The William Monk Mysteries: The First Three Novels [Paperback]

Anne Perry (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 29, 2005

Few authors have made Victorian London as engaging and lively as Anne Perry has and her rich descriptions and charismatic characters have long captivated fans around the world. Now in one enticing volume, here are Anne Perry’s first three classic novels featuring private investigator William Monk.

THE FACE OF A STRANGER
His name, they tell him, is William Monk, and he is a London police detective. His memory vanished after a terrible accident, intent on hiding his condition and starting a new life, Monk tackles a grisly murder case in which each new revelation leads him to the answers he seeks but dreads to find. . . .

A DANGEROUS MOURNING
Called upon to investigate the brutal murder of a blue-blooded young widow, Monk is plagued by his lingering amnesia and an inept supervisor. But nurse Hester Latterly offers her assistance, and together they grope warily through the silence and shadows that obscure the aristocrat’s demise.

DEFEND AND BETRAY
After a brilliant military career, General Thaddeus Carlyon meets his death not on the battlefield but at a London dinner party, and his wife confesses to the murder. But Monk and Hester Latterly suspect deceit, and with the trial only days away, they feverishly work to unravel the dark heart of the mystery.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Murder fans who prefer their crimes with a touch of class should heat some scones and nestle back for the afternoon.”
–The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

“Anne Perry can write a Victorian mystery that would make Dickens’s eyes pop.”
–The New York Times Book Review

Product Details

• Paperback: 1152 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books (March 29, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345480937
• ISBN-13: 978-0345480934
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 1.6 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #88,574 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Anne Perry is the bestselling author of two acclaimed series set in Victorian England: the William Monk novels, including Dark Assassin and The Shifting Tide, and the Charlotte and Thomas Pitt novels, including The Cater Street Hangman, Calandar Square, Buckingham Palace Gardens and Long Spoon Lane. She is also the author of the World War I novels No Graves As Yet, Shoulder the Sky, Angels in the Gloom, At Some Disputed Barricade, and We Shall Not Sleep, as well as six holiday novels, most recently A Christmas Grace. Anne Perry lives in Scotland.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars William Monk Series for Historical Mystery Lovers, January 11, 2009

By 

S. J. Ortiz (Kennewick, WA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The William Monk Mysteries: The First Three Novels (Paperback)

I've read every book in the William Monk and Hester Latterly series and loved them all. Anne Perry's research into Victorian history is accurate and mesmerizing. She often builds her stories around known events of the period. These two characters are people you can care about because they are separately fascinating and together entertaining. Monk is a private investigator with a mysterious past and Hester is a Crimean war nurse--one of Florence Nightingale's band of revolutionary nurses. Both learn from their experiences and apply what they've learned to their lives. It is fun to watch them bicker and argue and irritate one another and then grudgingly come together on one overriding ethical issue. Through the years, they mature into wiser people who also grow to love and appreciate one another after a very prickly beginning. Monk himself is a mystery for most of the novels as he remembers bits and pieces of his past life before an accident that took his memory. This series is well worth investing your precious reading time. Perry's other series featuring Thomas and Charlotte Pitt are equally engaging, but set in a later Victorian time period. If you like characters who value integrity and place the welfare of the unfortunate before their own in that old-fashioned way, and are smart at solving some really puzzling crimes, all in the context of British Victorian society, you will love these two series. And after that, there is Perry's superb WWI mystery series. I think this is her best work to date.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What a mystery should be, January 3, 2007

By 

J. Dugger - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The William Monk Mysteries: The First Three Novels (Paperback)

This set of three novels shows what a mystery should be. They are without doubt some of the best examples of mystery writing I have read. Setting, characters and plot combine to create situations that enthrall. And the third of these first three mysteries is simply unforgetable.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding Bargain!, March 25, 2009

By 

Joan Spencer (Oregon Cascades) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The William Monk Mysteries: The First Three Novels (Paperback)

If you like historial novels---with some mystery combined with realistic romance; if the Regency, Victorian or Edwardian periods interest you, then buy this book. Fans of Anne Perry's Thomas and Charlotte series are bound to appreciate Monk. I found this series richer and more satisfying than Charlotte and Thomas (although I still re-read them also).

Perry is an excellent writer, relaxing to read. Her characters are memorable. They grow and develop as the series procede. This three-for-one is one terrific bargain!