Customer Reviews

A Dangerous Mourning (William Monk Novels)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

After seeing so many reviews on Amazon.com for the Pitt series by Anne Perry, I am somewhat surprised that there are not more glowing recommendations for the Inspector Monk series. True, Inspector Monk is not as likeable as Pitt and the stories are set in a slightly earlier period. But the stories! The characters! They are simply superb.

In this second book of the series, Perry uses her considerable skills as a writer and her fascination with the secrets people keep to great advantage in getting to the bottom of the death of Octavia Haslett, a young widow. In his efforts Inspector Monk is assisted by Hester Latterly, one of Florence Nightingale's Crimean nurses. We are also introduced to another marvelous character, Oliver Rathbone--a brilliant litigator and trial attorney. As Monk deciphers the meagre clues available to him he realizes that the murderer of Mrs. Haslett lived in her house, and may strike again. All fingers begin to point to a unlikeable footman, but Monk believes he has been framed and refuses to act on the instructions of Runcorn, his supervisor, who wants the case wrapped up due to pressure from the social and political elite who cannot abide the suggestion that one of their own might have committed the murder. Runcorn is certainly the boss no one would want to have, and in his fury he fires Monk who is forced to rely on the recently unemployed and also very outspoken Nurse Latterly to infiltrate Mrs. Haslett's home and find out the secrets within. By the end of the story Monk and Latterly are on different paths--Monk is heading up a private detective agency, and Latterly is serving as a private duty nurse. On to Defend and Betry to see if their new career paths work out!

If you like Inspector and Charlotte Pitt, give Inspector Monk a try. The psychological tautness of these novels is a nice change of pace!

The second book in Perry's "Inspector Monk" series, "A Dangerous Mourning" is my favorite of her books yet. It's the story of a widowed daughter of a well-to-do family who is found dead on her bed, having been stabbed with a knife. As Monk investigates, he knows he will uncover a multitude of secrets the family has worked so hard at keeping concealed.

This is the fifth book of Anne Perry's I have read, and it is my favorite so far. I have found in reading some of her other books there are long passages that seem to lose me and clutter up the process of solving the mystery. This book was quite different, though, and held my interest from beginning to end. Perry had me guessing until the end.

This is a great read, and I would suggest reading the first book "Face of a Stranger." It will give you background into Monk's and Hester Latterly's lives so that the characters will make more sense. Also "Dangerous Mourning" concludes the previous book and lets you know what happened to the murderer in that story.

This novel was thrilling from start to finish and it left me guessing until the very end. I do agree that the book had too much information in it that really had nothing to do with the story, but all in all this was a thrilling and entertaining read!

The first novel in this series seemed to hold some promise in putting an end to my quest to find another series to love, but after having read the second book I can honestly say this series isn't for me. I'm STILL searching...

The premise of William Monk having amnesia was a good story line and really added a lot of interest to the first novel. While I expected it to carry over into this second novel, I didn't expect so much repetition of it. Four months are supposed to have passed in time since the end of the last story. I expected Monk to have done some investigating of his own life in order to discover who he is, especially because he would need to work the connections he had with any informants as well as navigate his hostile workplace. The idea that he wouldn't have learned more about himself in that period of time just isn't realistic.

I thought the story itself was far too similar to the first mystery in the series, so much so that it felt like a rehash of the same mystery, there were just too many similar ingredients. The entire story was tedious, repetitious and pedantic. There were far too many times where information was repeated without reason, the repetition only served to stall the momentum of the story.

Monk was unrealistically maudlen and the dialogue was often melodramatic and unrealistic. I found it hard to believe that Sergeant John Evan would be unfamiliar with the duties of a footman as he claims to be at one point in the story.

There are far too many unrealistic questions asked which only to offer the author the opportunity to educate the reader on the mores of Victorian life. When you choose to narrate a novel in the third person you have every opportunity to educate the reader without the need to insert unrealistic diologue in order to do so. And the education of the reader on the Victorian period was tiring.

The things that pulled me into the story in the first novel were not developed at all in the second novel. It's as if the author just repeated the same storyline without showing any growth or evolution of the characters. Most disappointing was the relationship between Monk and Evan which was virtually nonexistent in this novel.

Sadly I'm still looking for a good series to read...

I think this series is just going to keep getting better.
In this book Monk is forced out of his Police Inspector position by
Runcorn because he refuses to arrest the young servant who he
knows he is not guilty of the crime. It then falls to Hester Latterly
to join the Moidore household staff as Lady Moidore's nurse so she
can help find the clue to catch the killer and try to exonorate the servant.
This book also introduces Oliver Rathbone, the attorney, another great character. Along with Callandra Daviot, Hester's friend and mentor,
they will probably continue as characters in the series.
I really like this series!

It's interesting to compare this newer series of period murder mysteries to Perry's longer-running "Pitt" series. Both are set in Victorian London, but this series, about William Monk, take place roughly a generation before those featuring Thomas Pitt. But there are quite a few points in common: Pitt and Monk are both strict followers of justice and the truth, let the chips fall where they may -- though Monk has a rather darker personality and considerably more arrogance than Pitt. Both have a good deal of trouble dealing with weak or incompetent superiors (Monk) or dangerously strong superiors (Pitt). Where Pitt has his wife, Charlotte, and his sister-in-law, Emily, to act (often without his approval) as undercover investigators in the homes of Society, Monk has the assistance of Hester Latterly, a nurse trained under fire in the Crimea, and Oliver Rathbone, defense attorney. And Pitt's sometime ally, Aunt Vespasia, is balanced by Hester's friend, Callandra Daviot, both ladies being well ensconced within the upper ranks of Society and neither being willing to bend to convention when it doesn't suit them. Perry also makes a point of including a social theme in each of her novels. In this case, it's the military incompetence and sheer waste of men indulged in by Britain in the Crimean War. The specific plot involves the apparent murder of the widowed daughter of a very powerful man and the realization that the culprit has to be someone within the house -- either a member of the family or one of the servants. Monk and Sgt. Evan spend a great deal of time eliminating suspects and motives, and uncovering dirty little secrets, until they're left with almost nothing -- and therein lies the solution. And in the course of the investigation, Monk has it out with his boss and is dismissed from the force, after which he sets up as a private inquiry agent. In the quality of its writing and the development of the characters, especially those below-stairs, this is one of Perry's more successful efforts.

Anne Perry is one of my favorite author and this book just made me wanna read more.

I was very impressed with the first book, Face of a Stranger, and expected to like the series. "A Dangerous Mourning" has a serious problem with pacing, and I don't require new drama on every page. But it goes on and on and on and on...retelling the same stuff, going over all the same ground. It's creditable that Monk is so persistent (even though he didn't solve the crime), but a few well written paragraphs could have summed up about 150 pages of this book. Perry doesn't seem to realize that verbatim interviews aren't necessary when characters just repeat what they've said before.

Having read the first "Monk" book, "Face of a Stranger," I was excited when I received this offering. The excitement didn't last very long. Regretfully, I got half-way through and couldn't pick it up again. Bogged down in too much non-essential, confusing detail.

Great book. Some slow parts; I agree with some of the reviews that found the courtroom scenes a little slow. I don't have a problem with Hester working so much with Monk. I love the characters of Monk and Evan, and of course Hester.
My real problem is with the Kindle edition's interview at the end of the book. Not sure if it's also included in the real book, or only the Kindle. I was reading the interview and came upon a big spoiler! Very disappointing. Just so you know.