NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY RT BOOK REVIEWSIn this superbly accomplished new Charlotte and Thomas Pitt adventure, Anne Perry takes us beneath the glittering surface of wealthy Victorian society into a nightmare world of fear and intimidation, where women are too often blamed for the violent attacks against them, and powerful men take what they want, leaving others to pay the price.   The horrifying rape and apparent suicide of Catherine Quixwood, wife of a wealthy merchant banker, falls outside the jurisdiction of new Special Branch head Thomas Pitt, but so pervasively offensive are the rumors about the victim that Pitt quietly takes a hand in the investigation.   Yet even with the help of his ingenious wife, Charlotte, and his former superior, Victor Narraway, Pitt is stumped.
