The eleventh bestselling novel featuring William Monk from acclaimed author Anne Perry
Anne Perry lives in Portmahomack, Scotland, and her well-loved series featuring Thomas and Charlotte Pitt has recently been adapted for television. THE CATER STREET HANGMAN was watched by millions of viewers when it was broadcast by ITV.
At the start of Perry's latest Victorian page-turner (after The Twisted Root), London-based private detective William Monk agrees to attend a dinner party at the lush home of arms dealer Daniel Alberton only for the sake of his wife, Hester. Hester, who served as a nurse with Florence Nightingale in the Crimea, is as gregarious as her husband is reserved. At the party, the Monks meet a volatile cast of characters, including Daniel's wife, Judith, a half-Italian beauty devoted to her husband and their 16-year-old daughter, Merrit. Daniel clearly adores Judith, as does her cousin, Casbolt, her husband's dapper partner in the arms business. Merrit, however, is blinded by passion for Lyman Breeland, a tall, thirtyish American who has come to England to buy guns for the Union Army. When Breeland's handsome Confederate counterpart, Philo Trace, appears unexpectedly at the end of dinner, Daniel admits that he's selling guns to Trace rather than Breeland because Trace asked first. Later, after Daniel turns up dead and Merrit runs off to America with Breeland, Monk and Hester follow, landing with Trace in the thick of the first battle of Bull Run. Monk brings Breeland back to London to stand trial for Daniel's murder, only to have doubts before the ship docks. Rich in period detail and ripe with an understanding of the agony of unrequited love, Perry's heated tale is marred by a subplot involving blackmail and pirates that never pays off. In addition, patches of overwriting will flag the villain to astute readers. 10-city author tour. (Oct.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.
The latest in Perry's Victorian mysteries featuring William and Hester Monk takes the reader from British drawing rooms and courtrooms to American Civil War battlefields and the docks and depths of the Thames River. Vividly describing all of these settings, Perry weaves an intricate tale of love, greed, slavery, and murder. William Monk, agent of enquiry, is employed to discover who is blackmailing respectable merchant and arms dealer Daniel Alberton. Monk soon finds himself investigating Alberton's murder, however, and looking for the murderer on the battlefield at Bull Run. Full of unexpected twists and revelations, this intriguing and satisfying mystery is one of Perry's best. All public libraries will want to purchase it to satisfy the author's many fans.DJean Langlais, St. Charles P.L., IL Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.
Anne Perry's novels are New York Times bestsellers and have earned
much critical acclaim: 'Give her a good murder and a shameful
social evil, and Anne Perry can write a Victorian mystery that
would make Dickens' eyes pop out * New York Times Book Review *
A totally contemporary feel ... admirably well-written * Guardian
*
Her Victorian England pulsates with life and is peopled with
wonderfully memorable characters * Faye Kellerman *
A complex plot supported by superb storytelling ... and William
Monk, a contender for the post of Most Original Investigator in
recent fiction * Scotland on Sunday *
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