Half Moon Street: Thomas Pitt and the Dead Photographer.

 

Anne Perry. Half Moon Street (2000). Superintendent Thomas Pitt is called to the scene of a bizarre murder: A dead man dressed in a green velvet gown, and shackled to a punt in an obscene pose, may be a member of the French Embassy. He isn’t (and that loose end is tied up nicely in the end). The dead man is a photographer of great skill and reputation, some of whose clients have “sophisticated” tastes, and some of whose photos are reprinted as naughty postcards. There is also a link with the theatre, and Pitt’s sister-in-law Caroline. Hidden secrets, dysfunctional families, strong differences of opinion about the changing values of late Victorian England make this a novel of ideas as much as of crime. A good read, despite the somewhat stereotypical characters. **