A Sunless Sea, by Anne Perry

The Book

 Commander William Monk is still commanding the Thames River Police when in the early morning hours of November 23, 1864. He and Orme hear a woman screaming. They row their skiff up to her location and discover the badly mutilated body of a woman. It takes a bit of investigating and the talents of a local constable in order to identify her as Zenia Gadney, a quiet woman whose is supported by a man, but no one knows who or why. Zenia herself tells everyone she had been married, but her addiction to alcohol and opium cost her the marriage when her husband couldn't take her addictions any more. 

Armed with this knowledge Orme and Monk trace Zenia's money back to a man recently dead, a respected doctor by the name of Joel Lambourne. Dr. Lambourne has apparently died of suicide after a report he was writing for the government was rejected. His widow, Dinah Lambourne tells Monk this is hogwash. Monk tries to ask questions, but is blocked. When he catches Dinah lying about her alibi, he is forced to arrest for Zenia Gadney's murder. 

Dinah insists she didn't do it. She implores Monk to ask his friend Oliver Rathbone to defend her. Rathbone, recently separated from his wife Margaret agrees. 

As the case drags on, and it looks like Rathbone can't get to the truth, Monk and his old frenemy Runcorn reinvestigate Joel Lambourne's murder. Between their two brains, the discover the truth about Zenia and Joel. They now know whose lying, the problem is going to be proving they murdered two people. 

My Thoughts

Anne Perry certainly has a fascination with history. I would say most of what I know about the outline of Britain's past, I have gleaned from her books. Her work is deeply concerned with morality, they way it's portrayed in society, and the actual truth. She has deep sympathy for those who are caught in addictions not of their own making. One can think that she saw deep parallels between the OxyContin crisis as it was ramping up in the early 2000s, and the opium crisis of the 1860s in England. Like in America at the time, there was big money to be made and people who should have cared, but didn't about how many people died. 

Also, for some reason, I keep thinking this book comes earlier in the story of Margaret and Sir Oliver's story. Given the story lines, I keep thinking it comes between The Shifting Tide and Acceptable Loss. Which makes the Rathbone's marriage longer. I think that likely disproves her point, and we see the change in Sir Oliver's character a bit better this way. I love the way Perry both address moral issues, her meticulous historical research, and her ability to weave the narrative to character change, taking her readers through it in both logical and surprising fashion. 

How Much My Library Card Saved Me

This hard cover 372 page book came to me from Lake Forest Library. It entered their collection in August of 2012, which corresponds to when the book was released. It is in fairly good condition, with no dog ears or marks inside of the book. The spine seems firm and the cover looks in great condition. I believe this book will last their library several more years. The inside cover says the book cost $26.00 at time of purchase. That's the number I will use. 

Library Books

This Book                                                         $26.00

Library Items Reviewed This Year                 $242.83

Private Books

This Book                                                        $00.00

Total of Private Books                                     $55.75

Total of All Items Reviewed This Year          $310.58

Still Here? 

 I am now a published author. You can pick up a *FREE COPY* of my novella The Big Intersection here.