The Face of a Stranger

Anne Perry is too well known for me to add anything about her or her many books.

This particular one, though, the first in the William Monk series, intrigues me particularly because of the startling idea of a detective who doesn’t know who he is, knows nothing about his past. What a challenge to the writer!

Monk is understandably ill-tempered and extremely touchy, but this, oddly enough, makes him, for me, a sympathetic character.

As always, the brooding descriptions of Victorian London set the scene perfectly, and I was desperately hoping for Monk to resolve not only the crime but… show more.

The first novel in Anne Perry’s William Monk series takes place in Victorian London. Monk, a brilliant detective with partial amnesia, needs answers as much about himself as about the crimes he investigates. Not a particularly well-liked individual, he is assisted by a nurse who served in the Crimean War, a compassionate and independent woman, and Oliver Rathbone, an elegant lawyer. Without the benefits of modern technology, all three must be sensitive to the nuances and subtleties of human behavior in order to be successful. 

A prolific writer, Anne Perry has a different series for a number of eras, from the Crimean to the Great War, each with fascinating protagonists. My favorite is The Face of a Stranger. This is the William Monk series set in the Nineteenth Century following the Crimean War. 

William Monk is a police detective who has to carry on with his work after sustaining a case of amnesia due to an accident. Without memory of who are his enemies, be they on the police force or in dens of iniquity, each case he undertakes is full of tension.

Anne… show more.