Book Review

Anne Perry’s « The William Monk Mysteries ».

  

The year : 1853. The place : London. 

 

William Monk is a detective in the regular police force. “The William Monk Mysteries” is, in fact a trilogy : three cases solved by Detective Monk. If we look at Anne Perry’s bibliography, we can immediately see that she has written many more detective novels with Monk as the main character. So, why put those three together ? They are linked by the fact that, at the beginning of the first one, Monk was hit by a cab, and has become partially amnesic. He has to grope his way through his personal and professional lives, trying to solve cases while rediscovering his own past and personality : a true psychological tightrope act.

A major element in the fascination these novels exert on the reader, is not the result of particularly mysterious or entangled plots, but simply the fact that the guilty are members of the upper class.

Anne Perry’s analysis of mid-nineteenth century English society is mesmerizing on three main counts :

1.   The rich are untouchable. Of course, that hasn’t changed. Still, they are so convinced of their own superiority that, in their minds, it becomes genetic. In a court of law, for instance, it is clearly implied that if a witness is a servant, you mustn’t take his or her testimony more seriously than you would from some sort of sub-human species. If we add that a servant who testifies against his master will never find work again, the so-called upper class can feel pretty safe.

2.   By some strange result of sociological brainwashing, the population at large share these ideas. A gentleman cannot possibly be a murderer or a pedophile, and those who accuse them of such things are clearly deranged.

3.   Women, even upper class women have no say in what’s going on. Nor are they credited with enough brains to do or say anything sensible. In those gilded houses, they are nothing but golden slaves. Like their own servants, they cannot afford to testify against their lords and masters. Some of these women would like to rebel, while others are in favour of the status quo, and place the “honor of the family” above any turpitude the men might be guilty of.

As in any good story, there are subplots. While he rediscovers himself, Monk has to admit that, before his accident, he was not a particularly pleasant of likeable fellow. He had been in love, but cannot remember the name of the woman. Little by little, he edges closer to a former Army nurse whose horrific experience on battlefields has helped turn her into a wide-awake feminist.

The court cases are nail-biting. As a fan of John Grisham, I am an easy target for this sort of thing. Just the same, the search for the truth and the jousting between defense and prosecution lawyers are masterfully written, and I would almost be tempted to say “directed”. Indeed, they are so vivid that they make you feel as if you are watching a movie.

Anne Perry is a great writer. Like some of the characters she creates, she fights for her deep-seated convictions, and that is what makes the cake rise so beautifully. 

I hasten to add, by the way, that she is not a 19th century English writer, but a contemporary New Zealand novelist.