Mystery

(1998)Another very good Monk mystery although he doesn't really get involved until well into the story. Sir Oliver Rathbone reluctantly takes a case of breach of promise to marry that turns into a sex discrimination case when the plaintiff turns out to be a woman who acts like a man in order to practice her art, architecture. Her apparent suicide turns into a murder case in the end.Amazon.com ReviewThe promises that are breached, broken, and never born in Anne Perry's rich and resonant new William Monk mystery all have to do with the roles and positions of women in Victorian society. At the center of the book is a rousing courtroom drama, as young Zillah Lambert--daughter of a wealthy, well-meaning northern businessman and his socially ambitious wife--sues an immensely gifted architect, Killian Melville. Melville, Zillah argues, failed to live up to his promise of marriage and thereby ruined her chances of making any sort of acceptable match. Private detective Monk is brought into the case by lawyer Oliver Rathbone when his client (Melville), facing financial and social ruin, still refuses to offer any reason for his dastardly conduct.Monk's attentions are occupied elsewhere, too. Hester Latterly, the courageous nurse who worked with Florence Nightingale in the Crimean War, and whose favors Monk and Rathbone both desire, is looking after a British officer, Gabriel Sheldon, who was badly wounded and disfigured in India. Gabriel's wife, Perdita, is having trouble adjusting to her husband's broken body and spirit. "It was not Perdita's fault that she was confused and frightened," Monk muses. "She had been protected all her short life. She had not chosen to be, it was her assigned role." Monk has also promised a housemaid in the Sheldons' service that he will look for her two little nieces--deaf and deformed from birth--who were abandoned by their mother almost 20 years before. As the cases tangle and combine (perhaps a tad too coincidentally for some tastes, but, then again, real life is full of coincidences), Perry manages to show us the many ways in which women were made to pay for their place in a male-dominated society. She also delivers a touching and surprisingly suspenseful story.

Wow! This story (#9) was full of surprises and twists. Sir Oliver Rathbone takes on a case of Killian Melville who is sued for breaking the engagement with the lovely Zillah Lambert. Which engagement Melville never agreed to but her parents are determined to take him to court to save their daughter’s reputation. Totally baffled as to why Melville won’t say why - Rathbone asks William Monk for help. Hester Latterly gives advice too as she is engaged to assist a returned wounded soldier. Monk also helps the lady’s maid to find her missing nieces.
Tragedy strikes and the ending was sad, although some justice was given.
Great story! ( )

Killian Melville, un joven y brillante arquitecto, va a ser juzgado por romper su compromiso con Zillah Lambert, hija de su patrón. Para su defensa, contacta con el prestigioso abogado Sin Oliver Rathbone quien, al ver que Melville no aporta razones que justifiquen su comportamiento, inicia una investigación con su colaborador, William Monk. Éste deberá indagar en un inidente familiar ocurido dos décadas atrás.

My favorite Anne Perry book so far...extremely dramatic and well-written with a major plot twist and a surprisingly sensitive attitude with that twist...more later:) ( )