Slaves of Obsession - Hardcover

Perry, Anne

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0345433262 ISBN 13: 9780345433268

Publisher: Ballantine Books, 2000

Synopsis

The year is 1861. The American Civil War has just begun, and London arms dealer Daniel Albertson is becoming a very wealthy man as emissaries from both sides of the conflict rush to purchase his wares. The quiet dinner party held by Albertson and his beautiful wife seems remote indeed from the passions rending America. Yet investigator William Monk and his bride, Hester, sense growing tensions and barely concealed violence in this well-appointed mansion. For two of the guests are Americans, each vying to buy Albertson's armaments.

Philo Trace, the Southerner, is both charming and intelligent, but a defender of slavery. Northerner Lyman Breelove is a disturbing blend of political zealot and personal reserve--to whom Albertson's teenage daughter has pledged her heart. Soon Monk and Hester's forebodings are fulfilled. For within this group, one is brutally murdered in a cruel ritualistic fashion, and two others disappear--along with Albertson's entire inventory of weapons.

Slaves of Obsession twists and turns like a powder keg fuse as Monk and Hester track the man they believe to be a cold-blooded murderer all the way to Washington D.C. and the bloody battlefield at Manassas. Yet finally, in a hushed London courtroom scene, Anne Perry holds her readers breathless and spellbound while Sir Oliver Rathbone fights to defend the innocent . . . and perhaps the guilty . . . from the hangman's noose.

About this title

About the Author

Among Anne Perry's other novels featuring investigator William Monk are A Breach of Promise, The Silent Cry, Cain His Brother, Defend and Betray, Weighed in the Balance, and most recently The Twisted Root. She also writes the popular novels featuring Thomas and Charlotte Pitt, including Bedford Square, Pentecost Alley, Traitors Gate, The Hyde Park Headsman, Highgate Rise, and Ashworth Hall, which was a Main Selection of the Book-of-the-Month Club. "Her grasp of Victorian character and conscience still astonishes," said The Cleveland Plain Dealer about the author. Hundreds of thousands of readers agree. Anne Perry lives in Scotland.

From the Inside Flap

1861. The American Civil War has just begun, and London arms dealer Daniel Albertson is becoming a very wealthy man as emissaries from both sides of the conflict rush to purchase his wares. The quiet dinner party held by Albertson and his beautiful wife seems remote indeed from the passions rending America. Yet investigator William Monk and his bride, Hester, sense growing tensions and barely concealed violence in this well-appointed mansion. For two of the guests are Americans, each vying to buy Albertson's armaments.

Philo Trace, the Southerner, is both charming and intelligent, but a defender of slavery. Northerner Lyman Breelove is a disturbing blend of political zealot and personal reserve--to whom Albertson's teenage daughter has pledged her heart. Soon Monk and Hester's forebodings are fulfilled. For within this group, one is brutally murdered in a cruel ritualistic fashion, and two others disappear--along with Albertson's entire inventory of weapons.

Slaves of Obsessi

Reviews

At the start of Perry's latest Victorian page-turner (after The Twisted Root), London-based private detective William Monk agrees to attend a dinner party at the lush home of arms dealer Daniel Alberton only for the sake of his wife, Hester. Hester, who served as a nurse with Florence Nightingale in the Crimea, is as gregarious as her husband is reserved. At the party, the Monks meet a volatile cast of characters, including Daniel's wife, Judith, a half-Italian beauty devoted to her husband and their 16-year-old daughter, Merrit. Daniel clearly adores Judith, as does her cousin, Casbolt, her husband's dapper partner in the arms business. Merrit, however, is blinded by passion for Lyman Breeland, a tall, thirtyish American who has come to England to buy guns for the Union Army. When Breeland's handsome Confederate counterpart, Philo Trace, appears unexpectedly at the end of dinner, Daniel admits that he's selling guns to Trace rather than Breeland because Trace asked first. Later, after Daniel turns up dead and Merrit runs off to America with Breeland, Monk and Hester follow, landing with Trace in the thick of the first battle of Bull Run. Monk brings Breeland back to London to stand trial for Daniel's murder, only to have doubts before the ship docks. Rich in period detail and ripe with an understanding of the agony of unrequited love, Perry's heated tale is marred by a subplot involving blackmail and pirates that never pays off. In addition, patches of overwriting will flag the villain to astute readers. 10-city author tour. (Oct.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The latest in Perry's Victorian mysteries featuring William and Hester Monk takes the reader from British drawing rooms and courtrooms to American Civil War battlefields and the docks and depths of the Thames River. Vividly describing all of these settings, Perry weaves an intricate tale of love, greed, slavery, and murder. William Monk, agent of enquiry, is employed to discover who is blackmailing respectable merchant and arms dealer Daniel Alberton. Monk soon finds himself investigating Alberton's murder, however, and looking for the murderer on the battlefield at Bull Run. Full of unexpected twists and revelations, this intriguing and satisfying mystery is one of Perry's best. All public libraries will want to purchase it to satisfy the author's many fans.DJean Langlais, St. Charles P.L., IL
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

"We are invited to dine with Mr. and Mrs. Alberton," Hester said in reply
to Monk's questioning gaze across the breakfast table. "They are friends
of Callandra's. She was to go as well, but has been called to Scotland
unexpectedly."
"I suppose you would like to accept anyway," he deduced, watching her face.
He usually read her emotions quickly, sometimes with startling accuracy,
at others misunderstanding entirely. On this occasion he was correct.
"Yes, I would. Callandra said they are charming and interesting and have a
very beautiful home. Mrs. Alberton is half Italian, and apparently Mr.
Alberton has travelled quite a lot as well."
"Then I suppose we had better go. Short notice, isn't it?" he said less
than graciously.
It was short notice indeed, but Hester was not disposed to find
unnecessary fault with something which promised to be interesting, and
possibly even the beginning of a new friendship. She did not have many
friends. The nature of her work as a nurse had meant that her friendships
were frequently of a fleeting nature. She had not been involved with any
gripping cause for quite some little time. Even Monk's cases, while
financially rewarding, had over the last four months of spring and early
summer been most uninteresting, and he had not sought her assistance, or
in most of them her opinion. She did not mind that, robberies were
tedious, largely motivated by greed, and she did not know the people
concerned.
"Good," she said with a smile, folding up the letter. "I shall write back
immediately saying that we shall be delighted."
His answering look was wry, only very slightly sarcastic.

They arrived at the Alberton house in Tavistock Square just before half
past seven. It was, as Callandra had said, handsome, although Hester would
not have thought it worth remarking on. However she changed her mind as
soon as they were in the hallway which was dominated by a curving
staircase at the half turn of which was an enormous stained glass window
with the evening sun behind it. It was truly beautiful, and Hester found
herself staring at it when she should have been paying attention to the
butler who had admitted them, and watching where she was going.
The withdrawing room also was unusual. There was less furniture in it than
was customary, and the colours were paler and warmer, giving an illusion
of light even though in fact the long windows which overlooked the garden
faced towards the eastern sky. The shadows were already lengthening, although it would not be
dark yet until after ten o'clock at this time so shortly after midsummer.
Hester's first impression of Judith Alberton was that she was an
extraordinarily beautiful woman. She was taller than average, but with a
slender neck and shoulders which made more apparent the lush curves of her
figure, and lent it a delicacy it might otherwise not have possessed. Her
face, when looked at more closely, was totally wrong for conventional
fashion. Her nose was straight and quite prominent, her cheekbones very
high, her mouth too large and her chin definitely short. Her eyes were
slanted and of a golden autumn shade. The whole impression was both
generous and passionate. The longer one looked at her the lovelier she
seemed. Hester liked her immediately.
"How do you do," Judith said warmly. "I am so pleased you have come. It
was kind of you on so hasty an invitation. But Lady Callandra spoke of you
with such affection I did not wish to wait." She smiled at Monk. Her eyes
lit with a flare of interest as she regarded his dark face with its lean
bones and broad-bridged nose, but it was Hester to whom she addressed her
attention. "May I introduce my husband?"
The man who came forward was pleasing rather than handsome, far more
ordinary than she was, but his features were regular and there was both
strength and charm in them.
"How do you do, Mrs. Monk," he said with a smile, but when courtesy was
met he turned immediately to Monk behind her, searching his countenance
steadily for a moment before holding out his hand in welcome, and then
turning aside so the rest of the company could be introduced.
There were three other people in the room. One was a man in his mid
forties, his dark hair thinning a little. Hester noticed first his wide
smile and spontaneous handshake. He had a natural confidence, as if he
were sure enough of himself and his beliefs he had no need to thrust them
upon anyone else. He was happy to listen to others. It was a quality she
could not help but like. His name was Robert Casbolt, and he was
introduced not only as Alberton's business partner and friend since youth,
but also Judith's cousin.
The other man present was American. As one could hardly help being aware,
that country had in the last few months slipped tragically into a state of
civil war. There had not as yet been anything more serious than a few ugly
skirmishes, but open violence seemed increasingly probable with every
fresh bulletin that arrived across the Atlantic. War seemed more and more
likely.
"Mr. Breeland is from the Union," Alberton said courteously, but there was
no warmth in his voice.
Hester looked at Breeland as she acknowledged the introduction. He
appeared to be in his early thirties, tall and very straight, with square
shoulders and the upright stance of a soldier. His features were regular,
his expression polite but severely controlled, as if he felt he must be
constantly on guard against any slip or relaxation of awareness.
The last person was the Albertons' daughter, Merrit. She was about
sixteen, with all the charm, the passion and vulnerability of her years.
She was fairer than her mother, and had not the beauty, but she had a
similar strength of will in her face, and less ability to hide her
emotions. She allowed herself to be introduced politely enough, but she
did not make any attempt to pretend more than courtesy.
The preliminary conversation was on matters as simple as the weather, the
increase in traffic on the streets and the crowds drawn by a nearby
exhibition.
Hester wondered why Callandra had thought she and Monk might find these
people congenial, but perhaps she was merely fond of them, and had
discovered in them a kindness.
Breeland and Merrit moved a little apart, talking earnestly. Monk, Casbolt
and Judith Alberton discussed the latest play, and Hester fell into
conversation with Daniel Alberton.
"Lady Callandra told me you spent nearly two years out in the Crimea," he
said with great interest. He smiled apologetically. "I am not going to ask
you the usual questions about Miss Nightingale. You must find that tedious
by now."
"She was a very remarkable person," Hester said. "I could not criticise
anyone for seeking to know more about her."
His smile widened. "You must have said that so many times. You were
prepared for it!"
She found herself relaxing. He was unexpectedly pleasant to converse with;
frankness was always so much easier than continued courtesy. "Yes, I admit
I was. It is ..."
"Unoriginal," he finished for her.
"Yes."
"Perhaps what I wanted to say was unoriginal also, but I shall say it
anyway, because I do want to know." He frowned very slightly, drawing his
brows together. His eyes were clear blue. "You must have exercised a great
deal of courage out there, both physical and moral, especially when you
were actually close to the battlefield. You must have made decisions which
altered other peoples lives, perhaps saved them, or lost them."
That was true. She remembered with a jolt just how desperate it had been.
It was as remote from this quiet summer evening in an elegant London
withdrawing room, where the shade of a gown mattered, the cut of a sleeve.
War, disease, shattered bodies, the heat and flies, or the terrible cold,
could all have been on another planet with no connection with this world
at all except a common language, and yet no words that could ever explain
one to the other.
She nodded.
"Do you not find it extraordinarily difficult to adjust from that life to
this?" he asked, his voice was soft, but edged with a surprising intensity.
How much had Callandra told Judith Alberton, or her husband? Would Hester
embarrass her with the Albertons in future if she were to be honest?
Probably not. Callandra had never been a woman to run from the truth.
"Well I came back burning with determination to reform all our hospitals
here at home," she said ruefully. "As you can see, I did not succeed, for
several reasons. The chief among them was that no one would believe I had
the faintest idea what I was talking about. Women don't understand
medicine at all, and nurses in particular are for rolling bandages,
sweeping and mopping floors, carrying coal and slops, and generally doing
as they are told." She allowed her bitterness to show. "It did not take me
long to be dismissed, and earn my way by caring for private patients."
There was admiration in his eyes as well as laughter. "Was that not very
hard for you?" he asked.
"Very," she agreed. "But I met my husband shortly after I came home. We
were . . . I was going to say friends, but that is not true. Adversaries
in a common cause, would describe it far better. Did Lady Callandra tell
you that he is a private agent of enquiry?"
There was no surprise in his face, certainly nothing like alarm. In high
society, gentlemen owned land or were in the army or politics. They did
not work, in the sense of being employed. Trade was equally unacceptable.
But whatever family background Judith Alberton came from, her husband<...

Edition details

• Publisher: Ballantine Books
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0345433262
• ISBN 13: 9780345433268
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 352