A Dangerous Mourning

A William Monk Novel #2

By: Anne Perry

Narrated by: Davina Porter

Length: 14 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's summary

When the beautiful daughter of Sir Basil Moidore is stabbed to death in her bed, Inspector Monk and Nurse Latterly uncover a tale of shame and scandal that threatens to destroy a powerful London dynasty.

Crack another case with William Monk.

©1991 Anne Perry (P)1995 Recorded Books, LLC

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)

A Dangerous Mourning

This is the first book in the William Monk series to which I have listened and I absolutely loved it. I intend to listen to as many of the series as I can. I enjoy Davina Porter's wonderful reading and accent which are perfect for this engaging Victorian novel. I am already involved with Nurse Latterly, Monk and the dashing lawyer, Oliver Rathbone and can't wait to meet them again.

William Monk

I like Charlotte and Thomas--but I love William Monk and Hester Laterly books. Well done Anne Perry. I like their banter and reluctant respect.

Like the characters and the series

I am new to this series and am glad I finally found it. I've read other Anne Perry series and really love historical mysteries like these. The characters are believable, the stories are good. The narrator is really excellent. Look forward to more. Which Audible had the entire series available.

A great performance of a great mystery

Anne Perry's second book in the Inspector Monk series is even better when read by Davina Porter. Can't recommend it highly enough.

This book affected me….

It’s been quite some time since a book has caused a physical reaction and this story did that.

Some of the characters’ behavior was so distasteful to me that they made me anxious!
It’s horrifying that this sort of thing probably happened time and again. It remained a mystery to the end for me which was enjoyable as well.

I’m into this series thoroughly now and am off to the next book!

again

good story as usual. the mystery continues to the end.
Perry is a genius

Hester Latterly!!

What I like about Anne Perry is her twists.. I thought on several occasions I had it all figured out and no. Hester is coming into her own and so is Monk. I can’t figure out how he could solve anything without her help now!

Great writing/Great listening

The Inspector Monk series seems to be getting off to a wonderful start. I am not surprised, as I also enjoy the writing of Anne Perry in her other Thomas Pitt series as well. In listening to this one, it would help, though is not strictly necessary, to have read the first book, "Face Of A Stranger," for two reasons. It introduces the relationship and personalities of Monk and nurse Hester Latterly, since it appears they will be the feature players going forward. We learned a great deal more about them, as characters, in the first novel. Secondly, this book has more than the usual references to what happened in the first book; indeed, even continues that story just a bit. It give the reader sort of an epilogue to the first.

That being said, this book is quite good. It could be read as a stand alone novel. It concerns the death of a young widowed daughter who was living in the home of her parents, and appears to have been murdered in her bed. Inspector Monk is called in, and he is brought under great criticism (and worse) by his boss for daring to believe that the distinguished members of the family should be scrutinized as thoroughly as their downstairs staff. Because there is illness in the house, he calls in Hester Latterly (whom he met in the first book) to be their nurse, and his secret eyes and ears there.

Monk is not a man who will bow to pressure, or take the easy explanations. Nor is Hester Latterly. Though they have a personally conflicted relationship, they respect each other, and work well together at solving crimes. This appears to be a good series. I felt this one was a slight bit less exciting than the first, but not enough to lower it in "Star Value." I look forward to hearing more of these books, so far thinking they are quite good. Highly recommend.

Solid on many levels

Really good in so many ways. Well written; language and dialogue ring true; the main characters are very well developed and the myriad of secondary characters far more carefully developed than in many books. Strongly feminist and class-conscious (in fact the only objection I have to it is that the protagonists' views and behavior are a little unrealistically modern on those subjects...but that's fine if you know what to expect). Although the series is named William Monk, the female protagonist, Hester Latterly, does most of the detecting in this book. Davina Porter does a great job narrating.

Everybody's Gotta Serve Somebody

What dirty little secrets lie inside the mansion of Sir Basil Moidore and his family? When his beautiful daughter was found stabbed to death in her upstairs bedroom, Inspector William Monk and Sergeant Evans are called in to solve the case. The two soon determine that there was no intruder and that the young widow was attacked by someone within the house. And here is where things get murky. Pushed by his boss, Runcorn to pin the murder on one of the servants, Monk butts heads with the arrogant man, refusing to bow to social pressure and possibly put an innocent man in jail. Then as now, political correctness, rules the day. And Runcorn fires Monk . . . who continues to investigate, along with Nurse Hester Latterly. The lengths that people will go to maintain the façade of respectability and normalcy is amazing, while underneath is a boiling pot of vile soup. The story is a deep and thoughtful mystery, that I did not see the end to, whatsoever. Bravo!!! Now I am anxious to see what Monk is up to next!