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“Decent women do not get raped.��

On the surface, MIDNIGHT AT MARBLE ARCH is an exciting story of murder, sexual assault and serial rape in the highest levels of Victorian society. Under normal circumstances, the rape of a wealthy merchant banker would fall outside Thomas Pitt’s jurisdiction as newly appointed head of Special Branch. But Pitt’s involvement becomes inevitable as the investigation leads to what appears to be a serial rapist who has preyed upon the daughters of international diplomats. The solution of the crime becomes more urgent as money, markets, international finance and potential skullduggery in South African investments lead Pitt, his brilliant wife, and his former superior, Victor Narraway down twisted paths. Then there is the looming catastrophe of a potentially wrongfully-convicted man facing imminent execution.

Perry’s atmospheric descriptions of the moneyed levels of Victoria society are evocative and graphic:

“Pitt �� looked across the glittering ballroom of the Spanish Embassy in the heart of London. The light from the chandeliers sparkled on necklaces, bracelets, and earrings. Between the somber black and white suits of the men, the women’s gowns blossomed in every color of the early summer: delicate pastels for the young, burning pinks and golds for those in the height of their beauty, and wines, mulberries, and lavenders for the more advanced.��

The exquisite sensitivity of the entire list of characters in the novel to their position in England’s 19th century class structure is portrayed to a fault. It was clear that one false move by anyone in society or a presumption to status above one’s place in the recognized and inviolate pecking order would result in censure and scorn. Misogyny was an integral part of societal thinking and, to a great extent, even the most progressive women accepted it as just and normal. It was an unshakable belief that sexual assault or rape happened only to those women who transgressed and had somehow invited the crime by virtue of some inappropriate behaviour. To believe otherwise was to admit to the possibility that it could happen to anyone and that was simply not on!

MIDNIGHT AT MARBLE ARCH is easy to recommend - an enjoyable, gripping historical mystery by an author that most readers would characterize as a master of the genre.

Paul Weiss