A Dangerous Mourning

This one was better than the first in the series - book #2 is often the deciding factor for me, as to whether I'm going to keep reading or cut my losses. In this case, keep reading it is.

The good: a lot less of the amnesia angst, I mean, anyone would be angsty if they had Monk's degree of amnesia, but then I don't want everyone's train of thought to keep interrupting my reading experience. And, I enjoyed the characters in this story much better than the last.

The bad: I cannot believe that there has ever, in the history of crime fighting, been any police officer as ridiculously and obnoxiously stupid as Runcorn.

William Monk is an unusual character. Because he doesn’t know anything about his own background, the reader has nothing to pull from to understand his motivations. For instance, why does he hate his boss so much? Is it just because he rubs him the wrong way, or is there a history that even Monk doesn’t know, but that he can’t stop himself from reacting to? It’s frustrating and intriguing all at once.

But there’s more to this book than the mystery of Monk. Hester continues to excel at being the female lead, and I find their relationship very interesting. Is it strictly platonic, or are their hints of romantic feelings hiding beneath the ire they tend to display? Hester is obviously in search of a life that is larger than the one show more society would like to dictate, and Monk appears to be her ticket to that life.

As for the murder mystery, it swims in the stink of class bigotry. I think Perry did a good job illustrating the feelings of both the aristocracy and the servant classes.

The one issue I had with this book had more to do with how I was reading it than anything else. I was reading it on my phone, and it was my “emergency” read, so I only got to it once or twice a week. Because of that, I had a hard time remembering who was who in the Moidore family. Though in my defense, there were a lot of them. This also wasn’t a quick moving plot. There’s really not a lot of action.

Bottom line, if you enjoy a period mystery, it’s hard to go wrong with Anne Perry. show less

Interesting mystery & surprising denouement. What makes this series so fascinating is Perry’s highlighting of the social iniquities of the Victorian age. Whether it be the dismissal of a pregnant maid raped by a member of her employer’s family, or the more generalised suppression of women in the workplace or the social ‘disgrace’ of seeking a divorce from a sadist.

In this book Monk puts his career on the line when he refuses to arrest an innocent man, and he co-opts the aid of a Crimean nurse to play private detective in a wealthy household.

Second book of the William Monk series:

I would say that Hester plays a larger part in this mystery than William Monk. While Monk definitely plays a role, his story takes a back seat so we can get to know Hester a little better. Very little information is added to Monk's background much to the disappointment of this particular reader.

However, this is a strong mystery that opens with a death and the trial and verdict of the previous novel's murderer. I really enjoyed the fact that everything flows continuously and nothing is ever very abrupt (except for perhaps the novels' endings). I'm growing rather fond of this series.

SPOILER DOWN BELOW! THAR SHE BLOWS!!!!
Question: Is this going to be a running theme--nobility and family members are show more always the guilty ones? Don't tell me! I'll find out myself! (You can tell me if you want to. I won't stop you.) show less

The second Monk mystery continues to develop his storyline as he tries to regain his memory while on the job. The relationship between Monk and Hester Latterly develops nicely. The crime itself is interesting enough, and in the end the perpetrators are brought to task after an initial travesty of justice. The writing is good and I enjoy the author's observations of Victorian society. The book could have been shortened, as I found my patience starting to wear thin with the investigation repeatedly going over the same ground several times. I'll try the next book in the series and see if my interest in the characters holds..

I really liked the first of this series (Face of a Stranger), but this one echoed a lot of the same points without tugging at my sympathy strings. Yes there were some interesting twists and turns of the plot, and emotional highs, but I would say it's not as good as the first one. I did like the way the author added in real-life, historical bits though- a very nuanced, non-intrusive way of explaining different customs that Victorians of 1853 would have taken for granted.

If there is a pattern emerging from this series it is that the English nobility has no limit to their cunning in hiding truth which may shame them or affect their money.

Monk, still unable to recover his memory, is given another case involving the apparent break in and murder of a lady in her bedroom. No one heard anything and witnesses in the street saw no one entering or leaving the house after hours. Monk arrives at the conclusion that someone in the house is the murderer but faces a tight family unit supported by a cast of servants, none of whom had helpful information. Suspicion falls on a dashing footman but Monk does not believe he is guilty and is fired when he refuses to arrest him.

Calling upon the bravery and intelligence of show more his new friend, Hester Latterly, he is able to place her as a nurse to the wife of Sir Basil Moidore who has taken to her room and seems to be falling to depression over the unsolved death. Hester is now able to talk and listen to all the members of the house and report back to him.

Will Monk be able to discover the truth before the footman hangs? This is another page turning episode with a frank portrayal of an important house of the Victorian era. show less