(2000)Another Monk & Hester mystery. This one I really enjoyed, maybe because of the Civil War tie-in, but mainly because it was very readable and enjoyable. Didn't even bog down when it went to court with another recurring character Sir Oliver Rathbone, the barrister that represents the lovers accused of murdering an arms dealer in London and then taking a shipment of guns to America for the Union, just before 1st Manassas. (Amazon.com: Slaves of Obsession moves from Victorian England to the United States on the brink of the Civil War, evoking not only the nuances of the English class system but also the fierce passions and partisan loyalties that ignited the bloodiest conflagration in American history. When Daniel Alberton, a well-born arms merchant, asks private enquiry agent William Monk to investigate an extortion attempt, the former policeman is thrust into a conflict between competing Americans, Lyman Breeland and Philo Trace, who have come to London to purchase guns for the Union and Confederacy forces respectively. Bound by honor to complete the sale of a trove of weapons he has promised to Trace, Alberton refuses Breeland's plea to change his mind. Breeland is championed by Merrit, Alberton's 16-year-old daughter, who makes an impassioned argument for the anti-slavery position. Then Alberton is brutally murdered and the arms shipment stolen, and Merrit elopes with Breeland. Monk and his wife Hester are dispatched to America to retrieve the young woman and bring her seducer back to England to face a murder trial. Hester, who was a nurse in the Crimea, comports herself admirably on the battlefield at Manassas while Monk searches for Breeland and arrests him amidst the carnage. But once back in England, Monk's investigative efforts cast doubt on Breeland's guilt and point to a killer closer to home.Hester Monk emerges as a fascinating character in her own right. Her relationship with the enigmatic William, whose fragmented recollections (of who and what he was before the accident that erased most of his memory) still haunt him, is thoughtfully evoked. As usual, Perry handles the secondary characters with brio. Breeland, in particular, becomes in the author's capable hands a man whose obsessive devotion to the Union cause underscores his inability to return Merrit's love. As Hester tells the infatuated young woman, "To see the mass and lose the individual is not nobility. You are confusing emotional cowardice with honour.... To follow your duty when the cost in friendship is high, or even the cost in love, is a greater vision, of course. But to retreat from personal involvement, from gentleness and the giving of yourself, and choose instead the heroics of a general cause, no matter how fine, is cowardice." This sixth entry in the Monk series evokes the era in which it is set with a fine eye for details of dress, manners, d?cor, and culture, while skillfully unfolding the emotional and intellectual depths of both William and Hester, whose well-honed intelligence makes it clear that she, too, deserves a series of her own.

Another excellent historical mystery with William Monk and Hester working together to solve a murder of Mr. Alberton and bring the right person to justice - even if it takes going to America during the eve of the Civil War.

Monk learns more about his past and it’s devastating and he worries Hester will turn away from him.

Well written and as always, with unforeseen twists and turns and likable characters. ( )

In this tenth book of the series, Monk and Hester are invited to a dinner party. The host and his partner sell guns. This is the start of the American Civil War and agents from both the North and South are there competing for his stock. When some gruesome murders occur, it's up to Monk and Hester to retrieve the murderers who have fled to America for a trial in the English courts.
I'm really enjoying this series, but I think I liked this book the best so far. The historical research, as always, is excellent. Not only do we see Victorian England, but I especially enjoyed the descriptions of the first battle of Bull Run as well as Monk and Hester's view of the New York City and Washington. The mystery was good also; I was never quite sure how the murders occurred and why much less by whom.
The relationship between Hester and Monk has grown deeper, if possible. I feel quite sorry for Oliver and I hope he finds someone he can love as much as Hester.
Great book in an interesting series. ( )

This book kept me guessing about whodunnit right until the end. To sum up the story line, William Monk, a detective in Victorian London, is asked to investigate blackmail directed at the owners of a London shipping company which deals with guns among other goods. Then one of the owners is killed quite gruesomely and all the guns in his warehouse disappear. Suspicion points to an American who was negotiating for the guns for the Union army. It appears he and the dead owner's daughter have fled England. Monk and his wife Hester are asked by the widow to follow them and bring them back. In America they are caught up in the beginning of the Civil War at the battle of Manassas. Some of the best writing occurs at this point. The last half of the book occurs back in England and involves the trial and search for the murderer. I found a few spots that didn't quite make sense but I kept reading anyway. The ultimate culprit was someone I had suspected earlier and then decided couldn't have been responsible. So, it was quite an enjoyable read. ( )

Vict England
Union + Conf trying to buy guns for Civil War — Battlefield at Manassas — twists + turns good —

Slaves of Obsession begins with a dinner party at the home of Daniel and Judith Alberton. William Monk and his wife, Hester, meet not only the host and the hostess at this intimate gathering but also Judith's cousin Robert Casbolt, a Union sympathizer named Lyman Breeland, and the Alberton's 16-year-old daughter, Merritt. Although Breeland is quick to share his convictions, Daniel, Robert, and Judith remain more reticent on the topic of the war and try to change the subject. When an unexpected visitor named Philo Trace, a member of the Confederate army, arrives, their taciturnity regarding the Civil War becomes all too clear. Daniel and Robert deal in arms and have made a previous agreement with Trace to sell him guns for the Confederacy -- guns that Breeland desperately wants for his sacred Union.