The Face of a Stranger

by Anne Perry Narrated by Davina Porter

Overview

In this exhilarating series debut, police detective William Monk must solve the mystery of his own past.

His name, they tell him, is William Monk, and he is a London police detective. But the accident that felled him has left him with only half a life; his memory and his entire past have vanished. As he tries to hide the truth, Monk returns to work and is assigned to investigate the
brutal murder of a Crimean War hero and man about town. Which makes Monk's efforts doubly difficult, since he's forgotten his professional skills along with everything else.

“Richly textured with the sights and sounds of London and its countryside ... Solidly absorbing and Perry's best to date.”-Kirkus Reviews

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

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. (Oct.)

Library Journal

Perry gives the popular Inspector Pitt a rest, but remains in Victorian England with a new character. William Monk, attached to the police in 1856 London, returns to work with amnesia after otherwise recovering from a nasty accident. Assigned to solve the murder of an aristocrat wounded in the Crimean War, he discovers, while hiding his memory loss from others, that he abhors his own character. As usual with Perry, class distinction, sexual inequality, and personal introspection are integral to the plot. Several revelatory scenes display especially caustic wit and careful observation. Mystery Guild dual main selection.

School Library Journal

YA-- Readers are immediately immersed into the Victorian world of William Monk as he awakens from a coma in a squalid London hospital. Leaving in a semi-amnesic state, he finds his flat through a receipt in his pocket. Gradually, as he begins to solve a much-publicized murder case, Monk's established abilities as an investigator are renewed. As he unravels the case, he also comes to know his own past. Perry leads readers to the solutions of the two mysteries with a fine, comfortable style and descriptions of turn-of-the-century London that are vivid and accurate.-- Diane Goheen, Topeka West High School, KS

Product Details

BN ID:	2940170058259
Publisher:	Recorded Books, LLC
Publication date:	12/20/2009
Series:	William Monk Series , #1
Edition description:	Unabridged

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