A Dangerous Mourning

Anne Perry

William Monk returns in this Victorian mystery. Runcorn, his spiteful superior, has once again assigned him to a tricky case. A young widow is found dead in her upstanding, highstanding, father's home. It looks like someone broke into the house to rob it and she got involved. Sir Basil, her father, is very upset and wants the burgler found as soon as possible. Monk and Evan start their investigation.

Hester Latterly has secured a nursing position in one of the local hospitals. In this era nursing is not a respected position. Nurses were not allowed to show or practice any medical knowledge. They were there to clean, empty slops, follow ministrations ordered by the physician, and pass the occasional bandage. She was very frustrated, having learned so much in the Crimean war. It took women like Florence Nightingale and Hester Latterly to work on changing the attitudes of the time.

Monk quickly can prove that it had to be someone in the house who commited the murder. The street had been under observation all night and anyone breaking into the house would have been seen. But who would kill the daughter of the house? One of the gentry? Or one of the below stairs staff? The police and the family want Monk to find the below stairs staff responsible. Monk feels it was someone in the family. But who? And why?

The attitudes of the times are portrayed vividly in this novel. Attitudes towards women, nursing, house servants, police, the upper class and gentry, and others are all portrayed. The attitudes of the time do not mesh with our values a hundred years later. Yet they are explained and while horrifying at times, we are made to understand them.

The Face of a Stranger
A Dangerous Mourning
Defend and Betray
A Sudden, Fearful Death
The Sins of the Wolf
Cain His Brother
Weighed in the Balance
The Silent Cry
A Breach of Promise
The Twisted Root
Slaves of Obsession
Funeral in Blue
Death of a Stranger
The Shifting Tide
Dark Assassin
Execution Dock
Acceptable Loss