The Twisted Root

October 4, 1999
In this 10th entry in the popular series featuring prickly English investigator William Monk and his equally prickly bride, nurse Hester Latterly (A Breach of Promise, etc.), Perry mulls over the moral justification of criminal acts. Just back from his honeymoon in the summer of 1860, Monk tries to locate Mrs. Miriam Gardiner, a comely widow who inexplicably fled in a coach from her wealthy young fianc 's home. Monk's search takes him to Hampstead Heath, where the coachman's body is found--murdered, he deduces, by a single blow to the head. Could Miriam have struck that deadly blow as she fled, and if so, why? Cornered at last, Miriam refuses to explain her behavior or implicate the coachman's murderer, even though Monk suspects she's the victim of some atrocity. Meanwhile, Hester gears up to defend Cleo Anderson, a saintly nurse who admits to filching hospital supplies to treat impoverished war veterans. Plot mechanics grind away as Perry strains to connect the two crimes, resolving matters with an ending that reads like Henry Fielding without the laughs. Fans of earlier Monk and Latterly mysteries may enjoy Perry's sometimes overwrought depiction of the two-career couple negotiating who cooks supper, but the many other anachronisms just don't wash (says Hester's colleague: "you want to have nurses visit the poor in their homes? You are fifty years before your time"). Despite the characters' tendency to sermonize self-righteously, Perry's theme is the hazy nature of guilt--a topic sure to intrigue those who've followed her career. For thrills, however, readers should turn to other books in the series. Mystery Guild selection; Random House audio.

August 1, 1999
Perry's methodical "agent of inquiry" William Monk is back in another historical puzzler set in Victorian England. More comfortable now with his status as an independent investigator and mellowed somewhat by his recent marriage to nurse Hester Latterly, Monk takes on the troubling challenge of finding Miriam Gardiner, who disappeared from a garden party at the home of her wealthy, much younger fiance, Lucius Stourbridge. Lucius wants her back, even after the coachman who drove her away turns up dead and Miriam is accused of the crime. In the meantime, Monk's beloved Hester, who has some investigative credentials of her own, is quietly searching for the thief who is raiding hospital medicine stores, adjusting to her new marriage, and crusading for hospital reforms. The tangents dovetail neatly, with Perry delivering her usual leisurely paced story suffused with period details, many of which focus on the conventions of gender and class that so marked the times. What's best, however, is the denouement, when the guilty party and the meaning of the title are dramatically unveiled in a packed London courtroom. ((Reviewed August 1999))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 1999, American Library Association.)

October 1, 1999
This is the tenth William Monk mystery by the prolific and talented Perry. A beautiful widow named Miriam Gardiner has disappeared, leaving behind a distraught fianc and a dead coachman. Monk is called in to find Gardiner and then must uncover the truth when she is charged with murdering the coachman. Oliver Rathbone agrees to represent her, but she refuses to defend herself. Whose secret is she willing to die to protect? A compelling subplot involving Hester, Monk's wife, and a dying war veteran adds emotional depth to the story. Perry sticks to her proven formula: a desperate and impassioned effort to save someone who is wrongfully accused. There is strong characterization, particularly of the newly married Monk and Hester. Not Perry's best, but still highly recommended for all public libraries. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 6/15/99.]--Laurel Bliss, New Haven, CT

Copyright 1999 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.