Sins of the Wolf

Rating:
Summary: A fascinating, well-plotted mystery.
Review: Anne Perry has done well on the bestseller lists every time her books have come out. After reading this book, I can see why. This is an incredible, breathtaking book. Hester Latterly has been accused of killing an elderly woman in her charge on a train from Edinburgh to London. Things get progressively worse for her when a private detective who is a close collegue of hers comes up with very little to prove her innocence, but a light at the end of the tunnel does eventually appear. Anne Perry brilliantly describes England and Scotland with vivid detail. She even brings the village she lives in in Scotland, Portmahomack, into it. There is a great deal of psychological detail, but keep reading. The end left me with my mouth hanging open. One of the very best historical mysteries I have read.

Rating:
Summary: Good Books, Good Writers and Matters Otherwise Irrelevant
Review: Anne Perry is a talented historical murder mystery writer. She shows her skills here as she has in her previous and subsequent works. I just wish her personal history had remained unknown as the circumstances of her own offence bear absolutely no resemblance to the wonderful characters and well researched historical locations she creates. One thing Perry has in common with her characters is courage. Courage to write and continue writing after her "past" was made known. To see such matters raised in reviews by the likes of booklist makes me wonder whether the reviewer was trying to draw some sick comparison or use the fact to assist in the marketing of the book to those whose only real interest is personal morbidity. Booklist even got the facts wrong, including the wrong country of occurrance and imprisonment. A good book, as this is, deserves to be reviewed on its merits not the childhood history of the writer however shocking that might be.

Rating:
Summary: Good, but not very believable
Review: First, I must admit I did enjoy the book, and read it non-stop till two o'clock in the morning. You find yourself really caring for what happens to the characters. The bad point, though, is that they seem to be the only thing carrying the story forward. The author has us, delve alongside Monk, into the secrets of the Farraline family, and, frankly, there are so many of them it's ludicrous. I won't give away the plot, but you have to know that so many things end up being unearthed-it's practically one shameful secret per character-that it makes you wonder, a bit sarcastically, why they all happen in the same family, and how Monk comes to discover all of them practically within the space of a week. This is stretching belief a bit thin. On the plus side, though, it's a compelling story-but definitely not very realistic.

Rating:
Summary: The Best of Monk
Review: I picked this book up when an office was clearing out more because it was free than out of interest. Surprisingly, I enjoyed it through and through. Murder mysteries are not my usual forte but Perry has a knack for developing characters I came to care about. I've come to understand that this is actually a series and the main character is a recurring one but it still stands on its own very well. It isn't often a female gets the lead in a murder/mystery and I'm glad that she's feminine, smart, and capable.
I was pleased with the historical setting (Victorian England) and found it pleasantly accessible and written in a concise contemporary style.

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Summary: The secret life of a honorable family
Review: Nurse Hester Latterly is engaged to escort Mrs. Farraline, an elder lady from Edinburg to London. But the journey takes a lethal course: Next morning the lady is dead, an extra portion of her medicine (digitalis) missing, and an expensive brooch is found in Hester's bag. She was obviously framed up by a member of Mrs. Farraline's family - heirs to her estate. Ex-inspector William Monk and star-attorney Oliver Rathbone rush to Hester's defense. But the Farralines, an old-established family, are such a model of honorableness...Sins of the wolf (depravity, deception, treachery) is first-rate reading and there is a surprise ending: you will be amused to learn the origin of the Farradine's wealth - but I won't reveal more. Anne Perry's victorian thrillers are excellent, not one is weak. Gripping, profound and atmospheric!

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Summary: Hester Latterly Charged with Murder
Review: When Hester Latterly, a former Crimean War nurse, takes on a brief assignment between jobs to assist an elderly Scottish woman from Edinburgh to London she has no idea that when they reach their destination she will be charged with murder. Despite the best efforts of her friends private detective William Monk and lawyer Oliver Rathbone, she is put on trial in Scotland. You will enjoy following the twists and turns in this 19th-century "Law and Order"-type mystery as the skilled Anne Perry takes you from investigations to trial procedures without ever missing a beat or hitting a false note.

Perry's Monk mysteries are a bit darker and more psychologically thrilling than her more well-known Pitt series of mysteries, but devoted fans of the Pitts will recognize the skilled plot and character developments, the labrynthine twists and turns of the investigations, and the focus on scandals and secrets.

Rating:
Summary: Too many flaws
Review: While I agree with those reviewers who cite the courtroom scenes in Sins of the Wolf as terrifically compelling and am delighted with the developing attraction between Hester Latterly and William Monk, I cannot agree that this is one of Perry's finest mys teries in the Monk series. In fact almost every turn of events brought a new jolt of incredulity. As an example, why oh why does Monk make the long and arduous trip (in pages as well as distance) to Northern Scotland to learn a bit of information about on e of the members of the Farraline family which he could so easily have learned from the family member himself and which in fact had no bearing whatsoever on the resolution of the mystery? To be really petty, must Hester turn up at the Farralines one day a fter the conclusion of her trial (and surprisingly cordial and unembarrassed the Farralines are too, considering the mess they'd thrown her into) still wearing her prison garb? And the confrontation and chase scene at the end seemed to me to smack more of a spaghetti western than a quality denouement. In my opinion Perry did much better with the earlier Monks, and I hope to discover she does just as well in the subsequent ones.