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    Death of a Stranger
    Death of a Stranger
    Death of a Stranger
    Audiobook13 hours

    Death of a Stranger

    Written by Anne Perry

    Narrated by Ralph Lister

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Few authors have written more mesmerizingly about Victorian London than Anne Perry.

    Readers enter her world with exquisite anticipation, and experience a rich variety of characters and class: aristocrats living in luxury, flower sellers on street corners, ladies of the evening seeking customers on gaslit streets, gentlemen in hansom cabs en route to erotic diversions unknown in their Mayfair mansions. Now Perry gives her myriad fans the book they’ve been waiting for—the novel in which William Monk breaks through the wall of amnesia and discovers at last who he once was.

    For the prostitutes of Leather Lane, nurse Hester Monk’s clinic is a lifeline, providing medicine, food, and a modicum of peace—especially welcome since lately their ailments have escalated from bruises and fevers to broken bones and knife wounds. At the moment, however, the mysterious death of railway magnate Nolan Baltimore in a sleazy neighborhood brothel overshadows all else. Whether he fell or was pushed, the shocking question in everyone’s mind is: What was such a pillar of respectability doing in a seedy place of sin?

    Meanwhile, brilliant private investigator William Monk acquires a new client, a mysterious beauty who asks him to ascertain beyond a shadow of a doubt whether or not her fiancé, an executive in Nolan Baltimore’s thriving railway firm, has become enmeshed in fraudulent practices that could ruin him.

    As Hester ventures into violent streets to learn who is responsible for the brutal abuse of her patients, Monk embarks upon a journey into the English countryside, where the last rails are being laid for a new line. But the sight of tracks stretching into the distance revives memories once stripped from his consciousness by amnesia—as a past almost impossible to bear returns, eerily paralleling a fresh tragedy that has already begun its inexorable unfolding.

    “Perry can write a Victorian mystery that would make Dickens’s eyes pop.”—New York Times Book Review
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateOct 8, 2024
    ISBN9798892744140
    Death of a Stranger
    Author

    Anne Perry

    Anne Perry (1938–2023) was a bestselling author of historical detective fiction, most notably the Thomas and Charlotte Pitt series and the William Monk series, both set in Victorian England. Her first book, The Cater Street Hangman (1979), launched both the Pitt series and her career as a premier writer of Victorian mysteries. Other novels in the series include Resurrection Row, Death in the Devil’s Acre, and Silence in Hanover Close, as well as more than twenty others. The William Monk series of novels, featuring a Victorian police officer turned private investigator, includes Funeral in Blue, The Twisted Root, and The Silent Cry. In addition to these series, Perry also authored the World War I novels No Graves as Yet, Shoulder the Sky, Angels in the Gloom, and others, as well as several collections of short stories. Perry’s novels have appeared on bestseller lists around the world and have sold more than twenty-five million books in print worldwide.  

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    Reviews for Death of a Stranger

    4/5

    127 ratings7 reviews

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    • 5/5

      Jan 16, 2024

      William Monk has spent the last seven years running his inquiry agent business. In this new case he has two cases that may have ties to each other and to his past — a time he doesn’t remember due to a serious accident that gave him a case of amnesia.Meanwhile William’s wife, Hester Monk, and the staff at the women’s clinic Hester established on Leather Lane, notice the prostitutes are coming in for treatment with more serious injuries than usual, more severe bruises, stabbings, and broken bones, not the usual in their line of business.The finding of the dead body of a well-known railways magnate in a brothel brings a strong presence of police to the area of Leather Lane. An action that pretty well shuts down all business.Monk finds his investigations may reveal that he had close ties to the accident that caused his amnesia and multiple deaths; ties that implicate him in a negative and life changing way.Hester is focused on finding the reason for the increase of violence on the women, who may have been driven into this rough and sometimes violent life due to the double standard of the Victorian era.It is interesting to read of the double standard set for women in this era. To be of honourable image and action in the public eye, but degraded in private. Do as I say, not as I do…
    • 4/5

      Jul 19, 2018

      In this, the thirteenth book of the series, Monk is hired by a young woman to investigate a new railroad for fraud. It takes him back to the mysteries of his past life. Meanwhile, Hester is working in a refuge for injured and sick prostitutes who are being badly beaten. A prosperous railroad owner is found dead, and Hester tries to find out who murdered him.Much of Monk's past is finally revealed finally. Oliver, Runcorn, and other of the recurring characters in the series show up which is always fun. Monk and Hester seem somewhat separated after the closeness in the recent books, but hopefully, they'll be able to confide in each other better going forward.This series is always an enjoyable read.
    • 3/5

      Dec 14, 2011

      I think Anne Perry is writing too many books and not spending enough time on the hard work of editing and proof-reading. I found at least 3 places where what was said on an earlier page was contradicted by something a few pages later. While that didn't completely spoil the book for me I think I will not be reading anymore of Perry's books unless they come highly recommended from someone whose judgment I trust.In this book Hester Monk is providing free medical help to prostitutes while William Monk is a private investigator. Hester is used to seeing women roughed up but three women come in together, all needing help, which she willingly gives without asking questions. The next morning when the beat policeman tells her that a "toff" has been found dead in a brothel she has to tell him what she knows about these women. At home William is approached by a well-dressed lady who wants him to investigate if her fiance, a partner in a railway company, is a participant in a fraud. William, who had an accident seven years before and cannot remember many details of his life before that time, is startled to find his signature on one of the pieces of paper she has brought him. This investigation forces him to delve back into his own past as well as try to answer the lady's question. Meanwhile Hester has more work because the police crackdown in the area is driving customers away and the prostitutes are unable to pay their debts so they are being badly hurt. She discovers that some of these "ladies of the night" were once respectable governesses and servants who have had to go into prostitution to repay the usorious debts they have acquired. She believes that the "toff", who has been identified as Nolan Baltimore, had something to do with this usury. Nolan Baltimore was also the senior partner in the railway firm William is investigating. The threads of their separate investigations start to come together and meanwhile William is questioning if he is really the man he seems to be now or if he was involved in a similar fraudulent scheme 16 years before.There's lots of detail about life in London and areas outside of London in Victorian times which is very interesting. But I can't help but feel that some of the details are a little far-fetched. Would rabbits really not be able to build warrens in hills that had a granite base? It seems to me that there would be sufficient soil cover for them to dig holes. So, as I said previously, I'm going to give Anne Perry's books a miss from now on.
    • 3/5

      Jul 27, 2011

      This novel had many plots and subplots involving Monk, Hester, and Monk's past. Each book brings Monk closer to the truth of his life before his accident. Hester, as usual, is fighting the morals battles of women and the poor. She reasons that prostitution is bad, but that women have few avenues open for earning wages. Monk investigates fraud in land deals and the operations of the railroad. Anne Perry writes in the detailed style of Elizabeth George, but provides less psychological analysis than George. I enjoy reading both authors, and may venture into Perry's Thomas Pitt series.
    • 3/5

      Dec 23, 2010

      Interesting mystery with Hester and Monk involved in the crime in different aspects and not realizing it. Hester unbelieveably manages to take over a brothel's establishment and turn it into her clinic after being evicted from her own place. Meanwhile Monk's latest case has him re-examining his past and what happened to him to cause him to lose his memory. Seemed kind of repetitious and could have used some editing.
    • 3/5

      Dec 10, 2010

      William Monk is new to me, this is the first Anne Perry book I've read. There were several mysteries in this, and it is the first mystery novel I've read where it wasn't actually the detective who solved anything, but his friends instead. A novel idea. Monk is struggling with partial memory loss and angst over what type of man he may have been in his past. His loyal and brave wife, Hester, has her own problems to deal with, but is a rock for him. The author bit off quite a chunk of writing, making four main characters in the book, and she did well, I look forward to reading more of the lawyer, Rathbone, and Hester's helper Margaret. I became a bit tired of hearing about the plight of prostitutes unable to ply their trade and of Monk's mental anguish of whether or not to share his problems with his wife. Other than that, I found the characters to be well rounded and interesting and the setting well done. I will definitely try more Perry's books.
    • 4/5

      Aug 4, 2007

      i really like Anne Perry's William and Hester Monk Victorian mysteries (much better, i think, than her more popular Thomas and Charlotte Pitt series). both William and Hester are complicated people, heroic in a way Victorian society refused to acknowledge. this one's not the best or the most mysterious of the series, but it gets into the question of the person William used to be before he lost his memory. and the mystery itself takes as its subject matter how Victorian prostitutes were exploited by their wealthy clients. as usual, nothing is quite as it first seems, and Hester reveals a sharp head for business as she enters the fray, outflanking the brothel keeper on all fronts, and the difference between William and Hester's separate ways of solving the case at hand are instructive.