This month's meeting will be February 1st, 7:30 PM at the home of Nicole Hunter. The discussion will be led by Kate Shaffer.
This introduces us to William Monk, a detective with the police in London of 1856. After recovering from a serious accident in a carriage, he finds he has lost his memory. He is assigned to investigate the brutal murder of an aristocratic Crimean war hero and in the process finds out more of his own past – and is terrified of what he sees. Did he commit this crime himself? During his investigations he meets Hester Latterly, a forthright young woman of middle class, who nursed with Florence Nightingale in Crimea.
William Monk is a man who does not know himself. Literally. The book opens with him waking up in a
London hospital in 1856, unaware of what happened to him or even what his name is. As the book progresses
he learns he is a police detective, and as he steps back into his everyday life he tries to puzzle out
what sort of man he is, who his friends and enemies are, and what he was doing before the carriage accident
stole his memory. It is interesting to see him struggle with the less admirable aspects of his character
when he learns of them. Monk is a fascinating character, and as he tries to regain his memory he also tries
to solve the brutal murder of Major Jocelin Grey, a Crimean war hero and gentleman. He also meets beautiful
Imogen Latterly, a woman from his last investigation whose father-in-law's suicide is somehow connected to
the mystery he is currently grappling with.
Hester Latterly is Imogen's less-than-genteel sister-in-law, who spent time in the Crimea working with
Florence Nightingale. She is a strong female character who is determined to live her life on her own terms,
without a man if necessary. She isn't afraid to speak her mind, and although Monk seems to loathe her,
she ends up being of great assistance to him in the end.
