pitt and his family going forward.

An appeals judge dies while Charlotte, her mom and Thomas are attending a night at the theatre. He's been poisoned by ingesting liquid opium, but why was he killed? Was it something to do with a brutal and unforgettable case that he'd been begged to reopen by the convicted man's sister, an actor in the night's play? Or was he killed so his wife Juniper can marry her lover, Pryce? Pitt believes it has to do with the Farriers Lane case, but he investigates the love triangle to satisfy his boss, Drummond. Farriers Lane was the murder of Kingsley Blaine. He was crucified and nailed to the stable wall. They thought they solved the case by arresting Aaron Godman, a Jewish man who was Kingsley's friend. The whole situation was a tinderbox - there was rioting and pressure on the police and lawyers to convict someone. Through the course of Pitt's and Charlotte's questioning, all the cops and lawyers involved believe they convicted the right guy, but they all seem to agree that it was hasty and there were some not-quite-above-board circumstances (like how Aaron was beat up in prison by Paterson).

Meanwhile, through all of Pitt's research, Micah Drummond is pining after Eleanor Byam, who has fallen from grace after her (gay) husband Sholto died in embarrassing circumstances in the last book. He goes to see her often, and asks her to marry him. She turns him down, telling him accurately that he'll lose his career position and social standing if she accepts him. The irony, he notes, is that he took her as his lover, he wouldn't be any worse off. So he resigns after the Stafford case is closed, and recommends Pitt to take his place. We don't know if he 100% accepts when this book ends, but we assume it. Pitt would still get to do the part of the job he loves, the legwork, because he wouldn't have another Pitt to rely on to do it.

In any case, Stafford was killed because he was about to reopen the Farriers Lane case. However, in a good twist, he wasn't murdered by the same guy who killed Kingsley. Kingsley was having an affair with Tamar, Aaron's brother. (They arrested Aaron thinking he'd killed his friend because he was sleeping with his sister but wouldn't marry her.) Kingley's wife's father Prosper Harrimore is prejudiced against Jews - he was born with a clubfoot and his mom Adah told him that happened because his father slept with a Jewess while she was pregnant, contaminating her womb and her unborn child. He didn't want his grandchildren spoiled by his affair with a Jew.

But Stafford was actually killed by his fellow appeals judge Livesey. I actually suspected him because he was there when the judge died and he seemed too close to everything - knowing of the affair, giving over the flask found with the opium, etc. He thought Stafford "betrayed the law" by reopening the Farriers Lane case. Pitt doesn't arrest him, saying he's already punished himself by "robbing himself of anything of worth."

Emily isn't in this at all- she and Jack have gone to the country for the remainder of her second pregnancy. Gracie plays a pivotal role and meets a street urchin named Joe Slater. They kiss (aw).

Caroline involves herself in the case with Charlotte, surprising both herself and Charlotte. Her husband has been dead for about 5 years and she's getting bored. She finds herself with feelings for Tamar's fellow actor (and current suspect) Joseph Fielding. He's not a good fit for her romantically - not only is he a jew, but he's also about 14 years younger than her. Part of why she wants to help with the investigation is to clear his name. The mystery is almost a cozy because there were only a few people Stafford saw the day he died who could have poisoned his silver flask. Joseph didn't do it but I actually thought he might have since one character mentions how similar in stature he and Aaron were- maybe he posed as Aaron to get his friend arrested. But that was a red herring.

Happens in autumn/September.

[Mary Ellen Barringer · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book in the Charlotte and Thomas Pitt series. Balance between Thomas and Charlotte's lives. Happy to see Thomas' boss take happiness for himself.

[Scot · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thirteenth in this series. This time around Thomas must deal with an unresolved case, a particularly grisly murder of a man crucified against a smithy's door, and the case reopend after a perfectly charming night at the theatre is ruined when Thomas notices a man succumbing to poison in a nearby box. A theme of anti-Semitism in Victorian England pervades the novel, and we get some insight into the lives of actros and actresses of this period and a bonus visit to the British Museum. Charlotte's mother Caroline becomes quite the merry widow, Drummond contemplates serious life changes, and Gracie seems to find herself a beau.

[Lindsey · Rating 2 out of 5]

This hasn't been my favorite Pitt mystery. For most of the book I was a bit bored honestly because the investigation seemed to be going in circles. It wasn't until the last several pages that some excitement entered the story and it was all due the actions of Gracie, the Pitt's enterprising housemaid.

[Mary Baker · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this book was too drawn out and actually boring at times. I did not find myself as involved with the plot, the setting, or the characters as I have been in many of the author's other books. Even Gracie decides to help Thomas solve his mystery in this book. There were so many characters to keep up with too. I hope the next book in the series is better.

[Bdrake · Rating 4 out of 5]

Discovered Anne Perry about a year ago and I find all of her books compelling and hard to put down. Farrier's Lane was no exception, it was outstanding. You never no the guilty parties until the last few pages. Well done!

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

In which damn, y'all fucked up.
Charlotte and Thomas are at the theater! It's a special treat. Except that Thomas looks over and notices that a judge in the next box is apparently, uh, super sleepy. Or dying. He does in fact die, with his wife fluttering over him.
The judge, Judge Stafford, presided over an appeal in the case of Aaron Godman, a Jewish actor who was convicted of killing and crucifying his friend/sister's married boyfriend, Kingsley Blaine. There was a lot of anti-semitic activity at the time, and it's clear that once Godman was identified as a suspect, no one really looked that hard at the evidence, or looked for other people who might have been involved. Godman's sister Tamar, who was the girlfriend of the crucified guy and eventually gave birth to his love child, kept harassing the judges involved to open the case because she knew her brother hadn't done it.
In service to the cause, Great-Aunt Vespasia renews an old acquaintance: Thelonius Quade, who totally was her boyfriend for a while! It's super-cute. Anyway, Quade says he knew the trial was going too fast, but there was nothing specific he could point to, to declare a mistrial. Plus he was afraid riots would break out if the trial didn't continue. It was just a bad situation.
Stafford's wife was having an affair with a man of about her age who was also in the law field, so the suspicion is that maybe one of them poisoned the husband to get him out of the way so they could marry. But that's too easy, so no.
Pitt retraces the old investigation and interviews witnesses, and speaks to the patrolman who was first involved in the case. The man is clearly bitter and angry over it, because he's 100% sure they caught the right guy. But then he's discovered hanged! So Stafford was looking into the case and was poisoned, and then the patrolman was hanged, and it's impossible that he committed suicide (there's nothing nearby he could have climbed up on and stepped off). So it has to have something to do with the case.
Pitt re-interviews a flower seller who testified Godman was in the right area and brought flowers from her, but there was a discrepancy about the time. Pitt figures out the flower seller was basically persuaded to lie about the time, to make sure Godman didn't have an alibi.
Charlotte has basically managed to become social acquaintances of Blaine's family, and finds out that Blaine's grandmother-in-law is SUPER anti-semitic. (At this point I had thought they'd discovered that Blaine was secretly Jewish and decided to kill him.) Then she goes with them to the theater and sees them looking at the child on stage, Tamar and Blaine's illegitimate child, and realizes that they were so super racist that Prosper must have killed Blaine, his son-in-law.
Then Gracie (go girl!) decides to go interview a street urchin involved in the case. He had been paid to tell Blaine that his friend (a guy he'd quarreled with over something minor earlier) forgave him and wanted to meet at a club. That message led Blaine to walk to the place where he was murdered. Said urchin, Joe, is super bitter and distrustful of cops. Gracie persuades him to go see Prosper Harrimore, to confirm that the message to meet somebody came from Prosper. Joe confirms it and Prosper chases them, and they end up back in Pitt's kitchen, and also Joe and Gracie are crushing on each other! It's sweet.
Pitt goes to arrest Prosper and finds the knife he used to stab Blaine and kill him. He arrests him for all the murders, and Prosper says he did kill Blaine, but not the judge or the patrolman. And Prosper's mother says all this is partially her fault. You see, Prosper's father was cheating on Prosper's mother with a Jewish woman, and Prosper's mother is a super awful bitch who was apparently taught that if a person sleeps with a Jewish woman, that person is tainted forever and that taint will deform any offspring. Prosper's mother tried to abort him when she found out about the affair, but failed, and Prosper was born with a club foot. Y'all are awful.
Pitt goes back to the beginning and finds out Oscar Wilde (!!!!) was apparently at the theater when the judge was murdered, and interviews him. Wilde remembers that he saw someone else drink from the judge's flask during the intermission, but that the judge was drinking refreshments, not from the flask, and smoking a big ol' cigar. So the cigar was poisoned, not the flask, which was tested and found to be full of opium.
Pitt figures out that the opium must have been put into the flask as a blind, and that one of the other appeal judges must have done it, because he didn't want his reputation tarnished by the case being proven wrong. That judge also found the hanged patrolman and re-staged the scene so it would look like a murder instead of a suicide (the murder hadn't made sense, because it appeared the patrolman had willingly been hanged; he hadn't been poisoned, sedated, or coerced into it).
So, there's that. Go Gracie, you little badass!

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Found in a Little Book Library, so I felt, "why not?" I'm a fan of the Inspector Monk/(Hester Latterly) series, but I had yet to read a Pitt novel.

Note on the book's antisemitism: To Perry's credit, she includes the hateful rhetoric and if not explicitly calls out (via character dialogue), makes it clear her narrators (and therefore assumably she) disagrees with both the vitriolic and casual bigotry espoused by a litany of characters. The Jewish characters are, on a whole, sympathetic, and the antisemitic ones mostly borne out as villains. That being said, it is discomfiting to read, and I would be remiss in not mentioning that antisemitism exists in the text (even if it is criticized).

I'm not sure if it was the opaque nature of this case, that it's relatively late in series, or what, but this was... fine? The mystery itself was decently compelling, even though a few clues early on clued me into the real murderer maybe ~100 pages in (of 420 or so pages). It was aggravating to wait another 300 pages for the detectives to catch up. Let alone re-question the same witnesses at least 3 times with no new answers. The final death felt like a late-stage addition to add energy to the last 50 pages after yet another round of retreading the same steps, and its solution too neatly pat to provide conclusion after so much wheel-spinning.

I don't mean to play the comparison game with Anne Perry's two detective duos, but the domestic nature of Charlotte's life made her a less compelling narrator and detective. While she has a lot of agency, it felt like her pathways were far more limited (versus Hester's work as a nurse), and her insights fortunately received rather than hard-earned. Thomas is a competent-enough detective, but he lacked the verve of a more compelling narrator. Their surrounding cast — aside from maybe Gracie, their maid — were similarly bland. Micah Drummond is no Oliver Rathbone, that's for sure.

As always, Perry is a fine enough writer — although I definitely found contradictory sentences within a paragraph or typos here and there which felt WILD to exist on the printed page for a well-published author — but I found myself longing to read a Monk/Latterly instead.

[Barbara Howe · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm starting to wonder why I keep reading the books in this series. The characters and the setting are interesting, but, in addition to Perry's usual continuity issues and abrupt endings, this book has several other big problems:
⁃ The blatant and pervasive antisemitism may be correct for Victorian England, but it made for a really uncomfortable read.
⁃ Nearly everyone in the police and judicial systems—including the main character, Thomas Pitt—comes off as either corrupt or an idiot.
⁃ There's a lot of repetition. Trimming 50 to 100 pages would have made for a much tighter story.

The setup is that an appeals court judge is murdered after he has begun re-questioning witnesses and other people involved in a murder case closed five years earlier, with the supposedly guilty man hanged. The judge was spurred to reopen the case by the hanged man's sister, who keeps proclaiming his innocence. Pitt investigates, and all the police, lawyers, and judges involved insist that the accused man was proven guilty, but the prosecution's case had holes big enough to drive a truck through. All the evidence was circumstantial, there was police brutality and witness coercion involved, and several important questions went unanswered, such as what happened to the murder weapon and the killer's bloody clothes. Plus, how did the slightly-built hanged man accomplish a physical feat that would have been difficult even for someone much larger and stronger? Oh, and by the way, why would the hanged man, a Jew, drive London into paroxysms of antisemitic violence by making the murder look like a crucifixion? (That last bit just smelled like an attempt to frame him.) Pitt actually considers the physical improbability of the hanged man having committed the murder, but then goes along with what the police and judges tell him. And he's supposed to be one of the police force's best detectives? Yeah, right.

[Joanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Plot-wise, I think this is one of the sharpest mysteries so far. While I did guess the cold case culprit, it was only shortly before the characters figured it out, which made for some great pacing. The red herrings and bluffs that led to the current culprit were exceptionally well-done - I did suspect that person, but fell for the logic pointing away from them. Pacing throughout was inconsistent, with some sections trudging along and seeming quite repetitive (the number of times various configurations go to interrogate the same people will give the average reader serious deja vu); fortunately, the important scenes were electric. A little suspension of disbelief is necessary for Gracie's adventure, but what a thrilling chapter! Farriers' Lane doesn't avoid the series' penchant for rushed conclusions, but it made a little more sense this time because the motive had been disclosed ahead of time. Overall, a very enjoyable mystery!

And of course, the character dynamics, sense of place, and commentary on societal mores and justice were as vivid as usual. It was interesting, if completely horrifying, to witness sensible people express utterly reprehensible feelings about the Jewish community; anti-Semitism has evidently been one of the few defining characteristics across the eras of humanity, and I hope seeing such stark ugliness will give modern readers impetus to check their own attitudes. The glamor of the theater and the severity of the legal system were both portrayed with great evocation, and the horror of the original crime was truly bleak rather than melodramatic. And the characters? As far as I'm concerned, you can't do better where murder mysteries are concerned. Anne Perry's complex, sensitive portrayals of all her characters, from street urchins to housemaids to noblemen to Charlotte and Thomas themselves, are without equal.

Finally, I couldn't end the review without highlighting an absolutely excoriating and insightful takedown, from Thomas Pitt, of people who use "love" to excuse their sins:

"They are guilty of self-indulgence, of mistaking obsession for love and deceiving themselves it excused everything, when it excuses nothing. Ungoverned hunger is understandable, but there is nothing noble in it. It is selfish and ultimately destructive. [...]Neither of them truly cared for the well-being of the other, or they would never have allowed passion to dictate behavior."

I feel like everyone should be forced to recite that quote several times a day.

Farriers' Lane is another high point in a series with many to choose from. Recommended to all armchair sleuths!

[Virginia Tican · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 years ago from this story's Timeline, in the wake of the terrifying unsolved Whitechapel murders, there was the a gruesome murder~crucifixion at Farrier's Lane for which the Jews were blamed and for awhile there was anti~Semitic rioting and the Police was forced by frenzied public opinion and the Home Secretary to make an arrest. So they arrested Goodman and hanged him. This story started with the death by poison of an appellate judge from that 5~year~old case who was planning on re~opening said case before he died and as Pitt, Charlotte and Caroline were at the theater thus present when the judge started to be ill (he and Charlotte were there when Judge Stafford finally died), Pitt was given the case. Pitt had to trace if there was any connection with the 'solved and closed' Farrier's Lane case with the death of Stafford. Stepping on toes, poking on an already closed case and giving offense would be Pitt's lot on this one and he did it... step by painstaking step... and solved the case with some help from Gracie plus Charlotte tied up the loose ends. Another brilliant ending... though the poisoner may be obvious to some readers early on... there are still some thrills to get from this one, also I have to follow the endearing Pitts up to the very End.

P.S. ~ ... re~ Chapter 5 phrase "stage door Johnnie" first seen on print in 1912, thought to be American English though "John Doe" is British English, origin Middle Ages... source ~ http://wordwizard.com/phpbb3/viewtopi...

[Reader57 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Court of Appeals Judge Stafford is poisoned in his theater box while Thomas, Charlotte, and Caroline are in a nearby box enjoying a show with an actor whom Caroline is enamored of. The investigation seems to lead back to a 5 year old brutal murder case. The lead actress is the sister of the man hanged for that murder and she was constantly pleading with Judge Stafford to reopen the case, as she is sure her brother was innocent. It was an emotionally charged case with antisemitism at its roots. Then the police officer who investigated the old murder is found hanged himself after sending a note to another appellate judge that he had discovered something important.
Charlotte makes her way into the family of the man murdered all those years ago and Gracie plays her part. Charlotte is most concerned that her mother, widowed a few years ago, is in love with this charming Jewish actor, which will ruin her in society.
One of Perry's best in this series.

[Melissa Riggs · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had a hard time getting into this book (number 13 in the series), but once I did-I had a hard time putting in down. As always, the abrupt ending caught me by surprise.

"When the distinguished Mr. Justice Stafford dies of opium poisoning, his shocking demise resurrects one of the most sensational cases ever to inflame England: the murder five years before of Kingsley Blaine, whose body was found crucified in Farriers’ Lane. Amid the public hysteria for revenge, the police had arrested a Jewish actor who was soon condemned to hang. Police Inspector Thomas Pitt, investigating Stafford’s death, is drawn into the Farriers’ Lane murder as well, for it appears that Stafford may have been about to reopen the case. Pitt receives curiously little help from his colleagues on the force, but his wife, Charlotte, gleans from her social engagements startling insights into both cases. And slowly both Thomas and Charlotte begin to reach for the same sinister and deeply dangerous truth."