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A review by chrissie_whitley
A Dangerous Mourning by Anne Perry
4.0
Getting to know William Monk as he gets to know himself seems to be a real treat. Monk, along with Sergeant Evan and Hester Latterly, both of whom I liked from the previous book, [b:The Face of a Stranger|583883|The Face of a Stranger (William Monk, #1)|Anne Perry|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1320469225l/583883._SY75_.jpg|6440293], come together nicely by Perry's finessing to solve the crime and subsequent mystery in A Dangerous Mourning. Letting go of the constant reminders of Monk's amnesia-addled mind happens early on, and Perry tapers it off into just sporadic mentions that are really very reasonable — especially compared with the persistent nudging from the first installment.
Perry has a wonderful way of melding the formal voice for Victorian England with her own contemporary audience — it's smooth and she knows her characters and her settings well. The harsh line of class distinction is a feature in A Dangerous Mourning as is a more blunt view of a married woman's place — not just the viewpoint of a single, unmarried or widowed woman as we saw in the previous book. I love the interwoven feminist threads that are strong and sturdy through not only the character of Hester Latterly, but many other women Perry has interspersed — either through their personal opinions or through our modern lens and their resigned positions.
Personally I think I would have liked to have had a little more of Monk doing some actual detecting here, but the circumstances of the case required more of Hester Latterly's skills and I was quite happy to have her enter Monk's professional radar so early on in the series. I was suspicious it would take longer, but glad to see Perry wasted no unnecessary time getting Latterly involved on a more equal footing — if not to Monk's level, at least to Sergeant Evan's.
Audiobook, as narrated by [a:Davina Porter|500666|Davina Porter|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1276540528p2/500666.jpg]: While I continue to love Porter's voice and fantastic performance — she strikes all the right notes here too — I find that perhaps this series isn't quite suited in audiobook for me. (Or maybe it's my mindset right now. Who can tell?) But some of the names, especially for the upperclass citizens Perry has used thus far (Callandra, Fenella, Octavia, Araminta), can get a little confusing just heard in my ear and not seen with my eyes. That being said, I would not hesitate to listen to another audiobook narrated by the great Davina Porter.
Perry has a wonderful way of melding the formal voice for Victorian England with her own contemporary audience — it's smooth and she knows her characters and her settings well. The harsh line of class distinction is a feature in A Dangerous Mourning as is a more blunt view of a married woman's place — not just the viewpoint of a single, unmarried or widowed woman as we saw in the previous book. I love the interwoven feminist threads that are strong and sturdy through not only the character of Hester Latterly, but many other women Perry has interspersed — either through their personal opinions or through our modern lens and their resigned positions.
Personally I think I would have liked to have had a little more of Monk doing some actual detecting here, but the circumstances of the case required more of Hester Latterly's skills and I was quite happy to have her enter Monk's professional radar so early on in the series. I was suspicious it would take longer, but glad to see Perry wasted no unnecessary time getting Latterly involved on a more equal footing — if not to Monk's level, at least to Sergeant Evan's.
Audiobook, as narrated by [a:Davina Porter|500666|Davina Porter|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1276540528p2/500666.jpg]: While I continue to love Porter's voice and fantastic performance — she strikes all the right notes here too — I find that perhaps this series isn't quite suited in audiobook for me. (Or maybe it's my mindset right now. Who can tell?) But some of the names, especially for the upperclass citizens Perry has used thus far (Callandra, Fenella, Octavia, Araminta), can get a little confusing just heard in my ear and not seen with my eyes. That being said, I would not hesitate to listen to another audiobook narrated by the great Davina Porter.