A Dangerous Mourning Audiobook By Anne Perry cover art

A Dangerous Mourning

A William Monk Novel #2

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A Dangerous Mourning

By: Anne Perry
Narrated by: Davina Porter
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No breath of scandal has ever touched the aristocratic Moidore family—until Sir Basil’s beautiful widowed daughter is stabbed to death in her own bed, a shocking, incomprehensible tragedy.

Inspector William Monk is ordered to investigate in a manner that will give the least possible pain to the influential family. But Monk, brilliant and ambitious, is handicapped by lingering traces of amnesia and by the craven ineptitude of his supervisor, who would like nothing better than to see
Monk fail. With the help of nurse Hester Latterly, a progressive young woman who served with Florence Nightingale in the Crimea, Monk gropes warily through the silence and shadows that obscure the case, knowing that with each step he comes closer to the appalling truth.

Crack another case with William Monk.©1991 Anne Perry (P)1995 Recorded Books Historical Mystery Police Procedurals Thriller & Suspense Traditional Detectives

Critic reviews

"As tension mounts in the household and a handsome and disliked footman becomes a scapegoat, Monk covertly arranges to introduce Hester Latterly, who served with Florence Nightingale in the Crimea and has helped Monk before, as a nurse in the Moidore home. Although a grave miscarriage of justice occurs and Monk is dismissed from the police force for a matter of conscience, the strong-willed pair persists in pressing the case to its chilling conclusion." ( Publishers Weekly)
"Anne Perry can write a Victorian mystery that would make Dickens's eyes pop." ( New York Times Book Review)
"A richly textured, masterfully plotted, thoroughly enjoyable read." ( Kirkus Reviews)
Unexpected Plot Twists • Engrossing Characters • Well-developed Mystery • Historical Authenticity • Intelligent Writing
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Just as I was about to give up on this series; the characters were fleshed out much more. Phew.

Growth in Characters

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I am enjoying the Monk series very much. Having fallen in love with Runcorn in Perry’s the Christmas Beginning, I am finding it impossible to reconcile my beloved Runcorn with the over bearing oaf depicted in this series. The other characters seem true to form in the Christmas series and I do not understand why Runcorn is characterized so differently
Alas, I just pretend he is someone else!

I am confused by Runcorn’s character

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Excellent narrator. She is one of my favorites. The story is enthralling and gave Hester a stronger role to play. Still a lot of unanswered questions about Monk's lost memories. All around excellent.

Kept me hooked

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The narrator does a wonderful job! The story itself is well written, not so obvious that you guess the ending and keeps your interest. Very well paced with well rounded characters and environment.

Great story and narration

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Good story, but Monk seemed to lack investigation skills, so not surprising someone else had to figure it out. Hoping he improves!

Surprising finish!

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I enjoyed this book but will not visit another in the series.

Let me explain...

The narration is excellent. Davina Porter is a gem.

The setting is quite good. From eel pies and onion soup, to the daily routines of servants, to the ineptitudes of doctors and their expectations of nurses, to the rituals which were involved in every kind of social interaction, Victorian London, and the lives of its inhabitants, are fleshed out in remarkable detail.

Many of the characters are good, too. Hester Latterly is a stand out: brash, intelligent, opinionated, sensitive, compassionate, proactive.

And the basic plot is engrossing: a women dead, carved up by an intruder in the night, only it wasn't an intruder but someone in the house who did it -- a very respectable house filled with both respectable people, and servants. The conflict this creates, and the ways the conflict plays out, is fascinating to observe...mostly.

The problem is that the novel plods. Not in a satisfying, slow, luxurious way. In a tedious way. Most of the action consists of repetitive conversations, leading to interrogations that are uninformative, leading back to conversations that are usually seething underneath with barely suppressed contempt or indignation, leading to more interrogations with the same people as before, with almost nothing new coming to light, and so on, and so on. This is actually fine for a while as it builds tension. But I found myself skipping a bit at the end, trying to get to some good parts.

Part of what's frustrating is that the main character (who is not Hester, sadly) is so impotent throughout. His hands are tied by the situation, and they never become untied, so that by the end of the story he has barely done anything to accomplish its resolution. This might be accurate for the time and situation, but it's usually not what you want in the protagonist of a detective novel.

What's more, there was a line of inquiry I was almost screaming for them to pursue, which was completely ignored until the last few pages. In my mind, in a murder mystery, obscuring the obvious by simply ignoring it is a cardinal sin.

In conclusion: I did enjoy the novel, but I find it difficult to recommend. It's an odd thing to admit at the end of a 4 star review, but there you have it.

Enjoyable, but frustrating

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New to Monk and enjoyed this one so much I purchased the entire series. Davina Porter is great too.

Enjoyed every minute of it.

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First the narrator was quality all the way. Story superb. I strongly recommend it even though it is quite long.

Long but worth every minute

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Hester and Monk, Evans make such a good team even if they don’t initially recognize it. Anne write a great story full of history and humanity. Changes come so slowly, but they do come.

Hester and Monk are a good team

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Incredible storyteller. Excellent narration. Limited number of “Smiles that didn’t reach…”aaarg. But one more “withdrawing room” and, and “my smile won’t reach…” arg.

As good as it gets

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