For whatever reason, this story seems disjointed. The first big scene took forever to tie in with the rest of the plot and I'm still not sure it was necessary. The big reveal did not necessarily need Julia and her sister Marianne. The courtroom scenes are tedious and overly drawn out. I suspect Perry wrote it this way simply to give Rathbone something to do. Unfortunately, it only served to make him less likeable since he is constantly disparaging Prudence's memory and character. Why isn't Hester testifying? She witnessed Prudence performing successful amputations and could refute some of the claims. A huge oversight by the prosecution and Monk. It was very difficult and upsetting to read pages and pages of people tearing Prudence's memory and accomplishments to shreds, simply because no one has sufficient imagination to guess at the real meaning of her letters (which I did almost immediately) until Hester manages near the end of the trial. This alone brings the rating down 1 star. How annoying that everyone assumed a sordid reason behind the letters, especially since it was so out of character for Prudence. Since I guessed the reason right away, I find it hard to believe none of the other characters did. How absurd. Not to mention, it's getting really annoying the way Monk continually ruminates on how brilliant he is. Give it a rest already!I have to say, I really like the Charlotte and Thomas Pitt series better. There is a lot of potential for the Monk books, but I think the time period makes it difficult to enjoy. While women are still relegated to a background role during the Pitt's era, at least whispers of change are in the air. During the Monk books, the female characters are so restricted at times, it's difficult to enjoy the read. That said, the parts with Hester are always my favorite. Poor thing is so ahead of her time.
This is #4 in the inaccurately named William Monk series--it's really way more the William Monk, Hester Latterly, and Oliver Rathbone series, I find. This time around we got another hefty chunk of Monk, Hester, and Rathbone walking around talking to people to try to solve the mystery du jour--which while a bit less action-y than I prefer, it still is working for me since Perry does put together a nicely complex kind of story.I must also say it's about damn time that we start seeing some increasing sign of Monk and Hester liking each other. I mean, you know it's coming from pretty much page one of the first book, when they start off in the time-honored fashion by sniping at one another constantly. In this book, I was rather charmed to find Monk starting to actually look forward to sniping with her, and finding that he would rather have a hostile conversation with her than a genteel one with any other woman.Nice callback to the previous book, with Major Tiptree making another appearance--and proposing to Edith. Aww. ^_^ And I liked further hints getting dropped about Monk and Runcorn's background together, and how Runcorn didn't used to be such an asshole.I kind of wish that Perry would get off the theme of All Nurses Who Went to the Crimea Are Goddesses Incarnate, but from the peeks I've stolen at the Amazon.com pages for the books to come, I think I'll get that wish. Sins of the Wolf looks like fun--and the beginnings of actual tender feelings between Monk and Hester, at last! Woot!
What do You think about A Sudden, Fearful Death (1994)?
I've listened to a handful each of two of her collections, and every one is class-conscious, critical of greed and corruption, sympathetic to the poor and others betrayed by bad actors at all levels of power, etc. She always has the forces of evil embodied by some secret powerful conspiracy that we've never heard of historically, and her heros are all social workers at heart...I'm not saying she's great, but I think her social & political vision is the undeniable heart of her work.
—Bill Tillman
In this fourth of the William Monk series we find Prudence Barrymore, a nurse with Florence Nightingale in the Crimea, murdered in a local hospital. She was talented and even desired to be a doctor. Nurses of that era had reputations little better than prostitutes, but Prudence was skilled enough to work with the city's best surgeon. How did she end up dead then?William Monk, a private detective, had taken the case and Hester Latterly has agreed to go to work at the hospital and work under cover. This turns out to be a big mistake which ends with Barrister, Oliver Rathbone, fighting for her reputation and maybe even her life.In this book, we are beginning to see signs of respect for Hester in both Monk and Oliver Rathbone. In fact, it is hard to see anyone Oliver respects and admires more and he shows it, albeit discreetly. Monk is also beginning to change his opinions about women after looking into more of his past. This book is engaging as far as the mystery goes, but it is even more fascinating as it describes the restrictions on women in the Victorian era and the unfairness of the law. The old cast of characters also includes Oliver Rathbone who must really work to make sure justice is served and the wrong person is not executed.
—Anne Hawn Smith
I still like the characters in this book but the plots keep getting darker and nastier. And either Perry is getting more predictable or I've read too many of her books. I figured out what was going on and got really annoyed with how stupid Monk and Hester were being before they finally figure it out too. The book could have been cut in half and would have been a lot better. It's like Perry felt that she couldn't stop at 200+ pages for some reason so she kept beating around the bush for another 200 before she finally felt ok about ending it.
—Liz Jensen
