Dark Assassin

January 23, 2006
William Monk faces special challenges in bestseller Perry's absorbing 15th novel to feature the Victorian policeman (after 2005's The Shifting Tide
), as he must convince skeptical fellow officers of his competence to lead the corruption-ridden Thames River Police during a rampant crime wave. In a fogbound setting evocative of Conan Doyle, newly appointed Superintendent Monk and his river patrol watch helplessly as two young lovers plunge to their deaths from a bridge. Monk's exhaustive investigation, aided by his activist wife, Hester, soon reveals a deadly conflict between the two lovers' families over the hasty construction of a vast sewer complex built to prevent a recurrence of the "Great Stink" and typhoid epidemic of 1863. A riveting pursuit of an unknown assassin brings Monk in contact with the city's most destitute, one of several incidents highlighting the growing conflict between the abject poor and those whose houses have such luxuries as sewers and gas pipes. Some readers may have trouble with the cockney dialogue, but all will relish the last-minute twists that lead to a compelling resolution.

April 3, 2006
Colacci proves a fine choice as narrator of Perry's latest mystery. In this 15th William Monk adventure, the detective has barely settled into his new position as superintendent of the Thames River Police when he witnesses a young couple fall to their deaths from Waterloo Bridge. Was it suicide, accident or murder? To find the answer, Monk, assisted by his wife, Hester, undertakes an investigation that will take him from the upper realms of London society to the lower depths of the city's poor and homeless, each offering its own particular form of deadly danger. Perry is at her best when she writes about the class distinctions that defined and divided the class-conscious populace of the 19th century, and Colacci syncs perfectly with her as he slips easily from one colloquial accent to another, portraying the wide variety of city dwellers who made up the multitudes occupying London in 1864. Colacci's performance succeeds nicely in bringing the streets and drawing rooms of Monk's Victorian London to life. Simultaneous release with the Ballantine hardcover (Reviews, Jan. 23).