An Echo of Murder: A William Monk Novel

I am a huge Anne Perry fan, especially of the William and Hester Monk series. I found this book disappointing. The high points were the exploration of a community completely different from the usual Londoners Ms. Perry's books deal with, and the part that Scuff, now 18 years old and working with "Crow" the slum doctor to study medicine plays in the book. The medical procedures he assists with are fascinating.The affection between Scuff and Hester is very apparent. However, how many times does one need to cover the same ground about the horrors of the battlefield that Hester and another character in this book experienced? How many different ways can one express the sentiment that people are suspicious of those different from them? The most unrealistic part of this book was when Hester seeks out Charles, her brother from whom she has been estranged (although I seem to remember an earlier book where they had friendly relations but perhaps I am mistaken). They have a meal, along with Charles' ward, a sixteen year old young woman. Hester launches into an in depth description of the current horrible murders Monk is working on, with the man who was arrested having been an old friend of Hester's from the battlefield days. Charles is immediately interested and decides to bring the young woman to court to the trial.This just did not ring true for me. True Charles is many years older now, but he would never have jumped into something as sordid as these murders and certainly not exposed his ward to the details. It felt contrived. I also don't think is is within Monk's character to be quite so tolerant of a man that Hester was obviously so close to. I have read so many outstanding books by Ms. Perry, but this one just missed the mark for me.