Al inspector Pitt le encargan que reabra un espinoso caso cerrado tres años atrás. Se trata de la muerte en extrañas circunstancias de un hombre que trabajaba para el Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores, cuya viuda pretende casarse ahora con un colega de su difunto marido. Lo que el inspector y su sagaz esposa Charlotte ignoran es que detrás de todo ese turbio asunto hay un laberinto de vergonzosas relaciones sexuales e incluso un caso de espionaje internacional...

In 1884, a burglary at the home of Robert York, of the Foreign Office, results in him being killed. Now three years later Inspector Pitt as been told to open up the investigation again. But what is the real rason why. Was it just murder, or was treason involved, and if by whom. His wife Charlotte and her sister Emily help in the case.
A bit too much vernacular, but still another entertaining story in this series. ( )

declining Victorian series, 3 yer old murder hinges on tranvestism and boring repetition of Victorian morals etc.

La trame habituelle de la série est ici à nouveau reprise, mais avec malheureusement moins de bonheur que précédemment: meurtres, conspiration, confrontation de classes et enquête menée de main de maître par Charlotte Pitt, sa sœur et la pittoresque tante Vespasia. Si la description du Londres victorien est toujours bien vivante et sordide, le roman s'essouffle et l'intrigue se traîne, l'éloignement géographique de ses protagonistes oblige l'auteur à passer trop souvent de l'un à l'autre, et le final précipité finit de perdre le lecteur en route. Dommage. ( )

The pages continued to turn, although the plot was not especially riveting. Still, I didnt get bored as I sometimes do. The wealthy class awakening to the plight of others was more pronounced in this book. Charlotte, a step removed from her tonnish upbringing, is startled to realize her maid's threadbare nightclothes. Emily, thinking to marry an impecunious man whom she loves, finds herself surprised at that...and then learns first-hand how little time the servant-class has to themselves. Even Pitt, himself, learns that the degradation of prison life doesn't fully destroy the humanity of the prison-class. ( )