Death of a Stranger: A William Monk Novel
Private enquiry agent William Monk is hired to investigate a potential  case of fraud in the construction of a new railway line. His client is the  fiancée of a man she fears is embroiled in the scheme, and Monk's investigation  causes a strange sense of déjà vu--a former policeman afflicted with a case of  amnesia concerning his prior life, Monk finds both the case and its milieu  unsettlingly familiar. His case is somehow connected to the death of a railway  magnate in a sleazy area of London where Monk's wife Hester, a nurse, operates a  shelter for abused prostitutes. The women have been doubly victimized by an  extortion scheme in which the dead man, who turns out to have been Monk's  employer during his "lost" years, may have been involved. More than an ingenious  way to fill in Monk's backstory, Anne Perry's newest mystery featuring the  enigmatic investigator deepens the reader's understanding of an unusual and  compelling protagonist and brings Victorian-era England vividly to life.--Jane Adams--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.