Book: Death Of A Stranger by Anne Perry
Krishna
Anne Perry is a ‘regular’ here in that many of her books have been reviewed earlier here. For example, see Death In The Devil’s Acre or The Twisted Root.
This is one of those books with a big twist, which in Anne Perry’s hands, is delightful. More of this later.
Hester is working in the clinic in Coldbath Square. This was funded by Callandra Daviot and was there to help the dregs of the society. She treats three such people – two who were abused by their husbands (Nellie and Lizzie, the latter had a broken wrist) and then an educated prostitute who probably got into a brawl. Meanwhile Jessop, the landlord who rented the clinic, has second thoughts about letting it out to people who treated the dregs of the society and what it would do to ‘his building’s reputation’. Hester rebuffs him and sends him on his way and he threatens not to renew the agreement when it comes due next.
Meanwhile Hester hears that there was a man who was found dead in the alley. Surprisingly he was well dressed, not the kind of men who would frequent the red light area. There was a lot of blood and broken glass around him. When his identity is established, it is shocking. He was identified as Nolan Baltimore, a railway owner and a rich man. His son identified the father right away and raised hell that the police had not solved the crime. The police presence increased tremendously, crippling the trade of the prostitutes.
Hester continues ministering to the girls who come there beaten badly with broken ribs and wounds and helps them without any question. Lavinia Baltimore, the daughter, visits Hester (now Hester Monk) to find out if Hester knows anything. It appears that he was killed elsewhere and then dropped in that area, which increases the puzzlement.
As ever, Anne Perry’s unerring eye captures the struggling lives of the poor women and men, and the lingo is perfect. Add it on top of the Victorian setting and this book takes on multiple layers of polish and draws you in right away.
When a lady comes badly beaten, Hester is surprised but could not get a word out of her. The girl, however, is surprised to hear the name Hester Monk. Next another lady comes in, and supposing that she is dying of her injuries, dares to let Hester know what happened to her – which is interesting. Someone is trapping well to do girls who are in debt into high end prostitution as a way to repay the debts (by lending them money first to repay the original debt). Now that the business has ‘dried away’ due to heavy police presence in the area (because of the other murder) it appears that the person or his goons are beating up the women. Hester is outraged and decides to consult Monk.
Meanwhile, coincidentally Katrina Harcus comes to consult Monk. Her betrothed, Michael Delgarno, who works for a railroad company. She is worried that there is something ‘not right’ about the company or its plans to build a railroad and worries about the blame attaching to her betrothed. So, without his knowledge, she has chosen to consult a private investigator,and chose Monk for that service.
There are flashes of remembrance of Monk’s earlier life (before the memory loss that wiped out all his memory, in case you have been reading the books in order) and he sees his own signature when he looks at the documents she brought!
He investigates but finds nothing out of the ordinary in the railway deals. He also meets the man who seems on the level – when meeting him, Monk pretends to be an agent for a client abroad.
Meanwhile, Hester gets Margaret, a well to do woman who is of like minded views as Hester and therefore comes to help Hester in in Coldbath Manor in ministering to the destitute prostitutes who are ill, to act as a relative of the murdered Nolan and go view his body in the coffin. After the unpleasant (for Margaret) site Margaret nearly faints but after exiting, immediately agrees to draw three different (true to life) portraits of Nolan which Hester can use in her secretive but dangerous investigations. Working alone in dicey environments, she tries to gather more information on Nolan.
Monk now realizes that the death of Nolan Bannister may be very linked to his investigations and so starts investigating his death as well. He learns that Nolan was a regular to that area, and was dropped off by a cabbie near the brothel. However Nolan never went to the brothel at all, according to sources Monk had.
Now Monk remembers his own hazy memory of the man whom he admired in his past life, Arol Dundas, being prosecuted for fraud. Both Monk and Dundas were working for the same company owned by Baltimore. He remembers his grief at the trial and how his, Dundas’s, wife told him of the suicide of her husband a few days after the conviction.
He wonders if he was somehow instrumental with either executing the fraud or not doing enough to save Dundas. It tears him up inside. As always, the inner struggles are portrayed masterfully by Anne Perry. She is well known for the emotional side of the story – apart from the amazingly realistic portrayal of Victorian London, down to its atmosphere and the language of both the well educated and the struggling illiterate people.
Again, Hester goes to meet Smokey Robinson, a brother owner, showing a copious amount of courage. She hopes to learn something that may point her towards the identity of the killer of Nolan. Because both of them have an interest in keeping the police off the streets and the only way is to find the real killer. He promises to think about helping her but she senses fear in him and is surprised. What is he afraid of?
Monk, in the meanwhile establishes through his search that there could be no connection with Michael and when he tells her that, she seems astonished. She mentions that ‘there was an innocent man punished earlier and will it happen again?’ which rocks Monk to the core. He is desperate to know how she knows about Dundas!
She asks him to come meet him that evening but when he approaches the house, he sees a strong police presence. It appears that she was pushed off the balcony. The person leading the investigation is an old rival of Monk, Runcorn. He allows Monk to go in with him but Monk finds a note where Katrina has expressed doubts about Monk to a girl called Emma. Katrina says in the letter that she found his signature in the old documents and does not know if she can trust him. Monk steals and destroys the pages!
Also Katrina had pulled his button off the coat and she seemed to still have it in her hands when she died.
Hester tells Monk that in her investigations about Nolan, she realized that Michael is now courting Baltimore’s daughter and had no intention of marrying Katrina! When Monk hears of a scuffle with an unknown man just before Katrina fell from the balcony, both Monk and Runcorn are certain that Michael is the one who would have killed Katrina. Runcorn swears to find evidence to punish Michael.
Hester realizes that Robinson has lost his partner and is panicked that he would not be able to run his brother business; he does not know how to do the business side of things. He also realizes that Nolan was that partner and that is why he visited the area.
They make Rathbone pretend as an investor and pretend to check the finances. Squeaky Robinson admits that Nolan was the partner and in addition to supplying girls through his connections – after trapping them in debt – he used to have them work in the brothel owned by Robinson. Squeaky also admits that in addition to his business interests, Nolan had some ‘odd tastes’ and used the brother for these as well. This was a very high quality joint.
He indirectly admits that a girl who worked there killed him (pushed him out of the window) and Robinson had to move Nolan to where he was found. Robinson claims that the girl who did the deed no longer works there.
They burn the IOUs behind his back, ruining him financially, and then audaciously request him to rent the establishment to them for a low rent in order to make money!
Monk meanwhile is investigating further – he now is convinced that there is some fraud involved, with Helen being murdered. He tries to find the link to Dundas and what fraud he committed. He goes to a priest he used to know in his previous life. And learns that there was a new brake that was invented by Nolan’s company but was never used after the suicide of Dundas in prison.
A lot more surprises come in. They are convinced that Michael, though he is a cad for leading Katrina on but ditching her when a richer girl came into view (Livia Baltimore), is innocent of the killing. But he has no alibi and is arrested.
In desperation, Monk asks if Oliver Rathbone will take the case and represent Michael. Oliver hears him out – including the destruction of evidence document where Monk’s name was there and the fact that the button found in Katrina’s hand was from Monk’s coat, and agrees to represent Michael.
What follows is a spectacular courtroom scene where the truth is revealed.
And it is a bombshell!
Now, not all of Anne Perry’s stories have a twist and even when they do – as in Cain His Brother for example – it is easy to guess. This one threw me completely. Anne Perry cleverly describes the process and the seemingly pointless defense initially where defeat seems to stare Sir Oliver in his face – before he pulls the rabbit out of the hat in a spectacular fashion.
A great ending – even after the resolution of the court case and the real sequence of activities, there is yet another suspense where Monk has to rush to save another accident from taking place on the train by Nolan’s son Jarvis, who was repeating the same mistake!
It is a bit too convenient that Monk remembers the details of his past life just when he needs to – however, given the entertainment value of the story, that seems like a minor flaw.
A great read.
8/10
== Krishna