Search - The Face of a Stranger (William Monk Novels)

I started off by enjoying this book, but towards the middle, I lost interest. It became a bit long winded. Not one of her best.

1st in the "Monk" series. Great story.

Excellent introduction of Inspector Monk ... can't wait to read the next one! Anne Perry is one of my new favorite authors!

William Monk has lost his memory. Apparently he is a London police detective and he must solve the murder of a prominent citizen, while trying to recover just who he is.

Good story. Good writing.

Anne Perry is tops. This is the first William Monk mystery.

The first book of the William Monk series. Monk's memory returns a little as the series progresses. I very much enjoy Anne Perry because she writes about the reality of the "good olde days".

The first book in the William Monk series of Victorian detective novels by Anne Perry. FANTASTIC. Be sure to read this one first and read them in ORDER.

Branching out from her popular Victorian London sleuthing team, Inspector Thomas Pitt and his wife Charlotte, Perry ( Cardington Crescent ) introduces another exemplary "Peeler" (as in Bobby Peele, the first "bobby"), detective William Monk, in this period mystery with a pronounced and satisfying psychological dimension. After an accident in his carriage, Monk wakes up with no memory; ashamed to admit it, he bluffs his way through recovery and returns to work, where he is assigned a particularly tricky investigation of a young nobleman's brutal murder. While tracking the last affairs of Joscelinsp ok? yes Grey, Monk traces his own history and dislikes what he turns up on both fronts. Uncovering unpleasant secrets within Grey's aristocratic family, he also finds his gradually revealed former self to have been ambitious, cold and perhaps cruel. Integral to Perry's rich, unpredictable plot is the Crimean War, graphically described by Hester Latterly, a forthright young woman of the middle class who nursed there with Florence Nightingale. While Monk's unwillingness to face directly the questions of his past is often a stumbling block, forbearing readers will be amply rewarded by Perry's resolutions of both mysteries.

Tedious, repetitious and boring. The idea of a main character being a police office with amnesia I found intriguing, but what I got was a snooze fest. I got through 90 pages of a 345-page book and could not get through the rest.

From School Library Journal - First of the series. YA-- Readers are immediately immersed into the Victorian world of William Monk as he awakens from a coma in a squalid London hospital. Leaving in a semi-amnesic state, he finds his flat through a receipt in his pocket. Gradually, as he begins to solve a much-publicized murder case, Monk's established abilities as an investigator are renewed. As he unravels the case, he also comes to know his own past. Perry leads readers to the solutions of the two mysteries with a fine, comfortable style and descriptions of turn-of-the-century London that are vivid and accurate.

If you are an Anne Perry fan, then you will want to read this one. William Monk returns to work after the accident that leaves him without a huge gap in his memory. He is assigned to the murder case of a Crimean war hero. This book has been well read therefore is not like new. Not torn or dirty just well used.

Set in London after the Crimea war. I loved the fact that one of the main characters was one of Florence Nightingale's nurses. Main character is detective William Monk, a London police detective. The catch? He had an accident that has left him bereft of his memory. He hides the fact as he continues his detective work.