A Breach of Promise, Anne Perry

 The Book 

    When Killian Melville asks Oliver Rathbone to defend him in a possible "Breach of Promise" lawsuit, Rathbone is initially reluctant. But after Rathbone is outmaneuvered by an Ambitious Mama and is forced to attend a musical recital, he changes his mind and rashly decides to take Killian's case. 

   Killian insists that he never asked the young lady in question, miss Zillah Lambert for her hand in marriage. That Zillah is an upstanding lady, but he, Killian can never marry. He believes that he and Zillah had shared a profound friendship that her mother, Delphine misunderstood. Together Delphine and Zillah planned the wedding, and Killian found out too late. He is embarrassed, and knows it will hurt his budding career as an architect, especially since Zillah's father, Barton Lambert, is Killian's patron. 

    Rathbone sets Monk on the case, but they cannot find anything in either Killian's background or Zillah's. Rathbone advises his client to ask Zillah to marry him, believing Zillah will refuse. But Killian will not back down. The case keeps going sideways and both Monk and Rathbone consult Hester Latterly at her post, privately nursing a newly disfigured young Lieutenant Gabriel Sheldon. 

    While Hester nurses Gabriel and helps his young wife, Perdita, learn how to navigate this new life, she befriends Perdita's lady's maid. When Monk needs Hester's help on the Melville case, he agrees to search for Miss Jackson's two nieces. 

    Then everything goes sideways when Killian is found dead by his good friend, nay his lover, Isaac Wolff and nobody knows if it is murder or suicide. But the possibility of a lover is not the only secret Killian is hiding, but something much more profound. When Barton learns the truth, and why Killian couldn't marry his daughter, he agrees to pay Monk to get the answers as to why Killian is dead. It's an answer nobody saw coming. And through it all Monk finally figures out he loves Hester and askes her to marry him. 

My Thoughts

    Ever read a book and remember the plot but forget the subplot? That's what happened to me. I knew. logically, that this was the book where Monk asks Hester to marry him. But I had completely forgotten why. I remembered every twist and turn of the first two thirds of the book, and the twist as to what actually happened to Killian. But I had forgotten brave Perdita (and just so you know, I kept saying "and Pongo" every time I read her name) and the heroic Gabriel. I had completely forgotten Athol, Gabriel's well meaning, but ill equipped brother who hires Hester, only to disagree with how she does her job. 

    I forgot what it was that Monk saw that finally brought him around to admitting how he actually felt about Hester. All in all, poorly done of me. But there are reasons. 

    The plot twist around Killian is all it promises to be, perhaps one of the best every written. And outside of the Killian's twist, I forgot almost all else. This book is a must read. 

How Much My Library Card Saved Me

    This book came to me from Ela Area Public Library. This 374 page first edition entered their system in October 1998, most likely late October, because the stamp sheet is still inside of it and it was first due November 8 of 1999 and it was (according to a sticker on the inside of the book) a 7 day loaner, by extrapolation this means it was checked out of the library on November 1, 1998. I love it when you can this type of information just from a book. Likewise, I can tell that Ela went to a scan system, most likely on January 1. 2001 because the last stamp in the book was a return date of December 6, 2000. This book, for as old as it is, is in pretty good condition. It has a few pages that have been dog eared, but not many. There are some smudges on the corner of the pages, but all in all, it's in pretty good repair and I would expect it should last a few more years. The interior cover of the book states that it was $25.00 at the time of sale. That is the number we will use. 

This Book                                             $25.00

Items Reviewed This Year                  $235.96

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