Pentecost Alley
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- 6,99 €
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- 6,99 €
Publisher Description
Deux ans après le massacre des prostituées de l'East End par Jack l'Éventreur, un tueur est de nouveau à l'œuvre dans le quartier de Whitechapel. Meurtres rituels dans les bas-fonds de Londres ? Qui sont les membres duHellfire Clubdont un insigne a été trouvé près du corps mutilé de la fille de joie ? Et en quoi ce fait divers, somme toute banal pour l'époque, réclame-t-il l'intervention du commissaire Thomas Pitt ? Ce dernier va se trouver confronté à la puissante famille des FitzJames dont l'influence à Londres est telle qu'il n'aura pas droit au moindre faux pas. Que vaut en effet la parole d'une prostituée contre celle d'un FitzJames ?
Traduit de l'anglais
par Alexandra Swiezawska
et Anne-Marie Carrière
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The 16th Thomas and Charlotte Pitt mystery demonstrates Perry's trademark skill for enhancing well-designed mystery plots with convincing historical settings and cleverly drawn relationships among characters. In this outing, Pitt, last seen in Traitors Gate, tackles a case that could cost him his career. As it has been only two years since the unsolved Jack the Ripper murders, the Home Office anxiously anticipates the speedy arrest of the person who has murdered a Whitechapel prostitute with her own stocking. Finlay FitzJames, a young diplomat who is the son of a powerful merchant banker, is the prime suspect, even though the evidence against him is circumstantial: an old Hellfire Club badge, inscribed with Finlay's name, was found under the prostitute in bed, and cufflinks with his initials were discovered in the room. While Pitt grapples with this politically sensitive case, his sister-in-law, Emily Radley, makes friends with Finlay's younger sister, a social butterfly named Tallulah. Thanks to Pitt's diligence (and Emily's and Tallulah's meddling), the case is closed. Or so it seems until another very similar murder occurs. Whitechapel residents are terrified anew, Parliament is filled with grumblings, the Queen conveys her displeasure and newspaper reporters are turning the investigation into a case study in police incompetence and corruption. As Perry edges toward her surprise ending, she crafts her tale with elegance, narrative depth and gratifying scope. BOMC main selection.
