Inspector Monk still hasn't got his memory back, and his superior still wants to see him fail. The book begins with the trial from the first book in the series, where Monk and Hester, the nurse who worked with Florence Nightingale in the Crimea, still carp at each other, but work together to try to keep the man on trial, whom they believe had good reason for what he did, from being hanged. In this book, Monk's boss sends him to a very high class home with almost nothing to go on, except that one of the daughters has been stabbed to death, and a warning to do better than in the last case. There seems to be no evidence, until one of the lower class witnesses provides proof that no one went into or out of the house all night. Thus the murderer was either a servant or family member. A family member retreats to her room, and Monk recruits Hester to serve as a nurse, who can observe unseen and report to him. She and Monk solve the case. Fascinating, and the view of upper class London is intriguing. Again, though the case is totally different from that in the first book, read them in order to make sense of the "detective" characters.

Book two in the series. Detective Monk and Hester Latterly are two strong minded Victorian era characters, struggling to get by with their personal lives while collaborating on solving a murder.

Anne Perry creates lives that makes us view our own relationships and situations through a sharper, clearer focus. For instance - she lets us see how necessary dependency on another can lead to abuse,of power, humiliation, loss of dignity and subsequent negative feelings.

It was a re-read, but that's okay, I'd forgotten whodunnit.