[In the following review, Curnin lauds Perry's strong characterization in Brunswick Gardens.]

The mystery in Brunswick Gardens is simple: who pushed Unity Bellwood down the staircase, causing her death? The answer is not as simple as Anne Perry takes us back to a time in the late 1890s London, where intelligent women were forced to the sidelines, it was legal to beat a disobedient wife and Darwin's theory of evolution was just coming to light.

Inspector Thomas Pitt, a recurring Perry character, has the unenviable task of investigating the murder of Bellwood, an employee in the home of the Rev. Ramsay Parmenter. At first it seems clear cut; Miss Bellwood was heard to cry out "No, no, Reverend" before she was found at the foot of the stairs, But no one really believes such a respected man would kill anyone, even if the person hired to help him in his research of ancient languages taunted him with her atheist beliefs.

Thomas Pitt and his wife, Charlotte, are like old friends to fans of Perry's work and her descriptive writing fleshes out each character, so they are more than black ink on white paper. She also throws in a healthy dose of editorializing the meaning of love and justice through the words of her characters. The mystery itself could be wrapped up in a two-hour television movie; but by allowing the characters voices we want to hear, Perry gives the reader a book in which to become immersed.