It's the end of the 19th century and a woman comes to London and preaches what many people feel like a blasphemous message and then she disappears and Thomas Pitt must find her.

This is the 30th book in the Charlotte and Thomas Pitt series and this first book in the series that I have read. Luckily for me, it was easy to get into the story and to get to know the characters. I found the story to be interesting and well written. But still I felt sometimes that the story lacked something, I just didn't feel that connected to Thomas and Charlotte, perhaps it would have been easier to connect with them if I would have read previous books in the series. I guess I will figure that out when I do that. I also felt that Charlotte never really got to be, in this book, anything else than a mother and wife so I would very much like to read the books from the beginning to really get to know her. Luckily I own the first book.

But, the two characters I actually came to like the most were Narraway and Vespasia. I just felt that their characters were so much more interesting to read about than the Pitt's. Their marriage came later in life so they both have a past and I want to know more about their past and how they met and finally got married so when I start to read the series from the beginning will I have a look out for those two wonderful characters.

The story itself was interesting, sometimes I felt that it dragged on a bit, but not that I became bored I just felt sometimes that it moved a little too slow forward and I enjoyed the part on Spain very much and, of course, the ending was good.

All and all, I enjoyed the book and I'm looking forward to reading the previous 29 books in the series!

3.5 stars

I want to thank the publisher for providing me with a free copy through NetGalley for an honest review! ( )

Just finished this book. Was definitely not as enjoyable as many of her other Charlotte and Thomas Pitt novels. Parts of the beginning story drag on to absurd lengths and yet the ending is rushed out in 10 pages!

I was not a fan of all the religious dialogue. Glad that Anne Perry is curious and thinking about GOD but her discourses took the book hostage this time.

The mystery ended up being a decent one and I was just starting to gather all the threads, thinking "now to watch it all come together" when I looked at the pages and realized I was already at the end of the book! I don't think it was given appropriate coverage and it ended up needing to be pieced together and was quite shabby at the end. Convenient also to have 3 of the 4 men involved end up dead with the 4th missing!

Hoping Anne Perry or her agent reads the reviews and her next novels are back on track. I've been enjoying her books for almost 5 years now....would hate to have to give them up if she can't find her way back. :-( ( )

The story appears to be driven by the religious fervor of Sofia Delacruz, whom some describe as a saint and others as dangerously delusional, if not demonic. Because of world conflicts, Special Branch is ordered to protect her against the death threats she has received. Her kidnapping and the murder of two of her followers turns London and Special Branch upside down.

I felt that Perry's use of the interior dialogs of her series characters, however perceptive and descriptive, really slowed down the evolving story with its twists and turns. ( )

The Angel Court Affair by Anne Perry is a 2015 Ballantine publication.

It’s hard to believe this series is celebrating its thirtieth installment! I fell in love with Charlotte and Thomas a long while back, but it is another series I lose sight of from time to time, but, I still manage to keep up with.

With Pitt finally getting his big promotion to commander of Special Branch, he is now waking up to all the politics involved, especially when he is commissioned to protect Sophia, a young woman who married a man in Spain, and is something of a religious zealot who challenges the beliefs of many, which could make her a target. With relations with Spain tenuous at best, it simply would not do for something to happen to her while visiting her cousin in England. But, lo and behold, that is exactly what transpires, when Sophia suddenly disappears and two of her followers are murdered.

Now Thomas is in a serious race against time to save Sophia, and save face. Thankfully, he has some help from Victor Narraway, but is plagued by a popular cricket star who inserts himself into the investigation.

This story was a little different, with the religious backdrop, which causes Thomas and Charlotte to examine their personal faith and answer their daughter’s questions which are fraught with emotion, but probing, and thought provoking all the same.

This is all very interesting because in Victorian England, anyone who spoke of things the way Sophia did would be the target of heated and intense debate and fury, but when it is spoken with such charisma by a woman….

As always, the author has done her homework and the issues discussed are well researched and authentic to the time period. Religion is always a tricky subject, but it was especially dangerous in Victorian days to boldly offer counter beliefs or theories. So, this was a very delicate subject to tackle, but it was well written and leaves the reader to draw their own conclusions and is not in any way preachy. The murders and kidnapping are of course the real conundrum and it remains a puzzle all the up to the very end.
This story is evenly paced, well plotted, and authentic. However, there was a little bit of that old magic missing in this one for some reason. It wasn’t any one thing, it was just a little bland, at times, perhaps. I did enjoy the banter and insight involving Narraway and his wife, and the discussions between the Pitt family. It is hard to believe those kids are nearly grown and forming such adult thoughts and ideals!

Although this wasn’t one the very best additions to the series, in my opinion, it’s still interesting as the characters are always evolving, which is as it should be. It’s always a pleasure to touch base with this series, though and maybe someday, I will find the time to binge read this series from start to finish! I think it will be fun to see how things have progressed over this thirty book time span. But, for now, this installment gets 4 stars ( )

This was an Early Reviewers book on disk, narrated by Davina Porter, and is the next in the author's continuing series of Charlotte and Thomas Pitt novels. I am not usually a reader of the historical romance novels, although Mary Stewart, J. D. Robb, and Karen Marie Moning have caught my interest. The narration was very good, but the story was so predictable that I lost interest in who was doing what about halfway through the disks. I did listen to the entire novel, and would certainly recommend it to fans as an excellently presented novel--it's just not my cuppa tea. ( )