A Breach of Promise

This book "grabbed" me from the first page. I honestly felt as though I was there with the main characters, participating in their experiences and world. As I'd suspected, my INITIAL guess regarding the reason pretty young Zilla's supposed fiance "backed out" was totally "off-base," and made complete sense when it was ultimately divulged. The writing style is lively, EVERYTHING falls neatly into place, and thus I UNHESITATINGLY classify this novel as a COMPELLING "read." I had trouble putting it down once I got "into" it, and found the details related to life and customs during that period to be enlightening, particularly since I'm not a "well-versed" history buff, per se. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading works of general fiction which are neither exceedingly lengthy nor go into painstaking detail.

This latest in Perry's series about Monk and Hester Latterly continues the personal thread of their relationship along with a tantalizing mystery so well set in Victorian England that you can feel and smell the story! Go back and read every one of the books in this series!

I'm not normally much of a mystery fan, but I loved this one. Lots of fun twists and turns. My only criticism would be that the sympathetic characters come off as mouthpieces for modern-day let-it-all-hang-out multiculturalism and liberalism. Turn-of-the-century England had real reformers and radicals, whose viewpoints were not much like the ones that Perry puts in their mouths.

So far, I think this is her best yet. It's plot centers on, as the title suggests, a breach of promise suit. Killian Meville, posibly the most brilliant architect of his time, has broken off a marriage with Zillah Lambert, a girl that nobody can find anything wrong with- Melville say he simply can't marry her. Sir Oliver Rathbone agrees to defend Melville. He hires William Monk to investigate. Assisted by nurse Hester Latterly, their investigation is cut short by a shocking murder- or suicide. It reveals a shocking fact about Melville that almost no one knew and opens up a whole new problem. I'm not telling any secrets, but to all Anne Perry addicts, there is a major event in the end of the book.

_A Breach of Promise_ is like a breath of fresh air in the William Monk series by Anne Perry. I have read all of her Victorian mysteries and had been rather disapponted by _The Silent Cry_, the immediately preceding book, thinking that perhaps Miss Perry had mined out her mid-Victorian setting and that we would not have any more excellent books such as the first book in the series, _The Face of a Stranger_. I was totally wrong. This book is fantastic. The premise of a breach of promise suit didn't seem to be all that interesting before I opened the book, but Perry captures the emotions and the fears and the lives of the characters wonderfully, including some secondary characters, a Lt. Gabriel Sheldon and his wife, Perdita, who have their own problems which play against the main plot in a masterful manner. I recommend this book to any of Perry's fans and say that you won't be disappointed.