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Type of bind: Mass Market Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN num: 9780804111881
ISBN number: 080411188X
Label: Ivy Books
Manufacturer: Ivy Books
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 448
Printing Date: September 01, 1993
Publishing house: Ivy Books
Release Date: September 01, 1993
Sale Popularity Level: 76863
Studio: Ivy Books
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'A richly textured and timeless novel of suspense. Her Victorian England pulsates with life and is peopled with wonderfully memorable characters.'
Faye Kellerman
Although esteemed General Thaddeus Carlyon meets his death in a freak accident at home, his beautiful wife, Alexandra, confesses that she killed him. Investigator William Monk, nurse Hester Latterly, and the brilliant Oliver Rathbone, counsel for the defense, work feverishly to break down the wall of silence raised by the accused and her husband's proud family. With the trial only days away, they inch toward the dark and appalling heart of the mystery. The final act is a courtroom masterpiece, through which we dare not breathe too deeply, lest the precarious balance of a woman's life be lost.
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Rated by buyers -
This Victorian mystery is one of Perry's more intense novels. It features William Monk, police inspector turned private inquiry agent, who is investigating the death of a retired general, attending a dinner at the home of a friend, who fell off a stair landing and was impaled on the halberd of a suit of armour standing below. Of course, it turns out to be murder, and the list of suspects is limited by circumstances to those present for dinner. But then the general's wife confesses, and Monk's only avenue is to discover why it happened and whether there were mitigating circumstances, a project in which he is aided, as usual, but nurse Hester Latterly. The wife's true motive becomes apparent abut halfway through the book, but there's plenty of investigating left to do. Perry always includes a social issue, or several, as an underlying theme in her novels, and this time it's multigenerational child abuse -- and she handles it skillfully, though with enough candor that some readers may be squicked by it. And then there's quite a fascinating trial, in which Oliver Rathbone has to bring all his considerable skills to bear. This addition of courtroom drama is the major difference of the Monk novels from those about Thomas Pitt, set a generation later, and it's a good one -- though it's worth pointing out that, also unlike Pitt, Monk is not entirely the star but shares the bill equally with Hester.
Rated by buyers -
Although not the book for you if you want one that keeps you guessing about the murderer until the end, Defend and Betray remains captivating because of its focus on Victorian society and the increasingly complicated inner workings of the Carlyon and Furnival families. I figured out why the murderer had killed Thaddeus Carlyon a few hundred pages before the detectives did, but I think this is due to a modern perspective rather than their incompetence.
A few parts of this book drove me crazy. At one point, Monk and Hester have learned an important piece of information that should easily, EASILY lead them to a further conclusion, Victorian society or no Victorian society, and yet it takes some time for them to connect A and B. The middle section of the novel in which Alexandra Carlyon refuses to tell them anything more about the murder grows frustrating, but once Monk and Hester have broken past her silence, the book is spellbinding until the end. I stayed up until midnight finishing it. Even as questions are answered, there are always some left until the final page.
Whether you care about the subplot with Monk and his half-hidden memory of another woman accused of killing her husband depends on if you care about Monk in the very first place (I do) and if you resent time being taken away from the main case (I did).
It has some flaws, but overall I found this book page-turning and an interesting take on the secrets, lies, and priorities of upper-class Victorians.
Rated by buyers -
Anne Perry charmed me with the Thomas and Charlotte Pitt series first. I imagine Thomas to be very much like Mulder from the X-Files. Anyway, I made the mistake of reading one of the later Monk novels out of desperation for more Anne Perry, and just plain lost interest. Then, I found "Face of a Stranger" and started the series in order, and can picture Timothy Dalton as Monk, Hester Latterly as Emma Thompson, and I care so much about these main characters that even when the pace got mired down in Monk's flashbacks, I had the motivation to keep going. It's worth it in this most unusual approach. I highly appreciate Ms. Perry's respect for her readers; there is a definite level of erudition here without becoming pedantic. As a teacher, I recommend these books as great historical fiction, with plenty of insight on the lower classes and the plight of women. Stick around for the exquisite courtroom scene. Oliver Rathbone is a well-balanced, realistic character, and his father Henry is a dear. Callandra Daviot is as important to the Monk novels as Aunt Vespasia is to the Pitt series. To sum up: start at the beginning of each series to get the most out of them. They don't stand alone nearly as well as some series novels.
Rated by buyers -
The very first two books in this series featured Monk with assistance as needed from freelance nurse, Hester, and the attorney, Rathbourne. The dynamic changes a bit in this book. Hester has the leading role as she is the link to the family of both the victim and the accused. Likewise, since the arrest happens early in the book, much of the book focuses on the formation of a legal defense resulting in a much bigger role for Rathbourne. Monk isn't forgotten but his role is secondary. (Indeed, the handful of times where he explores his forgotten past are almost awkward interruptions in the flow of the book.) I liked this use of the three characters -- probably because I like Hester a great deal. She's feisty and smart.
The overall reading experience is a mixed bag. After an adequate start, the book really bogs down in the middle section. Some good editing would have trimmed about 30 pages. Fortunately, the final hundred pages are dandy -- more than making up for the tedium of the earlier parts of the book. It was also interesting to read a book that was focused on the motive for the crime rather than determining and locating the criminal.
As seems to be the case in all the Perry books I've read so far, the plot is focused on getting behind the facade of respectable upper class Victorian families. Who else would have the money to hire our heroes? I enjoy the upstairs/downstairs insights as well as the historical social commentary.
Bottom-line: I liked this Agatha nominated book. First time readers are strongly encouraged to read this series in order (starting with The Face of a Stranger).
Rated by buyers 
-
The plot outline is this: A well-respected army general is murdered during a dinner party at the home of a friend. Soon his wife confesses to the crime, giving jealousy as her motive. Edith, the younger sister of the deceased general, is skeptical of the confession, and approaches her friend Hester for some help. Hester, in turn, enlists the famed attorney Oliver Rathbone and former Inspector William Monk to work on the case.
The very first 250 pages are so boring and so empty that one wonders why Perry wrote the book at all. All three of the above-mentioned investigators go out to gather information and interview the witnesses and acquaintances of the principal parties. They find absolutely nothing. It soon becomes clear that the wife is lying about her motive, but everyone is mystified as to what the real motive is. So for 250 pages we get almost nothing except conversations among the three people, exchanging no information because there is no information to exchange, and becoming increasingly pessimistic about their chances to save the wife from being hanged.
A modern reader, on the other hand, has no trouble figuring out the wife's motive long before the people in the book do. So that element of suspense is missing. The only open question in the reader's mind is exactly how are the characters in the book going to find out the motive.
Not only are the very first 250 pages excruciatingly boring, but also the book is poorly edited. There are several threads in the story which are confusing, and several times people do things, or omit doing things, for which the motivation is either nonexistent or poorly explained.
One of the subplots is Monk's emotional longing to reconstruct a case which this one reminds him of, but which he can't remember because of a head injury which impaired his memory. That previous case might have been in one of the prior Monk novels that I haven't read, but the entire subplot is just an annoyance and seems out of place in this novel.
So what's good about this novel? The last 100 pages. Once we get to the courtroom, Perry's writing suddenly becomes far more powerful and surehanded. The drama builds, and even though the reader knows all the facts by now, it is highly uncertain how the whole thing will play out during the trial. Rathbone (and therefore Perry) does a masterful job of sequencing the witnesses, the questions, and the testimony. The final ending is moving and satisfying.
Is the truly fine ending worth wading through the 250 pages of dross that precede it? Probably not. This is my fourth Anne Perry novel, and I know she can do much better than this. Read the others.
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