Ashworth Hall: A Charlotte and Thomas Pitt Novel (Charlotte & Thomas Pitt Novels)

With every book she writes, Anne Perry, the supreme enchanter among historical novelists, contributes a mesmerizing new chapter to her magical re-creation of Victorian England. Here, she abandons London's cobblestone streets and exclusive drawing rooms for a great country house, Ashworth Hall, where a fateful secret conference is about to begin.

The gathering has the appearance of a smart autumn house party — stunning womena and powerful men enjoying a few days of leisurely pleasure in a setting of exquisite beauty. In fact, the guests are Irish Protestants and Catholics gathered in a reluctant parley over home rule for Ireland, a problem that has plagued the British Isles since the reign of Elizabeth I. When the meeting's moderator, government bigwig Ainsley Greville, is found murdered in his bath, the negotations seemed doomed.

Superintendent Thomas Pitt of Scotland Yard almost despairs as divorce proceedings involving the great Irish Nationalist leader Charles Stewart Parnell and his mistress, Kitty O'Shea, become an open scandal. To make matters worse, it seems the late Greville himself may have had a less than savory personal life. The surviving guests — six men and five women — unleash their true feelings, or perhaps only pretend to do so. Their servants follow suit. Unless Pitt and his clever wife, Charlotte, can root out the truth, simmering passions above and below stairs may again explode in murder, the hopeful home rule movement may collapse, and civil war may destroy Ireland.

Never before has Pitt borne such terrible responsibilities, and never has Charlotte been less able to share them.

From the Hardcover edition.

When a group of powerful Irish Protestants and Catholics gather at a country house 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. Unless Superintendent Thomas Pitt and his wife, Charlotte, can root out the truth, simmering hatreds and passions may again explode in murder.

“Intelligently written and historically fascinating.”—The Wall Street Journal

“A political thriller and a rousing whodunnit . . . [Anne] Perry interweaves history and fiction so deftly that this narration assumes a seemingly monumental importance.”—Chicago Sun-Times

 

“Though one of the pleasures of Anne Perry’s mysteries is her atmospheric and vivid rendering of Victorian England, the plot of her satisfying new novel, Ashworth Hall, is as contemporary as today’s headlines.”—San Francisco Chronicle

 

“The Troubles perfectly suit Perry’s gift for rooting large-scale social conflict in the minutiae of domestic intrigue.”—Kirkus Reviews

 

“[A] rewarding series.”—The New York Times Book Review

Among Anne Perry's other novels featuring Thomas and Charlotte Pitt are Pentecost Alley, Traitors Gate, The Hyde Park Headsman, Highgate Rise, and her newest, Brunswick Gardens. She also writes the popular novels featuring investigator William Monk, including The Silent Cry, a Main Selection of the Mystery Guild, Weighed in the Balance, Cain His Brother, and Defend and Betray. "Her grasp of Victorian character and conscience still astonishes,  said The Cleveland Plain Dealer about the author. Hundreds of thousands of readers agree.

From the Paperback edition.