[In the following review, Gotshall asserts that readers of Perry's Thomas and Charlotte Pitt series will not be disappointed with Ashworth Hall.]

Anne Perry is a novelist for the '90s.

The 1890s.

Her mysteries take place during the heyday of Victorian England. Her attention to detail and sense of social order make them read like the best of the works written during that period, rather than re-creations a century later.

Ashworth Hall is the 17th novel featuring Superintendent Thomas and Charlotte Pitt. Yet, the work stands alone, both in terms of background and character.

First-time readers are apt to fall in love with the Pitt's and seek out Pentecost Alley, Traitor's Gate, The Hyde Park Headsman and the other novels. And readers of those works will enjoy this installment every bit as much.

Representatives from England and Ireland are meeting in Ashworth Hall, a country estate, to find a way to resolve "the Irish problem," as the British government calls it. Their purpose is to forge a peace between the nations, who have been fighting over religion for three decades.

Superintendent Pitt is assigned to security detail for the gathering, since Ashworth belongs to his sister-in-law, but without revealing his role to either side. Despite Pitt's best intentions, a prominent political figure is soon bashed over the head. Even better, the man was killed while taking a bath in what might as well have been a locked room.

Was it a jealous lover? Irish rebels? Members of a British faction who don't want peace? The only sure thing is that the killer is somewhere in Ashworth Hall.

Who dunnit?

Then a dynamite bomb blows up a desk and another of the negotiators with it. Now it clearly appears someone wants the talks derailed, but is it an Irishman or an Englishman?

There is a bit of levity in scenes involving Gracie, the Pitts' ward, who travels to Ashworth as Charlotte's maid, and Tellman, Thomas' police assistant, who must masquerade as a valet.

Tellman has no idea what to do, and the teen-age Gracie tutors him so he won't embarrass the master and mistress.

The novel has a leisurely pace, as befits a Victorian mystery, but it's by no means plodding.

Readers are likely to be struck by the parallels with the strife in Northern Ireland, showing how little things have changed over the course of a century.