At first I felt a bit confused reading this book. The back cover talked about the death of Lord Ashworth, the husband of Lady Emily Ashworth sister to Charlotte Pitt. However the first chapter deals with a dismembered body being dug up by a dog. This takes place far from the grand estate Emily and her husband George are staying at. Then for a while the story seems to forget completely about the grisly discovery and focus turns to Emily and the last days of George's life. This book brought out quite a few emotions in me. In the beginning I despised George and part of me was happy that he was found dead in his bed. After all he behaved horribly toward his wife carrying on a flirtation and probable affair with Sybilla March, also married. But as the story moves along I found myself feeling sorry for and actually seeing a good side to George. I also wanted to hate Sybilla as well, a woman so beautiful, so charming she could steal the heart of any man. Not long after George is found dead Sybilla is also found murdered in her bed and my feelings for her changed as well. While the story carried on with the two sisters Charlotte and Emily seeking out the murderer, trying to clear Emily's name as an outsider they all hoped to blame her and have her shipped away to an asylum, I thought back to that first murder and wondered why it had even been mentioned, as nothing else was being said about the woman whose body was found scattered in parcels around London. Then a clue in Sybilla's murder opens that case wide open and my questions were answered. Eventually both murders are solved and the innocent parties allowed to continue on with their lives. I liked the dual murder mystery that was going on in this book, how things differed between the murder in high society and murder in the slums of London, but also that there were some similarities. This book didn't feel as rushed at the end as the others in this series was either. I can only hope that the Thomas and Charlotte Pitt series continues to get better with each book.

Nice book to listen to, very similar to the other Charlotte and Thomas Pitt books by Anne Perry.

Excellent another good read from Anne Perry. For me it's not so much the story as the characters who I love to read about and follow from story to story. Highly recommended to those who like period mysteries and want an easy read too.

Another well-written Victorian mystery by a period master. I enjoy her period atmosphere.