Death of a Stranger (William Monk, 12)

Rating:
Summary: Hard to put down...
Review: Hester and William Monk become involved in the investigation of the murder of a railway executive in a brothel. At first, Hester and William are working on seperate cases (Hester finds that prostitutes are being abused by their clients from the women that come to her free clinic, and William is retained by the finacee of a young and successful railway executive to see if he is involved in fraud). Soon, Hester and William realize that their cases are connected, and William finds, as the investigation progresses, that his memory loss from a past accident is starting to come back, and that he may be involved with the railway fraud.

Riveting and suspenseful, it was a hard book to put down. Another winner for Perry, and one of the best in the Hester and William Monk series.

Rating:
Summary: Anne Perry at her best.
Review: I always look forward to a new Anne Perry book. Every one is a winner. This one was no exception.The characters and places were so real I was transported back to Victorian times with them.
William was torn between finding out about about his past and
not really wanting to know. I thought he was a litte in love with Katrina dispite his love for Hester.

Hester was as strong a character as ever, working amongst and helping the prostitutes of London's East End She is determined
to solve the mystery and find the murderer in order to help William.Once again her friend and old suitor Oliver Rathbone came to her aid. This time with a hint of a romance to
come with a colleague of Hester's.

As usual the plot had a few different story lines all coming together as the story unfolded. This was a real nail biter .I cant say I couldn't put it down because actually it was the audio book I listened to. Thanks again to Anne and also to Terence Hardiman for the wonderful way he bought the characters to life. Cant wait for the next one in the series.

Rating:
Summary: Anne Perry Recovers Some of Her Verve in This Book
Review: I have to admit that I was once an avid fan of the Monk/Hester series but after reading 1999's The Twisted Root and guessing in the first chapter both the social ill du jour and the identity of the murderer I gave up reading her books for a while. However, I was very pleased to see Anne Perry back in something like her old form in this book.

The parts of the book dealing with Monk's partially recovered memory and Hester's battle to improve the condition of street prostitutes in London are very interesting. The morally ambiguous position Hester finds herself in provides food for thought. However, there was something a touch disturbing about the callousness of Monk's deceased mentor toward everyone but Monk and the denoument (while exciting enough) seems a bit cobbled onto the story.

The story also relies too much on coincidence. The person who has the information needed is killed before he can reveal it, the person who needs most to conceal evidence lays hands on it, even after a police search of the premises. Some coincidence is understandable, but when it starts to take over the plot it becomes annoying.

Also, I wish someone could explain the switching system that allowed the wreck the author describes. It seems that the switch (points in British rail terms) would be against one of the trains and it would have derailed at the switch instead of the wreck happening as she decribed.

Rating:
Summary: Has anyone seen Heavenly Creatures?
Review: I just saw this peter jackson movie about two girls who end up murdering one of their mothers. It's a true story and all, happened in new zealand in 1954. I wanted to see what the girls were up to, so I looked them up. Apparently Ms Perry is one of the girls. So i picked up a copy of the book, and I must say I was rather impressed! She writes from true life and frankly, this novel gave me chills! I suggest viewing the film and then rereading her novels, it makes them far more compelling.

Rating:
Summary: good...
Review: I really enjoy Anne Perry's books, especially her ongoing romance between William Monk and his wife Hester. Her description of these characters and the people in their world is really detailed and fascinating. 'Death of a Stranger' is beautifully written (as always) and enjoyable. My only caviat is that Perry's in-depth look at the railway industry is almost overwhelming. She adds so much detail about the day to day workings of steam engines that is tends to draw the reader away from the plot. Granted, there are many details about steam engines that are important to solving the book's mystery, but if more chapters are needed by the publisher, more Hester and William scenes would be welcome (less historical engineering). This is a lovely, beautifully written book, and anyone who enjoys historical mysteries will be captivated.

Rating:
Summary: Great Historical Color within an Enigmatic, Slow-Moving Plot
Review: I recently read The Shifting Tide and was most impressed with the book. Not having read other books in the William Monk series, I decided to work backward to see what I had missed. Alas, I found that so far The Shifting Tide was the best of the lot. So if you are thinking about this book, but haven't read The Shifting Tide, I suggest you move on to that one instead . . . unless you have a compulsion to read every book in the series.

William Monk is a man who doesn't know who he is. An accident cost him his memory, but in this book facts and vague memories combine to help him reconstruct part of his past. Now, he earns a living as a private enquiry agent in Victorian England. He is married to the redoubtable Hester who runs a charity clinic for ladies of the night in one of London's worst neighborhoods.

As the story opens, a famous railroad entrepreneur and financier is found dead inside a notorious house of ill repute. Outraged by the apparent murder, the police are expected to cure the age-old problem of men and one of the oldest professions. Soon, everyone is starving, and the violence increases against the women. Hester is kept busy trying to sew up their wounds and setting their bones. She soon realizes that she needs to solve the murder if she is really to help her patients.

William is hired by Katrina Harcus, the fiancée of a well-to-do Londoner, who wants to be certain that her fiancé is not involved in something untoward. She's overheard scraps of conversation that make her feel that a great crime is about to happen.

The plot bogs down as William is seemingly blocked by both his amnesia and a psychological inability to draw conclusions from the plain words that Katrina shares with him. It's one of the most block-headed investigations you will ever have to read about. The story is saved at the end by the tale finally unfolding in dramatic fashion.

Hester's tracking down of the murderer of the magnate is the better part of the story. If William's part had been left out or edited down, this would have been a four-star book. As it is, you will have to enjoy reading lengthy self-examinations by a confused amnesiac to avoid falling to sleep as you read this slow-moving story.

What makes the book fascinating are the marvelous details and local color about London's seamy side and the development of England's railways. It almost makes you wish Ms. Perry wrote nonfiction books.

Rating:
Summary: Fresh, never hackneyed
Review: Latest in her series of protagonists William Monk and his wife, the former Hester Latterly, Death of a Stranger kept me guessing - unsuccessfully - to the last chapter. The Monks are admirable people, and Perry doesn't write down to her audience. This work is an equal in an excellent series.

Rating:
Summary: Another Anne Perry 5 Star
Review: OK, I admit I LOVE Anne Perry. It's such a pleasure to read a book that isn't, well, embarrasing. Great plot, excellent character development, interesting dialogue, a wealth of historical detail ....what more could one want? And she accomplishes all of this without vile language, sex orgies, and other disgusting contrivances that are the last refuge of the untalented. Thank you, Ms. Perry! this one was great, and I'm looking forward to your next thriller!

Rating:
Summary: The seamier side of life
Review: This novel is set in London, England, in the early 1860s. The Civil War is being fought in the United States while life goes on as usual in England. The situation described in the novel was usual for that time period, and is similar to the real circumstances that prevailed in my hometown, at that time a notorious sailing port in the U.S., during the later 19th century - a reformer trying to clean up the town soon discovered that most of the "good citizens" were getting their share of the pie, the prostitutes paid in cash and were a mainstay of the town's economy (see "Port Townsend - An Illustrated History of Shanghaiing, Shipwrecks, Soiled Doves, and Sundry Souls").

Hester Monk (who had been a nurse in the Crimea) operates an infirmary in a lower class neighborhood, offering medical services to the ladies of the evening who are suffering from injuries and diseases. Her husband, William Monk, is involved in an investigation of possible financial wrongdoing among the principals of a railroad company. The death of a "respectable" man outside a bordello in the area creates a turmoil and eventually events are drawn together.

Circumstances reveal a brutal form of loan sharking. William's investigation brings out information about his past - he was not always a nice person. Past relationships are revealed as the case draws to a conclusion. Overall, an interesting plot, with a good picture of the underside of Victorian London.