Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Callander Square
    Callander Square
    Callander Square
    Audiobook9 hours

    Callander Square

    Written by Anne Perry

    Narrated by Davina Porter

    4/5

    ()

    Switch to ebook

    About this audiobook

    Callander Square is the second of Anne Perry's Charlotte and Thomas Pitt mysteries. Full of well-drawn and convincing characters, Callander Square offers a finely crafted recreation of Victorian England. The bodies of two newborn babies have been found in a park in the fashionable London neighborhood of Callander Square. While Inspector Thomas Pitt is fighting to get the square's aristocratic residents to speak with him, his pretty, well-born wife Charlotte decides to do some detective work of her own. Soon she is unearthing secrets in every house on the square while Thomas tries to discover what would drive a person to murder.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateFeb 4, 2008
    ISBN9781440795930
    Author

    Anne Perry

    With twenty million books in print, ANNE PERRY's was selected by The Times as one of the twentieth century's '100 Masters of Crime', for more information about Anne and her books, visit: www.anneperry.co.uk

    More audiobooks from Anne Perry

    Related to Callander Square

    Titles in the series (26)

    View More
    View More

    Related audiobooks

    Historical Mystery For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      A Quick Thrill

      May 20, 2021

      A Quick Thrill
      4 min read

    • Article

      A Lost Prayer

      Feb 2, 2023

      A Lost Prayer
      10 min read

    • Article

      Cruel Means, Bitter Ends

      Nov 10, 2021

      “In order for this speech to mean anything to me, I’ll need to dispense with the usual demagoguery and, instead, make an attempt at honesty. With this in mind, there is one thing I have to make clear. I’m not in this race to serve your interests, but

      12 min read

    • Article

      Let’s Play Dead

      Mar 3, 2020

      There was a man, let’s call him Henry VIII. There was his wife, let’s call her Anne B. Let’s give them a castle and make it nice. Let’s give her many boy babies but make them dead. Let’s give him a fussy way of being. Let’s make her smart and sneaky,

      17 min read

    • Article

      Lady with A LUTE

      Aug 3, 2022

      Lady with A LUTE
      9 min read

    • Article

      Murder Most Fowl

      Mar 12, 2023

      Murder Most Fowl
      2 min read

    • Article

      Decluttering

      Dec 9, 2020

      Decluttering
      6 min read

    • Article

      Green Ticket To Ride

      Feb 19, 2024

      Green Ticket To Ride
      8 min read

    • Article

      Frost FAIR

      Jan 18, 2023

      Frost FAIR
      11 min read

    • Article

      The Glove

      Mar 4, 2024

      The Glove
      8 min read

    • Article

      Towns Like Ours

      May 3, 2018

      Towns Like Ours
      9 min read

    • Article

      Lech

      Feb 8, 2022

      Lech
      4 min read

    • Article

      Life After Death

      May 27, 2022

      Life After Death
      14 min read

    • Article

      Excerpt

      Dec 12, 2019

      He was an angry man, and he was an ugly man, and he was tall, and he was pacing. Not much space for it in the new home, just a few rooms lined up in a row, underneath a series of slow-moving ceiling fans, an array of antique clocks ticking on one wal

      4 min read

    • Article

      Best Of The Best

      Oct 29, 2022

      Best Of The Best
      8 min read

    • Article

      Excerpts From The Works Of The 2024 Whiting Award Winners

      Apr 10, 2024

      The 2024 Whiting Award winners were announced Wednesday night. Below are excerpts from their work.

      19 min read

    • Article

      The Other Side Of THE FENCE

      Mar 1, 2023

      The Other Side Of THE FENCE
      6 min read

    • Article

      The Money Box

      Jun 10, 2022

      This is not a morality tale. It’s simply a story. It began innocently enough, over a lunch of beef pho in the Financial District, when my friend Paolo first mentioned the Money Box. Paolo was a pupa of industry then, waiting to emerge as a titan. He

      19 min read

    • Article

      DULCE DOMUM From The Wind In The Willows

      Nov 1, 2022

      DULCE DOMUM From The Wind In The Willows
      11 min read

    • Article

      Intarsia

      Feb 6, 2020

      Intarsia
      6 min read

    • Article

      J. Jezewska Stevens

      Dec 15, 2017

      The party was a failure. I can’t even tell you what a failure it was. There are no words. Only a great pain in my chest when I wake up. On the veranda. It’s better when I sit in the chair. Oh, but then I can see around. The gauzy curtains, pushed by

      15 min read

    • Article

      Roger's PROFANISAURUS

      Nov 19, 2020

      Roger's PROFANISAURUS
      8 min read

    • Article

      Four Of A Kind

      May 3, 2023

      Four Of A Kind
      4 min read

    • Article

      Book Extract

      May 16, 2022

      Book Extract
      5 min read

    • Article

      The lake LADY

      Sep 20, 2023

      The lake LADY
      6 min read

    • Article

      Cupboard LOVE

      Jul 26, 2023

      Cupboard LOVE
      6 min read

    • Article

      Quantum Radio

      Feb 22, 2023

      Quantum Radio
      5 min read

    • Article

      Out Of This WORLD

      Apr 20, 2021

      Out Of This WORLD
      6 min read

    • Article

      Getting Up

      Oct 15, 2022

      Getting Up
      20 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Callander Square

    4/5

    335 ratings20 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      Entertaining and intriguing mystery mixed with social commentary on 19th century British society. The narrator is fantastic!
    • 5/5
      Two gardeners are digging a hole to plant a bush in the fashionable area of Callander Square, in Victorian England. What they find are two small skeletons buried in the plant beds. On closer examination, they are found to be human babies. Inspector Pitt is called in to handle the case.The residents of the square are well-to-do and don’t like having police in their midst or poking into their private lives. There are some tawdry secrets that are best not to be revealed. Pitt is aware of this and has to work around it, or there will be serious repercussions.Pitt’s wife, Charlotte, has married beneath her class. She is a strong willed woman who fell in love with a policeman. She no longer travels in the social circle she once did, but still has contact through her sister, Emily, who’s married to a lord. The two women plan and do their own investigations, unbeknownst to Pitt. While Emily is finding to secrets through her social activities — and there are some doozies — Charlotte takes on a secretarial job with a general who is writing his family’s history. She uses her maiden name and passes herself as unmarried. This gives her some access to the household staff. Between the two, they acquire better information than Pitt.When Pitt finds out what the ladies are doing, it takes a bit to convince him of the advantage their information gives him. Especially when Emily finds out where a young girl is who is considered to have run away from home to marry some other man.It is interesting to read of the double standards both men and women observed at this time. In public all is proper, but in private it is quite another world!
    • 4/5
      1883 and two gardeners are digging up the beds in Callander Square and discover two bodies of new born babies. Inspector Pitt is called in to investigate. Meanwhile Lady Ashworth persuades her sister Charlotte, wife to Pitt to help in the investigation. Secrets are everywhere in the Square but who are guilty.
      An enjoyable Victorian mystery story with likeable characters.
    • 4/5
      A nice sequel, second in the series, clearly written (the occasional typo, for which I fault her copy editor, if there was one), and with appealing development of the characters we met in the first book. The story is set in a quiet, affluent London square with houses set around a square where bodies were found by gardeners. The author makes good use of her main characters.

      I had to write out an index card early on in the book, to keep track of all the various families that inhabit the 7 occupied houses. It's pretty bewildering. Even with the index card for reference, I got people confused, partly because the author laid out a web of relationships and history I had to keep track of, including the disappeared inhabitant of the 8th house. I was able to figure it out by the end of the story, pretty much.

      The author does a good job of making the women in the book rounded characters, constrained by the injustices and roles of the period but nonetheless able to take action within those constraints; she didn't make the mistake so many do of giving female characters more physical freedom than actually pertained to them. Her male characters are also not bad, and she manages to convey their unquestioning acceptance of privilege and their condescension to the women in their lives without making them cartoonish.
    • 4/5
      Inspector Pitt is called upon to investigate the possible murder of two infants buried in the common garden area of Callender Square. The wealthy and distinguished residents resent his intrusion into their lives and his revealing of their secrets. Charlotte Pitt, recently married to Thomas does not intend to involve herself in the investigation, but her sister, Emily, recently married to Lord Ashworth is in a position to call upon the residents of the square and surreptitiously gain information. Charlotte herself is pulled in when Emily arranges a position for her as secretary to one of the residents working on a family history. I love the intelligence and gregariousness of both Charlotte and Emily. Where Emily is more devious and sly, able to comport herself in society with just the right attitude, Charlotte is rather unable to keep from saying exactly what she thinks. The juxtaposition of their marriages, Charlotte's "beneath her station" and Emily's "above" will, I think, allow the two sisters to assist Pitt on his investigations for many of the following books in this series. I'm delighted with both of them, as well as Pitt himself, who, while being resented by members of the higher society he must question, is also respected by those of whom are able to spot an honest, intelligent and earnest individual...that is, those with little to hide. I very much look forward to more of these.
    • 3/5
      I enjoy reading an Anne Perry novel, but I like the William Monk series better. I am surprised that Charlotte is able to hide her pregnancy from the general public, but I guess that the style of that time camouflaged her condition. I cannot believe that no one noticed a corpse at the deserted house, I guess that neighbors are not nosy. Perry does well in describing the clothes and living conditions of the middle to upper income class, and hints at the problems below the surface. So many times, I thought I might know the person who buried the infants, but was mildly surprised to discover the culprit. I look forward to continuing this series.
    • 4/5
      Callander Square by Anne Perry is the second Thomas and Charlotte Pitt novel. The author provides excellent descriptions of the people, society and status of the Victorian era. In this book, Inspector Thomas Pitt takes a back seat and I did miss him and his delightful interactions with Charlotte. Sister Emily plays the detective here, paralleling the official investigation, but using her social connections to do so. The female characters are strong and sometimes quite wise and practical, much more so than their husbands. Ms. Perry has an amusingly cynical view of marriage.A very readable historical mystery.Note: I'm not sure why the publisher decided to tack on an excerpt from Paragon Walk, the next book in the series. The excerpt was 20% of the book. At first I felt a bit cheated, thinking I'd been shortchanged, but when I thought about it a little more deeply, I realized this type of promotion is now quite common.
    • 3/5
      This was much better than the first book I still have issues with the depiction of the relationship between Charlotte and Thomas Pitt. They almost seem like 2 people operating in separate worlds that have little to nothing to do with each other. I have heard such great things about this series, but part of me thinks I will have to stick with the series a long time to like it as much as others. The mystery elements tend to be fun, but not mind blowing. This isn't always a bad thing, I do enjoy the Amelia Peabody books mostly for the relationship between the characters rather than the mysteries. I will probably try to read the next book, but I will definitely be checking it out of the library instead of buying it.
    • 3/5
      #2 in the Thomas and Charlotte Pitt series. In this story the deaths of two infants are really background to the story of the houses and people who live in the London high society neighborhood of Callander Square. As Thomas investigates, with a sincere desire to find the culprit, secrets about each household come out including sex with the servants, love affairs, revenge, gossip, politicking in society and murder. The 'rules' of society fascinate me (thought I would not have wanted to live with them) and make me wonder about the lengths that humans will go to to create order in their environment. This is the first book in which Charlotte involves herself in one of Thomas' cases. Her 'help' provides more clues as well as more mystery. This book, like the first one, has a point during a couple of pages where the whole mystery becomes solved in Thomas' mind. This is a little disconcerting. I read the section a couple of times to make sure I was understanding what the author meant. Her style of writing comes across as she gets to a point and realizes that that everything is still very up in the air and has to wrap it up quickly, so she does. I know that sometimes a person thinks about something for a long time, letting the pieces tumble around in the back of the mind and they suddenly do all fit into place. I am not sure that this is a satisfying way to write a mystery. This is the second time I have read this book. While I didn't remember the culprit when I started to read it, the story was familiar and the second reading allowed me to focus on Thomas and Charlotte's life together as well as Charlotte's interactions with her friends and sister.
    • 3/5
      A busy schedule not my disinterest resulted in my reading "Callander Square" over a much longer period of time. In fact my continued enjoyment of Anne Perry's Charlotte & Thomas Pitt series has me wishing my schedule was less hectic so as I can begin the next book in the series "Paragon Walk"

      Of the 3 Pitt series books I've read thus far I enjoyed "Callander Square" the most, since it took me until the final 10 pages to identify the murderer. As much as I like to solve them early on for my ego. I do enjoy a book that keeps me guessing until the end and "Callander Square" did just that
    • 4/5
      Great mystery with a bit of romance thrown in.
    • 4/5
      Another good one. Just like the first in the series, you find out who done it in the last page or two, leaves it right to the end. Wonder if all her books are like this?Her characters are excellent, even the incidental ones have stories to tell. Very strong. Guess that's why she's been writing and selling these things for 30 years.
    • 5/5
      The second in Perry's lengthy series featuring Victorian police detective Pitt and his amateur sleuth wife Charlotte, and this is every bit as good as the first book. This case is opened when the bodies of two newborn babies are discovered in the communal gardens of the wealthy neighbourhood of Callander Square. Pitt is called in, and it's not long before Charlotte, and her younger sister Emily, are unofficially helping out. This instalment gives us the opportunity to find out a little more about Thomas Pitt, although the main characters are the potential suspects living in Callendar Square. I was pleased not to have a handle on who the murderer was and was vexed right up to the very end when his/her identity was revealed. Looking forward to getting stuck into the next one.
    • 3/5
      A quick read featuring Charlotte Pitt, the spunky Victorian sleuth who helps solve the mystery of who buried some babies in a London park in the past. Portrays the hypocracies of London society, with the double standards between classes and genders.
    • 4/5
      Skeletal remains of two infants are unearthed by workers in a small plot fronting Callander Square, a stuffy, rule-laden, class-conscious London neighborhood, and it’s only page one of Anne Perry’s historical mystery, Callander Square, the second book in the Thomas Pitt series.It is 1883, two years after the events of The Cater Street Hangman. Thomas and Charlotte Pitt, now married, are expecting their first child, and Pitt is called in to investigate.With the help of her wealthy sister, Emily (Lady Ashton), who provides access to all the right withdrawing rooms because she just so happens to be on a first-name basis with several women in the neighborhood, Charlotte helps Pitt ferret out the truth, but not before additional murders and suspicious deaths occur.As the story unfolds, so do the suspects, clues, red herrings. There are characters aplenty with motive and means. We think we know who done it; we’re sure we do; but, then, again . . . . As is usually the case with Perry’s novels, readers are kept guessing until the final pages when the murderer’s true identity is revealed. Meanwhile, we cannot set the book down.Although the theme of upper-class hypocrisy and convention is sometimes laid on with a trowel, the book is another masterful dive into Victorian society, a feast painted in minute and accurate detail. Lovers of historical novels and mystery—and of Perry’s characters, Charlotte and Thomas Pitt—will not want to miss this delicious read.
    • 4/5
      Another volume in the Charlotte & Thomas Pitt series of gaslight mysteries. More society murders. Inspector Pitt investigates society murders with the help of his middle-class bred wife Charlotte and her upper-class sister, Emily, Lady Ashworth.
    • 3/5
      Inspector Pitt is called in when the bodies of two infants are found in prestigous Callander Square. Were either or both murdered or did they die of natural causes?As the investigation progresses, with the help of Pitt's wife, Charlotte, the high-society inhabitants of Callander Square become more and more agitated as their secrets are revealed.When the bodies of an upper-class young lady and a gentleman of Callander Square are discovered in separate instances, there can be no doubt that there is, indeed, a murderer at work in Callander Square.I enjoyed Callander Square and intend to read more Anne Perry as the mood strikes.
    • 4/5
      Gardners find buried infants in Callander Square and Insp Pitt must investigate the privileged people who live in the Square. Lots of class distinction with the wealthy being rude to Pitt because of his working class status.
    • 4/5
      This was a good second entry in the series, but I feel like Thomas Pitt is just a secondary character. I was hoping to see more of him in this book, since the first was primarily focused on Charlotte. I'd like to see more interaction between him and Charlotte in their private lives. The mystery was solid, though.
    • 3/5
      The second book in the Inspector Pitt and Charlotte Pitt series, this mystery takes the reader again into the high society of Victorian London. What begins as an investigation into the death of two infants found buried in a high-class neighborhood quickly turns into one of murder and blackmail. Charlotte enlists the help of her sister, Emily, to find answers to questions, knowing that her husband will have limited luck as an outsider. As in the first book, Anne Perry uses words to paint a very detailed picture of her characters, enduring many of them to the reader. The disparity and misunderstanding between men and women is again obvious in this novel. Women should not be underestimated.