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: Can't Put this one Down
Review: Other reviews give excellent hints of the plot, so that is not my purpose. Rather, I like to let a potential shopper know whether or not the book being reviewed is, in my opinion, worth the cover price and whether or not he or she should go ahead and put this book in his/her shopping basket. In this case, go ahead.This is directed mostly to Anne Perry fans that normally like her "William Monk" series. You will enjoy this new Monk novel. Once I got to Chapter Three, I pretty much had to read the book all the way through. Once I got near the end, I couldn't put it down until the story was finished. Let me praise Ms. Perry for departing from her usual sordid crimes. This is the second such Monk book that centers around a "standard" crime. Let me also praise Carl D. Galian for an excellent jacket design. Sometimes I like his jackets better than the story. This time, I liked both. Although I found the mystery part of the story quite compelling, I withheld one star because I just cannot stand Ms. Perry's philosophizing. Her plots are good enough without her wasting my time filling her story with controversial issues which may be her niche, but I cannot stand it. As I said, philosophy aside, the story was great. Ms. Perry is a master at teasing the reader. Monk, as the fan knows, lost his memory in an accident. Ms. Perry begins to tease some of it back, but in just the tiniest, most tantalizing tidbits that keeps the reader nervous until the very end of the story. If you are a lip-chewer, then beware, get your lip protection cream handy. Thumbs Up for Anne Perry once again.
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.
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.
Rating:
Summary: fascinating look at mid-nineteenth century England
Review: William Monk considers himself very lucky that Hester loves him as much as he loves her. Their marriage is a good one despite the fact that William still suffers from amnesia and much of his past remains a blank. As an enquiry agent, William takes on various cases that his clients don't want the police to know about, such as the one with Katrina Harcus Katrina wants Monk to find out if her suitor, Michael Dolgarno, a junior partner in a company building railroads, is involved in illegal activities, possibly land fraud. The deeper Monk digs into the case, old memories begin to reawaken and the enquiry agent is afraid that at one time he may have been involved in something illegal. Unable to turn for comfort to Hester, Monk is determined to find out the truth about his past once and for all and though he knows his client is a fool he starts making inquiries. Fans of this series will be delighted to know that the tortured hero finally regains a good chunk of his memory and with it a measure of peace. The story line is fascinating with a climax so shocking that readers will remember it in the years to come and wonder how Anne Perry will top this vivid picture of what it means to be poor in the mid-nineteenth century England. Harriet Klausner
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