It moved along ang flowed very nicely but there were a few things that I found odd and lost the book a 5-star rating. I also had to remember that women in the era that the books are set didn't have the freedoms that women have today. t seemed that at times Charlotte was not even that interested in the investigation. She spent numerous hours immersed in helping General Balantyne with his family history. There were great stretches of time when she made absolutely no moves toward resolving the case at all. Her only reason for being in the vicinity at all was to enable her to meet a secondary character and provide a link for the end of the story. Then suddenly her sister Emily was front and center playing a huge part in the solving of the mystery by providing information that Charlotte would have certainly been helpful in uncovering. This series very much offers an "insiders" view to the lives and thoughts of life during the Victorian era. This author and this series was one of my mother's all-time favorites and I try to read at least one book a year from her favorite authors or titles...this was 2023's. as a "modern woman" I am still slightly put-off by the hypocrisy and double standards of this era. In spite of that, I think Anne Perry does a fantastic job of immersing the reader in the time period. If you just want to escape into a good mystery...Anne Perry is an author to trust to provide this escape for you. ( )

El nuevo caso de Pitt se inicia con el hallazgo de dos recién nacidos enterrados en una elegante plaza londinense. Pitt choca con el rechazo del distinguido vecindario, reacio a airear sus oscuros secretos ante una simple policía, y es Charlotte quien, aprovechando su aristocrático origen, debe hurgar bajo el caparazón de respetabilidad de las clases altas.

Two gardeners are digging a hole to plant a bush in the fashionable area of Callander Square, in Victorian England. What they find are two small skeletons buried in the plant beds. On closer examination, they are found to be human babies. Inspector Pitt is called in to handle the case.

The residents of the square are well-to-do and don’t like having police in their midst or poking into their private lives. There are some tawdry secrets that are best not to be revealed. Pitt is aware of this and has to work around it, or there will be serious repercussions.

Pitt’s wife, Charlotte, has married beneath her class. She is a strong willed woman who fell in love with a policeman. She no longer travels in the social circle she once did, but still has contact through her sister, Emily, who’s married to a lord. The two women plan and do their own investigations, unbeknownst to Pitt. While Emily is finding to secrets through her social activities — and there are some doozies — Charlotte takes on a secretarial job with a general who is writing his family’s history. She uses her maiden name and passes herself as unmarried. This gives her some access to the household staff. Between the two, they acquire better information than Pitt.

When Pitt finds out what the ladies are doing, it takes a bit to convince him of the advantage their information gives him. Especially when Emily finds out where a young girl is who is considered to have run away from home to marry some other man.

It is interesting to read of the double standards both men and women observed at this time. In public all is proper, but in private it is quite another world! ( )

1883 and two gardeners are digging up the beds in Callander Square and discover two bodies of new born babies. Inspector Pitt is called in to investigate. Meanwhile Lady Ashworth persuades her sister Charlotte, wife to Pitt to help in the investigation. Secrets are everywhere in the Square but who are guilty.
An enjoyable Victorian mystery story with likeable characters. ( )

A nice sequel, second in the series, clearly written (the occasional typo, for which I fault her copy editor, if there was one), and with appealing development of the characters we met in the first book. The story is set in a quiet, affluent London square with houses set around a square where bodies were found by gardeners. The author makes good use of her main characters.

I had to write out an index card early on in the book, to keep track of all the various families that inhabit the 7 occupied houses. It's pretty bewildering. Even with the index card for reference, I got people confused, partly because the author laid out a web of relationships and history I had to keep track of, including the disappeared inhabitant of the 8th house. I was able to figure it out by the end of the story, pretty much.

The author does a good job of making the women in the book rounded characters, constrained by the injustices and roles of the period but nonetheless able to take action within those constraints; she didn't make the mistake so many do of giving female characters more physical freedom than actually pertained to them. Her male characters are also not bad, and she manages to convey their unquestioning acceptance of privilege and their condescension to the women in their lives without making them cartoonish. ( )