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A Sudden Fearful Death (William Monk Mystery, Book 4) : A shocking murder from the depths of Victorian London - Anne Perry

A Sudden Fearful Death (William Monk Mystery, Book 4)

A shocking murder from the depths of Victorian London

By: Anne Perry

Paperback | 6 January 1994 | Edition Number 1

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Death might be commonplace in 1857 in the Royal Free Hospital in London's Gray's Inn Road, but murder certainly isn't. When the body of Prudence Barrymore, a gently bred, dedicated and passionate nurse, is discovered stuffed into a laundry chute no one - high born or low - can be beyond suspicion. But the police seem determined to concentrate their efforts on proving Dr Kristian Beck the culprit - because he is foreign. Concerned and unhappy with this state of affairs, Lady Callandra Daviot of the Board of Governers asks Investigator William Monk to pursue the case.

Monk, frustrated by the lingering traces of amnesia caused by an accident, agrees, and calls upon his old colleagues to aid him. Hester Latterly, an independent young woman who served with Florence Nightingale in the Crimean War, knew the dead woman there; Hester's profession provides the perfect cover for her to obtain work at the Royal Free. And Oliver Rathbone, a brilliant barrister, who is brought in as counsel for the defence. But under the ever-present shadow of the gallows, and inching towards the appalling solution, the three begin to despair of justice ever prevailing.

Industry Reviews
William Monk, tough, unhappy ex-policeman hero of several of the author's Victorian-era novels (The Face of a Stranger, etc.), is almost peripheral in this one. It concerns the murder of strong-willed Prudence Barrymore, a gifted nurse of good family, with heroic service in the Crimean War behind her. Working now in London's Royal Free Hospital, mostly with prominent surgeon Sir Herbert Stanhope, she is found, strangled, in a hospital laundry chute. Monk is hired by Lady Callandra Daviot, on the hospital's board of governors, to try to find the killer. He enlists the help of old friend Hester Latterly, another dedicated nurse, who takes a job in the hospital, hoping to ferret out useful information. Her efforts are largely unproductive, and matters seem hopeless until evidence comes to light that puts Sir Herbert on trial for the murder. A series of courtroom scenes full of unexpected zigs and zags help redeem the many, many ponderous chapters that have gone before - weighed down with Monk's inner reveries, mini lectures on downtrodden Victorian woman, and lots of stately chitchat. Ambitious but overblown. (Kirkus Reviews)

The William Monk Series

The Shifting Tide : William Monk Mystery - Anne Perry
Death of a Stranger : William Monk Mystery - Anne Perry

Other Books By Anne Perry

Seven Dials : Thomas Pitt Mystery - Anne Perry
Dark Tide Rising : William Monk Mystery, Book 24 - Anne Perry
One Fatal Flaw : Daniel Pitt Mystery: Book 3 - Anne Perry
Long Spoon Lane : Thomas Pitt Mystery - Anne Perry
A Christmas Secret : Christmas Novella - Anne Perry
The Shifting Tide : William Monk Mystery - Anne Perry