Thomas Pitt (character)


Thomas Pitt is the protagonist in a series of detective novels by Anne Perry.
Pitt is from a working-class background in Victorian London. His father was a gamekeeper on a landed estate and Pitt was educated alongside the son of the house. He was prompted to enter the police force after his father was wrongly accused of poaching game and transported to Australia.
At the beginning of the series, Pitt is a police inspector, but was promoted to superintendent. Later he is removed from his job as a result of investigating the "wrong people", i.e. those with sufficient influence and power, and joins the Special Branch, in which he becomes an inspector. Later he is promoted to commander as Head of Special Branch.
His wife, Charlotte, is from an upper-class family. Her sister Emily's first husband was a viscount and Emily's second husband is a rising politician. Charlotte frequently uses Emily's connections to the landed gentry and aristocracy to assist Pitt in his investigations. Charlotte relies on her maid, Gracie, to take care for her children, Jemima and Daniel, when she is investigating a mystery. Charlotte's well-intentioned interference in her husband's investigations gives Pitt access to information which enables him to solve the case. Vespasia Cumming-Gould, the elderly aunt of Emily's first husband, becomes a friend to both Emily and Charlotte and eases their way into society.
The first novel, The Cater Street Hangman, was adapted for TV in 1998; it starred Eoin McCarthy as Pitt and Keeley Hawes as Charlotte and featured Hannah Spearritt in her acting debut.

Novels

Series is listed in internal chronological order.
  1. The Cater Street Hangman
  2. Callander Square
  3. Paragon Walk
  4. Resurrection Row
  5. Rutland Place
  6. Bluegate Fields
  7. Death in the Devil's Acre
  8. Cardington Crescent
  9. Silence in Hanover Close
  10. Bethlehem Road
  11. Highgate Rise
  12. Belgrave Square
  13. Farrier's Lane
  14. The Hyde Park Headsman
  15. Traitors Gate
  16. Pentecost Alley
  17. Ashworth Hall
  18. Brunswick Gardens
  19. Bedford Square
  20. Half Moon Street
  21. The Whitechapel Conspiracy
  22. Southampton Row
  23. Seven Dials
  24. Long Spoon Lane
  25. Buckingham Palace Gardens
  26. Betrayal at Lisson Grove
  27. Dorchester Terrace
  28. Midnight at Marble Arch
  29. Death on Blackheath
  30. The Angel Court Affair
  31. Treachery at Lancaster Gate
  32. Murder on the Serpentine
A new series features Daniel Pitt, son of Thomas and Charlotte.
  1. Twenty-One Days
  2. Triple Jeopardy
Publishing dates obtained from author's website.