The queen of the Victorian mystery, New York Times bestseller Anne Perry returns with the 32nd novel in the Inspector Pitt series MURDER ON THE SERPENTINE. Pitt is on a secret mission for the Queen, maybe his last...

London, 1899: Head of Special Branch Commander Thomas Pitt is summoned to Buckingham Palace.

In the twilight of her years, Queen Victoria is all too aware that the Prince of Wales will soon inherit her empire and must be beyond reproach. She tells Pitt she tasked her close friend and confidante, John Halberd, with investigating the Prince's friends, specifically Alan Kendrick, a wealthy playboy and betting man, but before he could report back, Halberd was found dead in a rowing boat on the Serpentine.

The death has been ruled an unfortunate accident and the investigation closed, but the Queen is not convinced that all is as it seems and tasks Pitt with finding the truth.

Forced to act alone in this most sensitive of investigations, Pitt finds himself embroiled in a plot that threatens not only the reputations of men, but also the safety and reputation of the Empire. . .

"Praise for Anne Perry: 'There is a freshness about [Perry's] writing which makes it truly exceptional and I was gripped until the final page. Death on Blackheath was one of the best books I've read this year and I cannot recommend it highly enough'" - Eurocrime

"Perry is a master at illuminating the wrongs of the Victorian age" - Booklist

"The monsters Anne Perry creates are not easy to live with, and their actions linger long after the book is closed" - New York Journal of Books