Dark Assassin

First Sentence: "Waterloo Bridge loomed in the distance as William Monk settles himself more comfortably in the bow of the police boat." William Monk is now an Inspector with the Thames River police. London is building a new sewer system after The Great Stink of 1858. While on boat patrol, Monk and his men see a couple arguing and both go into the polluted Thames which kills them. But what did they see? Was it an accident that became a fatal accident? A murder and the killer dies with the victim? A suicide and the man dies trying to save the woman? The woman's death is proclaimed a suicide. Monk doesn't believe anyone who was working so hard to clear her father's reputation, after he also died of a supposed suicide, and provide he was right in believing the way in which the sewers were being built was dangerous would take their own life. Monk even joins forces with his old nemeses, Superintendent Runcorn. Ms. Perry continues to impress me with her writing. Her ability to take an historic event and build an interesting, suspenseful story around it is unsurpassed. She creates fascinating characters and makes them real; not only Monk and Hester, is wife, but Scuff, the street urchin who feels responsible for Monk, and Sutton the ratcatcher and his dog, Snoot. Each of the characters is brought to live and image under Ms. Perry's writing. I am always delighted to find the newest book by Ms. Perry.

This was one of the best in the Monk series. I devoured it in one weekend. The storyline was exciting and the returning characters of Scuff and the rat catcher were endearing. The development between Monk and Runcorn is getting interesting too... more in depth; less one dimensional. We seem to need to find a place for Hester to work that satisfies her and gives her room to help Monk solve the mysteries. Similar problem seems to occur for Charlotte Pitt. I guess a Victorian woman can't "have it all". Keep the Monk series coming... plus the Pitt series. Love them both.

Ms. Perry exposes us to a whole new world in Victorian England in this latest installment of the William Monk series. In it we see the dark reaches under the streets in the teeming sewers and byways of Victorian London. We also are treated to a wonderfully tight-knit plot that is a page-turner until the end. Ms. Perry keeps the tension tight and the plot even tighter. I love the William Monk series, and this is a fine example of what this series has to offer. We also get to see some great characters that she introduced in her last book - Sutton and his wonderful little dog Snoot and Monk's little friend Scuff, who I'm sure we're going to see more of in other books. I wait all year for the new William Monk book, and now that I've read this one, I'm back to waiting again.

Mysteries are deeper, villains more frightening when they're set in Victorian London. Anne Perry has proven this time and again with her William Monk series, and she does so once more with Dark Assassin. Now a superintendent with the Thames River Police, Monk is on regular patrol near the Waterloo Bridge when he and his crew helplessly watch as a couple fall into the dark frigid waters. Did they think they had seen a struggle Was it a murder suicide or some grisly death pact? The pair were young and in love, planning to marry. The man was Toby Argyll and the girl Mary Havilland. She had recently lost her father who worked for the Argyll Company, a mega firm involved in the building of what was purported to be a splendid new sewer system. However, Mr. Havilland had serious doubts about the efficiency of the proposed system. He voiced these doubts too often, Mary believed, and was murdered for his claims. With Hester, his steadfast wife, by his side Monk begins to investigate the deaths of the young couple. There seems to be no question that there has been skullduggery at the Argyll Company, but who took the lives of Toby, Mary, and her father? Shades of Dickens and Arthur Conan Doyle, Dark Assassin is a gripping listen as narrated by David Colacci who perfectly captures the voices of upper class Brits as well as the poor who labor beneath the city. - Gail Cooke

In 1864 recently promoted to Superintendent of the Thames River Police William Monk, accompanied by three direct report cops, is "Rowing random" on a patrol boat when he observes the young couple on Waterloo Bridge. She places her hands on his shoulders while he grabs her and both tumble into the river. Appalled and feeling helpless especially after finding the two corpses, William wonders whether this was a double suicide, a murder-suicide, or a freak accident. The male was Toby Argyle and the woman Mary Havilland. Monk and Sergeant Orme inform the next of kin, whose reactions vary. From there he begins to dig into the backgrounds of the two victims even as he hates being in charge of the Thames River Police. His wife, Hester, provides his first break when she informs him that the families have feuded for about a year ever since the rushed construction of a sewer complex to prevent another typhoid epidemic. As Monk switches his line of inquiries based on that information, he soon finds himself embroiled in a sewage building scandal that makes last year's "Great Stink" smell like fresh roses. Monk is at his best in his fifteenth appearance as he struggles to adjust to a job he does not want, but feels obligated to accept. The case is fascinating especially the twists and turns as Monk with Hester and Orme at first as his only allies until he begins to persuade his team he can handle the job. The use of cockney adds to the realism of a wonderful atmospheric historical police procedural. Harriet Klausner