The Twisted Root - Softcover

Perry, Anne

Softcover

ISBN 10: 074726323X ISBN 13: 9780747263234

Publisher: Ballantine Books, 2000

Synopsis

For Miriam Gardiner, at her engagement party at the London home of her fiance, Lucius Stourbridge, it should have been one of the happiest days of her life. But, leaving suddenly, Miriam disappears without a trace. Reluctant to cause a scandal, Lucius seeks out William Monk and tells him that the only lead concerns their coachman, Treadwell, who is also missing. Monk, not usually a sentimental man, is moved by Lucius's distress, and assumes that his recent marriage to Hester Latterly is to blame. When Treadwell's murdered body is found, Monk becomes convinced that his death is linked to a terrible secret in Miriam's past that someone, desperate keep it hidden, has killed for, and may well do so again, unless he can stop them.

About this title

Review:

William Monk, the unquestionably handsome, somewhat vain, but genuinely tenderhearted "agent of enquiry" is back on the streets of Victorian London, investigating his 10th case, a missing woman. Miriam Gardiner was due to be betrothed to a much younger man, a well-to-do gentleman named Lucius Stourbridge. But during a family croquet party, the bride-to-be vanished, apparently fleeing in a coach driven by a family servant named Treadwell. Monk would normally be reluctant to get involved in a simple case of pre-wedding jitters, but his own recent marriage to the headstrong nurse Hester Latterly gives him a newfound empathy for the heartbroken Lucius. Of course, as always in Perry's historical mysteries, all is not quite as it seems. Treadwell is found murdered, and the missing Miriam becomes the number-one suspect. Monk is convinced that she "could and would do no intentional evil," even as Hester connects her to another illicit crime. Eventually unearthed by London's finest, Miriam is arrested and charged with murder, and it's up to barrister Oliver Rathbone to absolve her in court (with a little help from his good friends William and Hester Monk).

With a plot twist around every corner, Anne Perry knows just how to keep us in suspense, right up to the exceedingly dramatic finale. The Twisted Root is a luminous whodunit from the queen of Victorian mystery. --Naomi Gesinger

From the Inside Flap:

The tenth novel in the riveting series featuring Victorian private eye William Monk - by the acclaimed author of A Breach of Promise.

In stunning feats of imagination, Anne Perry brings to life the lost world of England's Victorian Age. With The Twisted Root, she holds us rapt with a chilling story of love, betrayal, and consummate evil.

Miriam Gardiner has disappeared from a croquet party at the luxurious mansion of her future in-laws. On Hampstead Heath, private investigator William Monk finds the coach in which she fled and the murdered body of the coachman. There is no trace of Miriam.

What strange compulsion drove her to abandon the prospect of a loving marriage and financial abundance? Miriam's fateful flight ends in a race with the hangman, as Monk and clever nurse, Hester Latterly- themselves now newlyweds- pursue the elusive truth.

About this edition

• Publisher: Ballantine Books
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 074726323X
• ISBN 13: 9780747263234
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 416