79. Seven Dials by Anne Perry (Historical mystery) 345 p.

When a prominent politician’s mistress is arrested for murder, and it seems the politician himself is in some way involved, Victor Narraway, head of Special Branch, sends Thomas Pitt o investigate. Ayesha Zakhari, an Egyptian citizen, is accused of having murdered a low-level diplomat who was shot dead in her back garden at 3 a.m. Although she denies the charge, the fact that she was caught red-handed trying to move the body—shot with her gun—seems to confirm her guilt beyond any doubt. Her lover, Saville Ryerson, denies any possibility of her guilt, but he’s hardly an unbiased witness.

I found it strange that all the characters (including Pitt) seemed utterly convinced of Zakhari’s guilt, since to me it seemed quite obvious that the murder might be a political plot, which didn’t occur to Pitt until the second half of the book. Although the solution turned out not to be so straightforward, it was very odd that no one even considered the possibility, even as Pitt was assigned to the case to limit its political repercussions. And especially since everyone agreed, on multiple occasions, that the only motive Zakhari had for the murder was inadequate to the point of absurdity.

I was also annoyed that no one, including Pitt, interviewed Ayesha Zakhari after she was arrested. Pitt was supposedly investigating the case, but although he asked Ryerson some half-hearted questions, he didn’t make any attempt to question the prime suspect! One could assume that, knowing that Zakhari had refused to speak to the police, Pitt concluded that there was no reason to even try to get her to talk to him, but we never actually see him make that decision. He investigates her, a tries to find out who she is from other people, but it never seems to occur to him that he could easily find out what she’s like by meeting her and judging her for himself.

I point out these two things (the automatic assumption of Zakhari’s guilt and the failure to interview her), not because they’re particularly important or affected my enjoyment of the book in any significant way, but because they’re just so odd, especially given Perry’s usually tight and polished plots.

This book was amazing, though; definitely one of Perry’s best. I was ecstatic to find that it contained no Inner Circle politics at all, so I could just sit back, relax, and enjoy the mystery and Perry’s excellent-as-usual historical writing. The revelations about Narraway felt very right, and allowed Pitt to build some personal trust in him, something I wasn’t sure would ever happen.

Gracie and Tellman were incredibly cute, as usual, and I was glad to see their relationship progress. Tellman in particular has developed a lot as a character over the series; in that respect, he actually reminds me of William Monk, the protagonist of Perry’s other long-running series of Victorian mysteries.

The mystery in Seven Dials was a particularly good one, and seeing Pitt visit Egypt in the course of the investigation was icing on the cake!

Pages read: 23,249

Tags: 50 Book Challenge 2008, Anne Perry, Thomas and Charlotte Pitt