Bluegate Fields
I've never liked the Pitt novels as much as the Monk ones, but I thought this one was quite strong - perhaps because it's a bit more gritty in milieu, and because Perry's usual structural problem, finding independent investigational avenues for her male and her female, was less insisted upon and therefore less noticeable. Another one of her structural tics, having a trial that is going the wrong way, and then fixed by last-minute heroics, is also improved somewhat here, not by eliminating the trial but by actually bringing it to the wrong verdict, and then having an ethical problem for Pitt in his insistence on continuing to investigate.So, three stars for this one. I was briefly uncomfortable (given Perry's known past) at the possibility floated that a minor might be the murderer, but fortunately the real murderer (an adult) became evident fairly early on.
