The Rap Sheet: Revue of Reviewers: 5-7-26

 The Rap Sheet: Revue of Reviewers: 5-7-26

Joan Leotta Reviews: Death Times Seven: A Daniel Pitt Novel by Anne Perry and Victoria Zackheim

  

Death Times Seven: A Daniel Pitt Novel (Book 7 of 7 in the series)

by Anne Perry and Victoria Zackheim 

Publication Date: Apr 14, 2026

Available in Kindle, HB, ($30) and Paper

ISBN#: 978-0593982518

Published by Ballantine Books

Pages: 288 in HB

 

Review by Joan Leotta

 

Imagine that you’ve been out of touch with an old friend for a while and then, unexpectedly, you meet again. That’s how I felt about reading the newest Daniel Pitt mystery from the pen of the late great Anne Perry. I’m a hardcore Perry fan—all of her series. Several of the lines ran their course naturally, but the Daniel Pitt series and the Elena Standish series have young protagonists, so it was harder to say good-by to them when news of Perry’s death was published.

 

However, it seems that before her death she entrusted Daniel and his wife Miriam and the other regulars of this series which follows the young lawyer and wife in their quest for justice for individuals and for society as a whole, in the early twentieth century. By allowing Victoria Zackheim, a close friend as well as an editor to finish this book she has given us a gift from beyond the grave, a legacy of words.

 

Death Times Seven takes place in 1913 England. Daniel is asked to take over (mid -trial) for a more senior person in the law firm, fellow attorney, Toby Kitteridge, who had to leave London upon learning of the sudden brutal attack on his parents in their parsonage—mother dead, accused father.

 

Miriam Ifford Croft (Daniel’s wife), of course, as always, has much to offer, helping Daniel to defend the hapless Peter Ward, the client, whose innocence it seems was only believed by Kitteridge and then herself and Daniel. As the two cases develop, we are given entry to the courts as the trial proceeds as well as to the workings of forensic pathology in that era. New evidence surfaces. We are also party to the mystery in the countryside where Toby is valiantly trying to help his father recover and clear the cleric’s name. Daniel travels out to the countryside to help his friend. It’s a satisfying dual mystery, well plotted, character driven, and full of excitement.

 

I’m often wary of these posthumous additions to a series. But this one is a true gem. Zackheim has seamlessly woven whatever part of the story she was to finish.

 

How did she do it? From a reader’s standpoint, plot and structure are well done. But what brands this book as a piece true to Perry is the way the characters are handled, particularly young Daniel. As I was reading the book, reserving judgment as I traversed the paragraphs, I was confronted with a scene that made me realize the depth of Zackheim’s commitment to the sharing the character of Daniel as Perry had oft portrayed him---she sets a scene where Daniel cuts off a thick slice of bread and slathers it with butter (jam in another place) and eats it as much as for its comfort as for its value as sustenance.

 

This gesture, one that defines Daniel as a man who enjoys the simple things, is typical of Perry and the particular gesture is one that reminds us of Daniel’s youth and even harks back to the time when we knew him as a boy in the William and Charlotte Pitt (his parents) series. I could not stop reading it. Stayed up all night, not wanting to miss any part of it. Will likely read it a second time for the shear enjoyment of the language and to say goodbye once more to these characters. I suppose ending with the seventh is a series is fitting since seven is considered one of the perfect numbers, but I would certainly not be averse to reading number eight, even if wholly penned by Zackheim.

 

But if this is the end, the last new novel by Perry to read, it is certainly a fitting tribute to her talent and her love of the characters she has created and we, her loyal readers, have come to know and love.

My electronic copy came from a reading service. I’m already on the wait list at my local library; I’d like to hold the hardback in my hand to read. Definitely one of my top three books so far this year.

 

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4bbv3Cw

 

  

Joan Leotta ©2026 

Joan Leotta plays with words on page and stage. Her poetry, essays, cnf, short stories, and articles are widely published. Mysteries are favorite things to read.. short and long.. and to write.

Monday With Kaye: "Treason at Lisson Grove" by Anne Perry (Reviewed by Kaye George)

Since back in February, Monday in these parts has been made a little more bearable by it also being “Monday With Kaye.” Each week she has brought another book our way to consider. Today marks the 42^nd of such posts and the first of the final three as Kaye has told me she is running out of reviews. Not surprising since she is busy writing her own books and doing other things.

It has been a privilege and an honor to bring these reviews to you. In this season of giving thanks, I must once again express my gratitude to Kaye for allowing me to run these reviews as well as the good folks of Suspense Magazine for allowing them to appear here.

Enough from me… on to the review of a historical thriller….

Treason at Lisson Grove by Anne Perry

We're treated to a new Charlotte and Thomas Pitt novel in this historical thriller. Lisson Grove is the location of Pitt's organization, always called Special Branch. In the bang-up beginning, Pitt and Gower, another agent, pursue a man they witnessed standing over a newly dead body. The chase takes them

across the channel to St. Malo in France. There, a plot seems to be gathering head, something boding of violence and a fundamental change that, once done, may not be able to be undone.

Pitt is set adrift, cut off from his employer and his family, not knowing who he can trust.

Back home, Victor Narraway, Pitt's superior is floudering, running into charges and accusations that he can't fight. When he informs Charlotte that Pitt has been suddenly called overseas, and when she realizes what an awful situation Narraway is in, she feels she must help him--partly for his sake, but also because Pitt's job depends on Narraway's continued employment. The roots of the present-day plot seem intertwined with an old episode that took place during a thwarted Irish uprising. So Narraway and Charlotte, posing as half-siblings, take off for Dublin where feeling still run deep against the English--and Narraway in particular. Now it's Charlotte who doesn't know who she can trust.

To complicate things even more, Charlotte's housekeeper, whom the family doesn't care for anyway, quits suddenly and Charlotte must provide for someone to watch the children, Jemima and Daniel. A charming new character, Minnie Maude, is introduced and saves the domestic day.

Narraway's problems, it becomes evident, are becoming looming problems also for Pitt. Disaster piles atop disaster and the targets shift and remain unclear as Charlotte and Pitt, separately, try to save their country from a treacherous, treasonous plot. Perry is still at the top of her form.

Reviewed by Kaye George, Author of Choke, for Suspense Magazine