The Face of a Stranger

August 29, 1990
Branching out from her popular Victorian London sleuthing team, Inspector Thomas Pitt and his wife Charlotte, Perry ( Cardington Crescent ) introduces another exemplary ``Peeler'' (as in Bobby Peele, the first ``bobby''), detective William Monk, in this period mystery with a pronounced and satisfying psychological dimension. After an accident in his carriage, Monk wakes up with no memory; ashamed to admit it, he bluffs his way through recovery and returns to work, where he is assigned a particularly tricky investigation of a young nobleman's brutal murder. While tracking the last affairs of Joscelinsp ok? yes Grey, Monk traces his own history and dislikes what he turns up on both fronts. Uncovering unpleasant secrets within Grey's aristocratic family, he also finds his gradually revealed former self to have been ambitious, cold and perhaps cruel. Integral to Perry's rich, unpredictable plot is the Crimean War, graphically described by Hester Latterly, a forthright young woman of the middle class who nursed there with Florence Nightingale. While Monk's unwillingness to face directly the questions of his past is often a stumbling block, forbearing readers will be amply rewarded by Perry's resolutions of both mysteries. Mystery Guild dual main selection.

After London police detective William Monk wakes up in the hospital with total amnesia, he must simultaneously solve the murder of a war hero and the mystery of his own identity. Davina Porter reads with great compassion for the terrible tragedies and injustices committed in this book. She's developed the perfect voice for Monk, who must rediscover himself based on the scantiest of clues, not much liking what he finds. She's outstanding at the arrogance of the people Monk must investigate. Although she doesn't use great range, her pacing and reading of textual cues are always appropriate. S.F. (c) AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine