May as well admit my bias in the first sentence - I’m a huge fan of Anne Perry’s William Monk series. Perry is an agile word painter - so perfectly describing the sights and sounds of Victorian London from the dark Limehouse area to the posh West End that one feels transported to a different time and place.
As for her characters, they’re impeccably drawn from the brooding elegantly tailored William Monk who speaks precisely and stands “with both grace and confidence” to the residents of the waterfront with their work weary faces and humble clothing.
The give and take between Monk and his feisty, loving wife reveals so much about their endearing and enduring relationship. Perry includes the characters’ thoughts as they face each situation, which tells us a great deal and renders them fully fleshed human beings. With the 18th Monk tale we grow even fonder of all.
A Sunless Sea gives us an intimation of what is to come with the first page. Monk and his partner, Orme, are out on the river just as the sun is rising when “The peace of his satisfaction was shattered by a scream, which was piercing even above the creak of the oarlocks and the sound of the wash from a passing string of barges breaking on the shore.” They reach Limehouse Pier to find a hysterical woman standing by what appears to be a pile of rags but in reality is a dead woman gruesomely dismembered.
It takes some time but they identify her as Zenia Gadney who was evidently supported by a gentleman who recently stopped coming to see her. The man in question was found to be Dr. Joel Lambourn, a respected physician and researcher who had taken his own life by ingesting a large quantity of opium and slitting his wrists. There was no investigation into his death, which was immediately declared a suicide by government officials. This was the same government that had recently dismissed his report which advocated the accurate labeling of opium products.
What possible connection could there be between these two deaths? It soon becomes obvious to Monk that a key to answering that question may be found in the doctor’s report, but how to see it? As he eventually joins forces with his barrister friend Oliver Rathbone to solve this mystery readers are treated to a fascinating account of what at that time was a vital issue as well as a refresher course on the effects of the Opium War.
For this reader A Sunless Sea is Perry’s best to date, and that’s saying quite a bit!
- Gail Cooke
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