Synopsis
A superintendent in the Thames River Police, William Monk is on a patrol boat near Waterloo Bridge when he and his men notice a young couple standing at the bridge railing, apparently engaged in an intense discussion. The woman waves her arms and places her hands on the man’s shoulders. A caress or a push? He grasps hold of her. To save her or to kill her? Seconds later, the pair plunges to death in the icy waters. Monk can’t help but wonder, has he witnessed an accident, a suicide, or a murder? It seems impossible to determine the truth but, haunted by the woman’s somber beauty, he is impelled to try.
Mary Havilland is her name and until recently she and Toby Argyll, the fair-haired man who shared her fate, had planned to marry. Her father, an engineer employed by the Argyll Company, has also recently died - a suicide according to the police and Mary’s sister. But friends tell Monk that Mary suspected her father had been murdered because of his stubborn insistence that the Argyll Company’s current project - participation in the construction of a splendid new sewer system for the metropolis - is so badly flawed that the entire city may be in dire peril from flood and fire.
Already struggling to win the respect of his men, Monk is faced with two urgent mysteries. With his intrepid wife, Hester, he is soon treading a slippery path - from luxurious drawing rooms where powerful men hatch their unscrupulous plots to a world beneath the city where poor folk fight starvation. In nightmarish tunnels, Monk and Hester find true friends, among them Scuff, a young mudlark; Sutton, the ratcatcher, and Snoot, Sutton’s clever terrier. For once, even Monk’s old enemy, Superintendent Runcorn, is on his side. But as rainfall strains the fragile manmade underground, a murderer remains free - and poised to strike again.
Publishers Weekly
Colacci proves a fine choice as narrator of Perry's latest mystery. In this 15th William Monk adventure, the detective has barely settled into his new position as superintendent of the Thames River Police when he witnesses a young couple fall to their deaths from Waterloo Bridge. Was it suicide, accident or murder? To find the answer, Monk, assisted by his wife, Hester, undertakes an investigation that will take him from the upper realms of London society to the lower depths of the city's poor and homeless, each offering its own particular form of deadly danger. Perry is at her best when she writes about the class distinctions that defined and divided the class-conscious populace of the 19th century, and Colacci syncs perfectly with her as he slips easily from one colloquial accent to another, portraying the wide variety of city dwellers who made up the multitudes occupying London in 1864. Colacci's performance succeeds nicely in bringing the streets and drawing rooms of Monk's Victorian London to life. Simultaneous release with the Ballantine hardcover (Reviews, Jan. 23). (Apr.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.