In this spinoff from Anne Perry's popular 'Detective Thomas Pitt' series, Pitt's son Daniel is all grown up and taking center stage in his own novels.
In this 6th book in the 'Daniel Pitt' series, set in the early 1900s, Thomas's son Daniel - a rising attorney at the British law firm fford Croft and Gibson - assists in prosecuting a shady business mogul.The book can be read as a standalone.
*****
As the story opens Daniel Pitt has a lot to think about. The law firm fford Croft and Gibson has undergone a sea change, and Daniel hopes the transition will be smooth.
The firm's founder, Marcus fford Croft has retired and made Daniel's humble friend Toby Kitteredge head of chambers.
Marcus has also hired a new barrister named Gideon Hunter. Hunter is an ambitious man: a silk; a King's Counsel; a brilliant, erratic, but charming man. Hunter will presumably take the major cases while Daniel continues to hone his skills as a barrister.
The very first case Hunter takes is the prosecution of financier Malcolm Vayne. On the surface, the fabulously wealthy Vayne seems like a good man. He's a vocal advocate for women's suffrage, and a generous philanthropist who supports free clinics for the poor; subsidized housing; and soup kitchens. Vayne is also the owner of two of the most popular newspapers in the country, which he uses to paint a favorable picture of himself to the public.
The authorities see Vayne differently however. Daniel Pitt's friend, Police Inspector Ian Frobisher, suspects Vayne of fraud: chicanery that is "very complicated and far reaching, with one fraud designed to cover and feed another." (What today is called a Ponzi scheme.) Vayne's machinations seem on the verge of bankrupting many of his investors, and the police want to put Vayne away.
Even though Vayne's crimes would be VERY hard to prove - especially since prominent people would be embarrassed to admit they were victims of financial fraud - Inspector Frobisher decides to press charges anyway. Barrister Gideon Hunter jumps in to prosecute the case, and he asks Daniel Pitt to assist him. Daniel immediately begins interviewing Vayne's employees, business associates. and investors, to try to get the inside scoop.
Daniel also discusses the case with his wife, Dr. Miriam fford Croft (Marcus's daughter), on whom Daniel always relies for good advice. Miriam is a forensic pathologist, one of the few females in the field. Miriam favors Vayne's advocacy of women's rights, but suspects it might be a ploy to make him popular with females.
To get a better feel for Vayne, Miriam attends a rally for women's rights, where Vayne gives a rousing (but self-serving) speech. Miriam also makes the acquaintance of Rose Hunter (Gideon's wife) and the two ladies quietly scheme to help their husbands prosecute Vayne. (Note: At the time, women were expected to run the house, raise the children, and stay out of public affairs.)
As Gideon and Daniel dig deeper and deeper into Vayne's business dealings, it appears that the financier's tentacles extend into the British government and to powerful men all over Europe. It looks like Vayne hopes to become prime minster, and to pull strings throughout the continent. Vayne's apparent ambitions are also of interest to Daniel's father Sir Thomas Pitt, who's now head of Special Branch. Special Branch deals with counterterrorism in Britain, and Vayne is on Sir Thomas's radar.
Gideon and Daniel do manage to find a couple of people who are willing to testify against Vayne, employees who've worked for the financier for years. Unfortunately both potential prosecution witnesses are attacked, which looks EXCEPTIONALLY suspicious, but there seems to be no proof Vayne is responsible. Gideon and Daniel call other witnesses, but their testimony is not necessarily conclusive.
The novel is quite suspenseful, and I was rapidly turning the pages to see if Vayne would be convicted or not.
The story is engaging, the courtroom scenes are interesting, and the book has an exciting climax. My major criticism would be that the interior monologues of some of the characters, where they ponder the case again and again, gets repetitious.
Author Anne Perry died in April, 2023 and I will miss her books.
Rating: 3.5 stars
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