RIP Anne Perry 1938-2023

Historical mystery writer and Master of Crime Anne Perry recently died. 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Perry 

I have been reading her stuff for years.  She’s written a lot of books in the Victorian Thomas Pitt (52!) and William Monk (24)! police procedurals as well as several other series and Christmas novellas. Her work is dark with unseen forces underpinning Victorian society. Intricately plotted and well-set, the characters are a bit wooden but still engaging. 

Recently I  have been reading her early 20th century Daniel Pitt (son of Thomas and Charlotte Pitt) and World War II era Elena Standish series. Both series are richly drawn page-turners. I just started the latest Daniel Pitt, The Fourth Enemy.

It had seemed she was writing books almost faster than I could read them. Now I’m sad there will not be any more books.

After the release of the 1994 movie Heavenly Creatures, it was revealed that  under her birth name Julia Hulme, Perry was convicted of murder as a teenager in New Zealand and served a prison sentence.Such  an experience must have shaped her writing although she didn’t write about it as far as I know. In recent years she moved to L.A. from her home in Scotland. RIP

Reading Series # 2

 Rereading C.S. Harris’ dark but fun Sebastian St. Cyr series with 18 books so far:

What Angels Fear

When Gods Die

Why Mermaids Sing

Where Serpents Sleep

What Remains of Heaven

Where Shadows Dance

When Maidens Mourn

What Darkness Brings.

And just finished  #9 Why Kings Confess

#10 is on hold

It’s comparable to Andrea Penrose ‘s series- both are good but different. The St. Cyr Series is darker, less wry and less sciency. Both have strong female protagonists and slow burn romance.  Sebastian St. Cyr is a tortured but clever nobleman and former soldier with a moral center. His eventual wife/partner Hero nee Jarvis is a radical journalist and reformer impeccably well-dressed and daughter of the most powerful man in England  C.S. Harris is a historian and this shows.  Both series explore the dark underpinnings of regency  society and are meticulously well researched with rich backgrounds and settings.