Death of a Stranger, Anne Perry

 

The Book

When a prominent business man, Nolan Baltimore, is found murdered in one of the seediest brothels in London, Hester's new world comes under pressure. Hester has founded a clinic for prostitutes in the red light district. She asks them no questions, and does not judge them. As a result, she patches up the sex workers which allows them to go back to work. 

Not long after Baltimore is found dead, a young woman, Katrina Harcus, employs Hester's husband, William Monk to investigate potential fraud at Baltimore's railroad company. Katrina explains she is worried her fiancé, a junior partner in the firm, will be pulled into something dishonorable. Monk takes the case. 

But as he investigates Baltimore's business, his own shadowy past comes back. He knows he once knew something about it when he finds old banking records with his signature on it. As Monk investigates the current potential fraud, he is afraid he had something to do with the old fraud, a crime which his mentor died in jail for. To Monk's relief, he can find no fraud. He tries to tell Katrina, but she does not believe him. Before he can convince her he's right, she is murdered. 

Now her fiancé is being tried for killing her, but Monk is convinced he didn't do it. Oliver Rathbone agrees to defend the man. Monk continues to investigate. And much to his surprise, he finds he does know what the fraud is. And he knows that unless he puts a stop to it, countless people could end up dead. Will he solve it again, and in time? 

My Thoughts

This book comes at the halfway point in the series. It marks a significant turn in Monk's character and ties up several lose ends of his character. In the books to come, although they are finely written books, and keep better with Monk's base character, the strong presence of this book always hangs over my enjoyment of those. 

I do not think this book is one of Perry's superlative novels. But the plot twist, or rather twits, are interesting and memorable. It does give a satisfying conclusion to the story. And Perry does a fine job of characterizing Katrina Harcus. So much so, that a close reading a second time through will yield satisfying results. Having said that, I'm not sure it's worth reading more than twice, unlike a few of Perry's other books. 

How Much My Library Card Saved Me

This book came to me from Wheeling, IL and the Indian Hills Public Library District. The copyright on this 337 page book is 2002. According to the checkout card pocket, this book entered their collection in October of 2002. It has been lightly read and is in fairly good condition for the age of the book. The glue holding the inner part of the spine seems to be failing just a bit and the book is a little lopsided, but the pages are pristine. The cover says it cost $25.95, so that is the price I will use. 

This Book                                                 $25.95

Private Books                                             $0.00

Items Reviewed This Year                      $276.92