Customer Reviews

A SUDDEN, FEARFUL DEATH.

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

A Sudden, Fearful Death is the fourth mystery in the Inspector Monk series of books by Anne Perry. Better known for her Pitt series, the Inspector Monk series are slighly earlier (just after the Crimean War), grittier, and in many ways more riveting. They are longer than the average Pitt novel, and this allows the author's wonderful ability to convey period detail and characterization to shine through.

In this mystery Inspector Monk is called in to investigate the murder of one of Florence Nightingale's Crimean nurses, who is working at a London hospital. Those of you who have read the previous three novels know how hard it can be for these young women to adapt to English hospitals after their stint abroad, and at first it seems that Prudence Barrymore might be a victim because of her desire to reform the medical system. As the plot unfolds, however, we realize that there is a great deal more going on at London's Royal Free hospital than meets the eye.

One of Perry's greatest talents lies in character development, and she is always careful to let a different character feature prominently in each novel. This time it is Lady Callandra Daviot's turn, Inspector Monk's female patron, who emerges as a more three-dimensional character. Hester Latterly, another Nightingale nurse, is also featured, along with the brilliant Inspector Monk and the lawyer of lawyers, Oliver Rathbone.

I would particularly recommend the Monk series to fans of TV's Law and Order, since these mysteries combine excellent sleuthing with taut court-room drama. If you like historical mysteries, you will love this series. If you already like Anne Perry, I encourage you to give Inpsector Monk a try!

I have recently started to listen to Anne Perry mysteries. I have thoroughly enjoyed them. The reason this one gets a four-star rating is because I was disappointed with the role Calandra played in this one. She has been a stalwart and formidable presence in the earlier books, not one to worry about someone's reputation when justice is at stake. I guess we're supposed to believe she has temporarily lost her presence of mind because she is in love.
Other than that spoiler, I enjoyed this thoroughly. I especially enjoy the courtroom scenes, the carefully crafted defense of a supposedly innocent doctor.

I have read and enjoyed the previous books in this series, and was very eager to read and enjoy this one, as well. Each of the books prior to this one held my attention, and I read each of them within 2 weeks -- and only took that long because I have a crazy work schedule and was not able to read as often as I would like. This book, however, I started reading a YEAR ago, and as of the writing of this review, I still have about 10 pages LEFT!! The reason that it has taken me SO long is because, in addition to the crazy work schedule I have and difficulty always finding time to read, I simply have lacked the INTEREST in this book to TRY to MAKE time to read it! This book haa simply dragged on and on, and it feels like it hasn't gotten anywhere! It is SOOO repetitious, and just goes over and over theories, etc, but nothing really ever happens! It takes some 400 pages to build (but "build" really isn't the right word because it isn't really very suspenseful, and there really are no twists, and it's not really "building" toward anything)! Then at the end it feels as though the author is trying to quickly pull it all together and finish the book. Dora's revelation is hurried and contrived, particularly since the story leading up to it is so very slow!

All in all the book was just ok. I like Perry as an author and have already purchased the next few books in the Monk series. I am hoping this particular book was written while she was in a funk, and that the series will get back on track. Having so enjoyed the first few stories, I am holding out hope for the rest of the series. Perhaps this one was just a slight falling-out, the result of some kind of writer's slump!

In the London of Queen Victoria, in a public hospital where "nurses" require no qualifications because all they do is the work of a drudge, a Crimean War veteran nurse is found strangled to death and stuffed into a laundry chute. Those nurses who worked under the legendary Florence Nightingale find life in their post-war homeland difficult, especially if they choose to continue nursing, because they know how to do far more than change bedding, roll bandages, and dump slop pails. They want to see medical care reformed, based on what they learned during their service under "the lady with the lamp"; and their presence makes those around them uncomfortable, doctors as well as matrons and ordinary nurses, because these are forceful women who usually have no need to earn a living. They are gentlewomen who should, according to their era's customs, confine their hospital work to that of board members and charitable contributors. Instead they insist on doing what no decent upper-class female ought, and their outspoken desire for specific reforms both disturbs and insults England's current medical establishment.

Former police detective William Monk, now a private detective, inquires into the death of Prudence Barrymore at the request of his patron, Lady Callandra Daviot. He asks another Crimean nurse, Hester Latterly, to take a position at the hospital and learn all that she can; and then he takes the resulting evidence to the police, in the person of a former colleague whose competence he has reason to distrust. After which Monk begins to think it may be a false accusation, despite that evidence. So what will he do now, with the accused already on trial?

Although I had read other Anne Perry books, this was my first William Monk installment. The amnesiac detective is that rare fictional character, a not very likable "hero" who nevertheless gains the reader's interest and holds it to the story's end. Which for me came at an unholy hour of the night - I found the book's final chapters impossible to put down. You do not need to be a mystery genre reader to appreciate Anne Perry. You only need to enjoy character driven fiction in general, and well written historical fiction in particular. I will definitely read more of the novels in this series.

--Reviewed by Nina M. Osier, author of 2005 science fiction EPPIE winner "Regs"

After reading all the "Thomas & Charlotte Pitt" Victorian London murder mysteries, this series, starring police inspector-turned-private detective William Monk (and set thirty years earlier), are quite different. Where most of us sympathize strongly with Pitt and his wife, and would like them is we were to meet them, Monk is another kettle of fish. He's angry, arrogant, superior, self-righteous, often cruel in his methods, occasionally violent, and generally distasteful. The fact that he's usually right, and that other investigators respect his professional brilliance doesn't make him any more likeable -- and they don't.. When he was forced to resign from the police, it was largely his own fault for having alienated so many people. Anyway, Monk is own his own now, dependent on Lady Callandra to underwrite his career when clients are scarce, and frequently teamed in his cases with Hester Latterley, Crimean nurse (also rather arrogant on occasion), and with Oliver Rathbone, a highly gifted defense attorney (. . . and also rather arrogant on occasion). This case concerns the murder of Prudence Barrymore, another Crimean nurse, whose body was found stuffed down the laundry chute in the London hospital where she was employed. Prudence's greatest desire her entire life was to become a doctor -- a totally impossible ambition for any woman in 1858, no matter how brilliant. That gender inequality is one of Perry's social themes this time out -- another being the complete lack of professionalism among nurses of the day, who were ignorant, low-born, and frequently drunk, and who were little more than hospital charwomen. Prudence worked closely with a highly regarded surgeon, who may be the murderer -- or maybe not. The third theme is abortion rights, about which Perry never quite clarifies her personal position: Is there a difference between free abortions performed in the back of butcher shops for the impoverished, exhausted mother with far more children than she can feed, and abortions for convenience for the wealthy, performed by skilled surgeons and for which they pay high prices? In any case, it's a generally well-written novel with several subplots, romantic and otherwise, and Hester and Rathbone get largely equal billing.

Having read the three prior MONK novels, I am, as usual, frustrated by the inconsistency of Perry's writing. I think this one may be my last. She provides some fascinating details on life in Victorian London, but also devises plots in which the solutions to the mysteries are extremely obvious, and the behavior of the characters completely contrived and unbelievable. I figured out the "twist" of the plot 100 pages before all the intelligent major characters - Monk, Hester,& Rathbone - had. Can they be that dense??!! The entire first section of the novel is devoted to a plot which becomes mere background. Certain characters - such as Evans - are given a good deal of attention and then dropped completely. Other characters behave unbelievably in order to come up with the pat solution (eg. SPOILER: Dora Parsons suddenly opening up to Hester and having an unbelievable quick change of heart). I am frustrated by the fact that there is a good deal to enjoy in Perry's writings and yet at the end I feel I have wasted hours and hours on a book with no surprises or interesting and unexpected solutions; the books always seem to end with a huge letdown at the banality and predictablity of the plots.

I won't bother to rehash the plot of this book, as that has been done. I have very much enjoyed the William Monk series, but was quite disappointed with this particular entry. Although I agree with the reviewer that the opening scene with Marianne does not originally make sense to the reader, the relevance becomes pretty clear by at most page 100. The 200 pages or so devoted to determining what it was Prudence actually wanted were almost completely wasted. I had figured out the answer to this question immediately, but thought that in Perry's traditional style, Monk and crew would be pick this up as easily as I had, and then it would be on to the next twist. Alas, they did not pick this up until the last 20-30 pages of the book!! The last chapter, which a previous reviewer raved about, in my opinion was remniscent of some of Patricia Cornwell's poorly exectued later entries in her Kay Scarpetta series: pick a person randomly to solve the crime. Also, character development was not up to Perry's usual standards; there was no additional insights or progressions of any of the ongoing relationships. I gave the book two stars because I enjoyed both the description of hospital consitions in 1850's London and did originally like the plot but that it was not brought to a sufficient height and lacked "meat." I will continue reading Perry, since I know later books in this series are up to her usual standards, but would forewarn readers that this is not the book to start with if one wishes to "test" Perry.

This was another great read by Anne Perry. I was surprised by the outcome. I enjoy the way this author develops the characters and story line.

If you enjoy Martha Grimes or M. C. Beaton's Hamish Macbeth mysteries then Anne Perry will not disappoint. I recommend reading this series from the beginning, in order. Monk is not always likeable, and is a typical Victorian sexist but the men defined in Perry's novels are appropriate to the time. Perry's men and women can be frustrating but she not only delves into the day to day lives of the Victorians in an accurate, detailed manner, she also writes a mystery that is NOT predictable. Perry specializes in the seedier side of the habits of the era. Don't expect to figure out what will happen, plan on being surprised unless you have read Perry's other Inspector Pitt series. In this novel a nurse has been found strangled. Hester Latterly is once again involved, a Crimean war nurse. The detail of the horrors of war experienced by early English nurses under Florence Nightingale is very well done. The battles between Hester and Monk are frustrating but enjoyable. Anne Perry does court room drama like no other. Worth the price of the read!

Anne Perry keeps you guessing from the first page. What an imagination!