Customer Reviews

Funeral in Blue (William Monk Novels)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I've just finished reading the latest William & Hester Monk mystery novel, and I must confess that while I enjoyed it very much, if you're looking for the kind of mystery novel that it full of twists and turns, and that will keep you happily guessing till the very end, you might be in for a bit of a disappointment. "Funeral In Blue" is an interesting and absorbing read, but mainly because of the psychological element in the novel. What makes "Funeral In Blue" such compelling reading is NOT the mystery at hand: who could have murdered Elissa Beck, and the artist's model, Sarah Mackeson, but rather the manner in which Perry delves into the characters of the personalities involved in this novel.

Briefly the novel opens with the grisly discovery of the bodies of two women in artist, Argo Allardyce's studio. The dead women turn out to be Sarah Mackeson, Allardyce's model, and Eliisa Beck, the wife of Dr. Kristian Beck (a friend of Hester's) and the daughter of rising political and barrister, Fuller Pendreigh. The nature of the crime causes the police to focus their investigations on Allardyce (who had been commissioned to paint Eliisa's portrait and who happened to be in love with her) and Kristian. Allardyce, it turns out has an iron cast alibi; however Kristian's alibi proves to be shaky at best. And then Monk, together with the detective in charge of the case, discover that Elissa was a hopeless and addicted gambler, and who was near ruining Kristian with her enormous debts. Krisitan is arrested for the murders of both his wife and Sarah Mackeson, however neither Monk nor Hester believe that Kristian could have committed so heinous a crime. Neither does Elissa's father, who commissions Monk to investigate the murders more thoroughly while he undertakes to defend Krisitan in court. Monk's investigations takes him from the gambling slums of London, to Vienna, where Kristian and Elissa first met during the 1848 revolution, where they became comrades in arms, and where they fell in love with each other. For this case seems to hinge on the characters of both Eliisa and Kristian, both one time fiery revolutionaries, all set to change society and the world, and how they have changed since -- for while Kristian seems to have given his life to helping the sick and the poor, Eliisa seems to have exchanged the heady danger of revolution for that of gambling. What had caused Eliisa to fall into such an abyss? Could her murder be linked to her gambling debts? Could Kristian have killed both his wife and the model, Sarah? An added complication for the Monks arises when they realise that Imogen, Hester's sister-in-law, was a gambling cohort of Eliisa's and who may know more of the murder than she is letting on. For Monk and Hester the stakes have never seemed higher as they battle to help a friend, and protect Imogen from discovery and ruin.

As is usual with most Anne Perry novels, "Funeral In Blue" is an excellently written and crafted mystery novel. The characters are deftly and thoughtfully portrayed, as is her look at the 1848 uprising. The mystery itself gets resolved suddenly, and there is a gigantic element of coincidence in the resolution of the murders, that gives an air of reality to the whole thing, but which could prove frustrating to all armchair detectives out there. What this mystery novel hinges on however is the riddle that was Elissa Beck. And that is what makes this novel such an absorbing read.

Buy this book. The purpose of this review is not to tell the plot but rather to assure Perry fans that her "Funeral in Blue" is a fine piece of storytelling.

If you are a William Monk fan, you will enjoy this book especially if you are more interested in puzzles than Perry-philosophy. "Funeral in Blue" has a better balance between storytelling and philosophy than most of the recent Monk novels. If you liked "The Face of a Stranger," you will be relieved to read "Funeral in Blue" because it seemed that the recent Monk novels focused more on the "other" characters than Monk and his wife Hester; this book returns its focus to its namesake.

I rated the book like this: Two stars for Ms. Perry returning her focus to Mr. and Mrs. Monk; two stars for Ms. Perry departing, thank goodness, from her usual sordid murder to a crime less gruesome than is her wont; and two stars for the mystery itself. I know that two plus two plus two is six stars, but this mystery novel rated an additional star.

Because Ms. Perry has become somewhat predictable, I had a pretty good idea who the culprit would be (and I was correct), but I have to admit that she did a good job of trying to make me change my mind several times. Give Ms. Perry an A+ for this addition to her Monk series. Once I picked up "Funeral in Blue," I had to read it all the way through. If you like Perry, this one is worth buying.

I used to be a fan of Anne Perry's novels, especially the Monk series. However, for the last few years, I haven't bothered to read her new books, since they have become rather formulaic. I decided to pick up this one to see if anything has changed.

"Funeral in Blue" is another in the series of William Monk mysteries set in Victorian England. William Monk is a former policeman who is now a private investigator, and Hester Latterly, his wife, is a nurse who is married to Monk. In "Funeral in Blue," two women are murdered in the studio of an artist, Argo Allardyce. One of the women, Elissa Beck, is the wife of Kristian Beck, a respected physician with whom Hester has worked. The other woman is an artist's model. Both women were strangled, although the police have no idea why they were killed or who did it. Hester has a personal interest in this case, since her good friend, Callandra Daviot, secretly loves Dr. Beck and Callandra is anxious that he not be blamed for the homicides.

In an implausible scenario, Monk joins forces with his old enemy, Runcorn, a policeman who is in charge of the homicide investigation. Monk and Runcorn interview everyone who has a connection to the case, and ultimately Dr. Beck is arrested, since his alibi for the night of the murders doesn't hold up. In addition, it turns out that Dr. Beck had a strong motive for wishing his wife dead.

During the course of the investigation, Monk visits Vienna, Austria, to explore the roots of Elissa's relationship with Kristian. Elissa and Kristian had fought in the revolution that took place in that city thirteen years earlier. Complicating matters further, Hester's sister-in-law, Imogen Latterly, had a connection with Elissa Beck that may have a bearing on Elissa's death.

As is usual in Perry's novels, most of the book consists of a series of repetitious interviews in which the investigators try to ferret out who is telling the truth and who is lying. Nothing much happens until the end, when the murderer is finally unmasked. The solution is implausible and it comes completely out of left field.

Unfortunately, Perry does little to explore the relationship of Monk and Hester. The couple spends very little time together and Hester and Monk seem more like good friends than husband and wife. The characters in "Funeral in Blue" are rather bland and the pacing is slow. What Perry does well is describe the atmosphere of Victorian London. The city itself is the best and most lively character in the book. If Perry had imbued her characters with as much life as she does the city of London, "Funeral in Blue" would have been a much more compelling mystery.

The book begins with a grotesque and incomprehensible operation, and then takes the reader into an intrigue of enemies, allies, causes and injustice, weakness and strength, oppression and religious prejudice. This book is a very dark peek into lives in England during the U.S. Civil War, and post revolution Austria. The reader is introduced to three unlikely, complex and generally unsympathetic (all childless) couples. First we meet Monk and Hester - the gentleman/former policeman without a past and Hester, the altruistic and driven nurse, a former aide to Nightingale, and assistant to the benevolent Dr. Beck. Then the story shows another marriage - former revolutionaries - the good Dr. Beck and the beautiful, purposeless, addicted drama queen of a wife, also quite an unlikely duo. Wiggling about in the background are the staid Charles and the secretively buoyant Imogene. The characters are a study in psychological contrasts, with an envious and judgmental police detective, the shallow but highly talented artist, the dedicated father, the wealthy yet haunted by love older widow, the ego driven head of the hospital and the mysterious Austrian - but while well sketched they never seem to breathe. Deep passions, emotions and dark secrets haunt this darkly hazy tale of murder, betrayal and unworthy obsession. It plods along slowly to a rather implausible and hasty climax. When Elissa Beck and an artist's model are found murdered, Monk - the man without a past - must travel into the past to find answers. Generally well written, with interesting research, philanthropic motives and an ominous glimpse into compulsion and despair. However, this dark dirge does not inspire me to read more by this author.

Let's start with the flaws. The book includes lots of repetition (someone could start a drinking game for every time Monk says 'I don't know.') A good editor could have eliminated some of this and made the book less maddening to get through. The ending is a bit contrived and unbelievable. However, I have to admit that I was very taken with this book and totally believed in the characters, setting, and most of the plot. The characters were complex and interesting. Perry made them real. She also has done excellent research on the Victorian period in England. The details are fascinating and help paint a picture. Although the ending is not the most satisfying I've ever read, the reader is compelled to stick to the very end and care about what happens to the characters. All in all, a very enjoyable read

I will not bore anyone with a rehash of the storyline.

My opinion is that, once again, Ms. Perry has spent too much time on each character's thoughts and not enough time on constructing an interesting mystery.

How many times and for how many pages do we have to repeatedly read of the courage, fortitude and nobility of those who were involved in the 1848 uprisings? Page after page after page...

I've read many of the author's books and this seems to be a tradition with her. Many readers seem to enjoy it, but I'd rather have less lecturing and moralizing and more thought to a decent mystery. The last few pages seemed thrown together. After spending time on this book the reader deserved a better thought-out conclusion.

I give the five stars for the exploration of the minds and hearts that Ms. Perry writes in Funeral in Blue. It's impressive that after more than a decade of writing these same characters, she always finds something else to bring to the light and explore, and thank God, nothing melodramatic like the things the mediocre writers resort to. We don't find out that Monk is the lost Duke of York, kidnapped at birth to replace a son lost to a Northumbrian fisherman and his wife. :-)

The characters skillfully have more brushstrokes painted within the outlines Anne Perry had written in books past, giving us more color and insight into them. I'm glad to see Monk taking up the quest for his past again--he seemed to have dropped the idea after "The Silent Cry", which somewhat annoyed me.

Hester and Monk appear to be settling into their relationship with more ease, but they haven't become complacent--there are still flashes of the sharp tongues we know they both possess. They have their roles at home worked out, and they're blessedly atypical, fitting those two perfectly.

Let's see. The mystery left me a little bit unsatisfied. I think this was more a character development novel of Perry's, rather than more mystery-oriented such as "Defend and Betray". For the most part, Perry seems to go for one or the other--rarely do we have lots of chracter development packaged tidily with a great mystery.

I've learned to accept that, and thus enjoy each Monk book. Predictably, the books since Monk and Hester's marriage have been more character oriented, and "Funeral" was no exception. I expected that, but the ending sort of came out of nowhere...that jarred me a bit. I somewhat expected the murderer to be who it turned out to be, but the ending seemed a bit quick and left me scratching my head in confusion.

Anyhow--I expected a character-development novel and got much more than I thought. So I can honestly give this book five stars--I think Ms. Perry looks more to develop her characters than to write the perfect mystery anyhow. Good entry in the series, and that's my two pence!

Victorian era private investigator William Monk lost his memory in a London accident six years ago. He remade himself and his wife Hester is very proud of how her beloved has dealt with adversity. Hester studied nursing under Nightingale and assists surgeon Kristian Beck in the operating room.

When Kristian's wife and a model are killed in an artist's studio, Hester prevails upon Monk to investigate so that any stigma to her employer's name is removed. Unfortunately, Monk finds no evidence to clear him. Instead he finds many reasons why Kristian would want to kill his wife. The police arrest the doctor but his true friends rally around him and force Monk to dig deeper.

Anne Perry has written another fine mystery that captures the essence of Victorian England. Monk is at his best when he searches for the truth even if he is the only outside the police who feels Kristian murdered his spouse. Hester humanizes Monk by showing his compassionate side. Place FUNERAL IN BLUE on your book-shopping list if you want to read an excellent historical mystery by a talented author.

Harriet Klausner

This is one of more emotionally draining of the William Monk novels, set in London in 1861. It's also more melodramatic than most, even for Perry. The case this time concerns Dr. Kristian Beck, close friend and colleague of Hester Monk and Lady Calandra Daviot, whose wife, Elissa, is murdered at an artist's studio, together with one of the models. It turns out she was a compulsive gambler (one of the social themes this time around) and Kristian, being responsible for her debts, was on the brink of bankruptcy -- an excellent motive. The story goes deeply into the couple's background in Vienna during the heady revolutionary days of 1848 (a period Perry has also mined in her longer-running Thomas and Charlotte Pitt series), into the nature of Germanic anti-Semitism, and the tragedies that may be caused by jealousy. And Monk gets to add to his growing globe-trotting experience with a couple of weeks in Vienna. There are some weak points, of course: The author repeats herself far too often in describing Elissa's ethereal beauty. And also Monk's continuing anguish over his still mostly unknown past. Also, several of the characters whom the reader identifies at the beginning as being potential culprits are left to fade away. And the final solution is somewhat unsatisfying in its lack of passion. Still, the interpersonal relationships are generally quite well done -- especially between Monk and his old Nemesis, Runcorn, who seem to be on a verge of a rapprochement.

I give the five stars for the exploration of the minds and hearts that Ms. Perry writes in Funeral in Blue. It's impressive that after more than a decade of writing these same characters, she always finds something else to bring to the light and explore, and thank God, nothing melodramatic like the things the mediocre writers resort to. We don't find out that Monk is the lost Duke of York, kidnapped at birth to replace a son lost to a Northumbrian fisherman and his wife. :-)

The characters skillfully have more brushstrokes painted within the outlines Anne Perry had written in books past, giving us more color and insight into them. I'm glad to see Monk taking up the quest for his past again--he seemed to have dropped the idea after "The Silent Cry", which somewhat annoyed me.

Monk is indeed a fascinating character, and we've seen him grow from the guy you loved to hate in "The Face of a Stranger" to somebody whose mannerisms and ways might rub you the wrong way sometimes, but whose honor, courage, and honesty you can never deny. Slowly, he's developed, almost so slowly that the reader barely notices. I only noticed when I read "Funeral in Blue" right after I had read "The Face of a Stranger." The difference between the two Monks over five years is startling, to say the least.

This is unlike the Pitt books, where the sometimes almost painfully virtuous Thomas Pitt seems stuck in a personality rut fron "Cater Street Hangman" for the most part. Monk started out half a villain himself, nearly an anti-hero. That's slowly changed as he finds more of himself and the man he wants to be.

Speaking of, the step Monk took towards his own maturity and redemption in this book by working with his foe Runcorn, and admitting it was probably more his fault that the two former friends became enemies, was well-written. The end leaves us uncertain how the two will progress--but the first foundations of a possible trust are down now.

I admit I began reading this with the skepticism that this book, with the murder of Elissa Beck, was just an Anne Perry device to finally bring Callandra Daviot and Kristian Beck together. Granted, the door was open for awhile, but then it was firmly slammed shut by the end--at least for now.

The development of events leaves Kristian with *much* soul-searching to do--like Monk, he needs to find himself. Not to sound hackneyed, but that's true. And that he must do before he can come to grips with his life with Elissa and the possiblity of Callandra, so this book thankfully wasn't a tidy little device to unite the two. It's going to be a rather messy time of it before possibly the two lovers can come together, and that I appreciate.

I liked seeing Charles and Imogene Latterly involved in this book, and developed beyond the emotionally straitjacketed older brother and his proper Society wife--the glimpses we caught of the two in "Face of a Stranger" and "Sins of the Wolf" did nothing to dispell that--"Funeral in Blue" does.

Hester and Monk appear to be settling into their relationship with more ease, but they haven't become complacent--there are still flashes of the sharp tongues we know they both possess. They have their roles at home worked out, and they're blessedly atypical, fittign those two perfectly.

Let's see. The mystery left me a little bit unsatisfied. I think this was more a character development novel of Perry's, rather than more mystery-oriented such as "Defend and Betray". For the most part, Perry seems to go for one or the other--rarely do we have lots of chracter development packaged tidily with a great mystery.

I've learned to accept that, and thus enjoy each Monk book for the element it highlights--mystery or characters. Predictably, the books since Monk and Hester's marriage have been more character oriented, and "Funeral" was no exception. I expected that, but the ending sort of came out of nowhere...that jarred me a bit. I somewhat expected the murderer to be who it turned out to be, but the ending seemed a bit quick and left me scratching my head in confusion.

Anyhow--I expected a character-development novel and got much more than I thought. So I can honestly give this book five stars--I think Ms. Perry looks more to develop her characters than to write the perfect mystery anyhow. That's why we keep reading the series (g). To find out about the characters! Looking forward to next fall's entry, though I do pray that the next one's ending makes a bit more sense. So I say "Funeral in Blue" is excellent as part of the Monk series. As a stand-alone mystery, it's still pretty good. And that's my two pence!