Murder on the Serpentine

When Queen Victoria summons Thomas Pitt to Buckingham Palace, the stakes couldn't be higher — or more delicate. A trusted royal confidante has been found dead near the Serpentine, and the investigation threads dangerously close to the Prince of Wales himself. With the empire on the edge of a new century and succession looming, Pitt must navigate court politics, buried secrets, and powerful men who would prefer the truth stay submerged — all without a single misstep. It's the kind of case where solving the murder might be less dangerous than knowing too much.

What distinguishes this installment in Perry's long-running series is the accumulated weight it carries. Thirty-two books in, Perry writes Pitt and Charlotte with the ease of a writer who has lived alongside her characters for decades, and that intimacy shows on every page. The prose is measured and atmospheric, the social observation sharp without being showy. Perry draws Victorian London not as costume but as a living system of obligation and concealment, and she's particularly good here at showing how power protects itself — quietly, plausibly, and with impeccable manners.