The Twisted Root (William Monk Mystery, Book 10)
An elusive killer stalks the pages of this thrilling mystery
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5.0 • 4 Ratings
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
A missing bride and a murdered coachman - what links the two?
With a plot twist around every corner, Anne Perry's The Twisted Root is a thrilling journey into the dark underbelly of Victorian society, and features her ever-popular detective William Monk. Perfect for fans of C. J. Sansom and Arthur Conan Doyle.
'This is a story with twists and turns aplenty. The ending is the biggest twist of all' - St Louis Post-Dispatch
For Miriam Gardiner, at her engagement party at the London home of her fiancé, Lucius Stourbridge, it should have been one of the happiest days of her life. But, leaving suddenly, Miriam disappears without a trace. Reluctant to cause a scandal, Lucius seeks out William Monk and tells him that the only lead concerns their coachman, Treadwell, who is also missing. Monk, not usually a sentimental man, is moved by Lucius's distress, and assumes that his recent marriage to Hester Latterly is to blame. When Treadwell's murdered body is found, Monk becomes convinced that his death is linked to a terrible secret in Miriam's past that someone, desperate keep it hidden, has killed for, and may well do so again, unless he can stop them.
What readers are saying about The Twisted Root:
'A riveting mystery wrapped up in the dark and seamy side of Victorian London'
'Anne Perry is the best Victorian crime [writer] I have ever read'
'I feel she must have hitched a ride in Dr Who's Tardis and has [brought] back the very Victorian sensibility with which she furnishes her books. Amazing'
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this 10th entry in the popular series featuring prickly English investigator William Monk and his equally prickly bride, nurse Hester Latterly (A Breach of Promise, etc.), Perry mulls over the moral justification of criminal acts. Just back from his honeymoon in the summer of 1860, Monk tries to locate Mrs. Miriam Gardiner, a comely widow who inexplicably fled in a coach from her wealthy young fianc 's home. Monk's search takes him to Hampstead Heath, where the coachman's body is found--murdered, he deduces, by a single blow to the head. Could Miriam have struck that deadly blow as she fled, and if so, why? Cornered at last, Miriam refuses to explain her behavior or implicate the coachman's murderer, even though Monk suspects she's the victim of some atrocity. Meanwhile, Hester gears up to defend Cleo Anderson, a saintly nurse who admits to filching hospital supplies to treat impoverished war veterans. Plot mechanics grind away as Perry strains to connect the two crimes, resolving matters with an ending that reads like Henry Fielding without the laughs. Fans of earlier Monk and Latterly mysteries may enjoy Perry's sometimes overwrought depiction of the two-career couple negotiating who cooks supper, but the many other anachronisms just don't wash (says Hester's colleague: "you want to have nurses visit the poor in their homes? You are fifty years before your time"). Despite the characters' tendency to sermonize self-righteously, Perry's theme is the hazy nature of guilt--a topic sure to intrigue those who've followed her career. For thrills, however, readers should turn to other books in the series. Mystery Guild selection; Random House audio.
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