RogerBW's Blog

A Dangerous Mourning, Anne Perry 19 April 2018

1992 mystery, second in Perry's William Monk series (Victorian police work). Over the winter of 1856-1857 in London, Monk is assigned to a new case: a young widow living in her father's house, found stabbed to death in her bed.

This isn't a mere series entry, though, as Monk continues to clash with his superior in the police force, and ends up getting sacked about two-thirds of the way through the book (and then sets up as a private enquiry agent). Most of the book deals with the utter unconcern by the rich for the lives of the lower classes, as well as observations of what's clearly a profoundly unhappy household.

Because that's not something Monk can see except during his interviews, Hester Latterly, formerly a nurse in the Crimea, returns and works as an undercover informer in the household. (I suspect there's meant to be a slow-burn romance going on, but it's mostly slow and very little burn. And, aha, I realise in retrospect that the pleasant lawyer who comes in to provide assistance is slated to be Monk's romantic rival.)

As before, the Crimean War casts a long shadow, but Perry is more interested in the period than in the crime; there's an inconsistency which I'd have thought that the most basic examination of the body should have spotted. (But then I haven't committed as many murders as Perry.) (As far as you know.) The reader is asked to take a great logical leap which, while it's mildly foreshadowed, doesn't seem quite to link up with what actually hapened, and one key clue makes little sense; but perhaps I'm disappointed because I'd predicted a greater level of hidden depravity than was actually revealed in the end.

The story often seems quite similar to that of The Face of a Stranger, and given how many of the servants tell Monk that obviously he won't accuse any of the family, I rather expected him to say "well, during my last, highly publicised, investigation, I did end up accusing one of the family". (The aftermath of that investigation is mentioned here, so it's not just the author wanting to avoid letting readers in on the answer to the first book if they're starting the series here.)

There's a fair bit of infodumping on the operation of a Victorian household; the book feels padded even though it's not actually hugely long. While I'm not desperate to read the next one I'll probably do it eventually. Followed by Defend and Betray.

[Buy this at Amazon] and help support the blog. ["As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases."]

Previous in series: The Face of a Stranger | Series: William Monk | Next in series: Defend and Betray

Comments on this post are now closed. If you have particular grounds for adding a late comment, comment on a more recent post quoting the URL of this one.

Search
Archive
Tags 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 3d printing action advent of code aeronautics aikakirja anecdote animation anime army astronomy audio audio tech aviation base commerce battletech beer boardgaming book of the week bookmonth chain of command children chris chronicle church of no redeeming virtues cold war comedy computing contemporary cornish smuggler cosmic encounter coup covid-19 crime cthulhu eternal cycling dead of winter doctor who documentary drama driving drone ecchi economics en garde espionage essen 2015 essen 2016 essen 2017 essen 2018 essen 2019 essen 2022 essen 2023 existential risk falklands war fandom fanfic fantasy feminism film firefly first world war flash point flight simulation food garmin drive gazebo genesys geocaching geodata gin gkp gurps gurps 101 gus harpoon historical history horror hugo 2014 hugo 2015 hugo 2016 hugo 2017 hugo 2018 hugo 2019 hugo 2020 hugo 2022 hugo-nebula reread in brief avoid instrumented life javascript julian simpson julie enfield kickstarter kotlin learn to play leaving earth linux liquor lovecraftiana lua mecha men with beards mpd museum music mystery naval noir non-fiction one for the brow opera parody paul temple perl perl weekly challenge photography podcast politics postscript powers prediction privacy project woolsack pyracantha python quantum rail raku ranting raspberry pi reading reading boardgames social real life restaurant reviews romance rpg a day rpgs ruby rust scala science fiction scythe second world war security shipwreck simutrans smartphone south atlantic war squaddies stationery steampunk stuarts suburbia superheroes suspense television the resistance the weekly challenge thirsty meeples thriller tin soldier torg toys trailers travel type 26 type 31 type 45 vietnam war war wargaming weather wives and sweethearts writing about writing x-wing young adult
Special All book reviews, All film reviews
Produced by aikakirja v0.1