Defend and Betray

William Monk #3

by Anne Perry

"A richly textured and timeless novel of suspense. Her Victorian England pulsates with life and is peopled with wonderfully memorable characters."
Faye Kellerman
Although esteemed General Thaddeus Carlyon meets his death in a freak accident at home, his beautiful wife, Alexandra, confesses that she killed him. Investigator William Monk, nurse Hester Latterly, and the brilliant Oliver Rathbone, counsel for the defense, work feverishly to break down the wall of silence raised by the accused and her husband's proud family. With the trial only days away, they inch toward the dark and appalling heart of the mystery. The final act is a courtroom masterpiece, through which we dare not breathe too deeply, lest the precarious balance of a woman's life be lost.

Genres: Mystery, Historical Fiction, Fiction, Historical Mystery, Historical, Crime, Audiobook

439 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

Anne Perry, born Juliet Hulme in England, lived in Scotland most of her life after serving five years in prison for murder (in New Zealand). A beloved mystery authoress, she is best known for her Thomas Pitt and William Monk series.

Her first novel, "The Cater Street Hangman", was published in 1979. Her works extend to several categories of genre fiction, including historical mysteries. Many of them feature recurring characters, most importantly Thomas Pitt and amnesiac private investigator William Monk, who first appeared in 1990, "The Face Of A Stranger".

Her story "Heroes," from the 1999 anthology Murder And Obsession, won the 2001 Edgar Award For Best Short Story. She was included as an entry in Ben Peek's Twenty-Six Lies / One Truth, a novel exploring the nature of truth in literature.

Series contributed to:
. Crime Through Time
. Perfectly Criminal
. Malice Domestic
. The World's Finest Mystery And Crime Stories
. Transgressions
. The Year's Finest Crime And Mystery Stories

Reviews

[Luffy Sempai · Rating 5 out of 5]

Defend and Betray has a very sudden ending, as if it has outstayed its welcome. That's not true, but I liked it anyway. I've read somewhere that the author is very malignant. Of course we must judge a book on its own merit and not on the character of the author. But, then, I realised that those on the side of the angels are not very angelic. They are frail characters, especially William Monk, after whom the series is named.

The book is basically about a scandal in the gentry. First, a murder, then God knows what. The world of this 19th century London is developed to a great degree. I don't know how authentic it is but it makes for some terrific reading. The clothing of the major persons is described, but only those who are about to set the ball rolling in this book.

For once, I don't want to summarise the book or give spoilers away. I want you readers to start afresh. People might think that I don't expose the plot, but I do, in my own way. The big reveal doesn't happen until 70% in, so there is a lot of thorough, patient, demure, elusive, bare, and fruitful investigation going on. There seems to be an influence of Dame A. Christie in the way the peripheral women are painted. But the author, who naturally has a limited number of brushstrokes at her disposal, planned wisely, indeed. It's a book that is among my top 50 best books ever.

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow- just brilliant! I could be mealy and knock it down half a star because the first third of the book, the case seemed to be going nowhere but when it came together, it was tense and exciting. That was some court scene! Loved it.

[Ingie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review written July 1, 2018

4 Whodunnit Stars - Terrific and in the end truly worth it

🔎🔎🔎🔎

Book #3

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Maybe is this William Monk series my favorite historical mystery serial right now. So far has it been a already happened deadly crime when each book starts, for me maybe the best kind of old fashioned whodunnit mysteries. The crime scenes are also in those fine, but quite stiff, grand upper classes, the ones we so much loves in British historicals. Set in London, England in late 1850s (a few years after the Crimean War) with three so far interesting main characters to follow.

• The quite complicated police investigator William Monk. A man nearly without friends or a normal social life. A man who losed his memory in a accident just before this series started. We truly don’t know much about him and he is himself still seeking for his past me. The question is: is Monk he a man to like or not?

• Here is also Hester Latterly the clever and for past times very strong young lady who has a past as a ambitious “Florence Nightingale” nurse in the Crimean War. Monk’s future love?

• In a mer secondary character is a great and brilliant lawyer, Oliver Rathbone. A clever man who defends suspected and accused appearing here. A work he does with quite enviable success and in grand style. Will he get Hester’s heart?

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My thoughts...
As I wrote in a update: This mystery novel has one of the worst type of crime plot with a horrible whodunnit storyline including the darkest of abuse. I usually try to avoid books, movies or news articles on the subject, but sometimes is this terrible topic (which also is a dark, cruel reality for too many) there, and it is just to breathe deeply, cross your fingers and wish for the best.

And? — As a serial mystery book could it of course been a little bit shorter, lesser pages and a tiny bit faster developed ... but on the other side was I my self never ever bored or tired of it. No, this was a very good 16 hours audiobook listening. I sometimes enjoy this kind of long winded storytelling, endless crime investigation, thoughts and clues and a huge bunch of witnesses and relatives to suspect etc etc. I feel for all main characters (the suspected poor woman) and wanted to know more about their history, life, future and feelings.

All in all a good one. — It will be more... many more, there are a countless lot of William Monk books to read and I’m a hooked Monk-fan by now.

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I listened to the 16:23 hours audiobook excellent narrated by Davina Porter. Love her voices and style.

I LIKE - old fashioned crime stories

[Katerina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting enough I only wished it wasn't so repetitive at times!

Alongside the murder mystery Monk tries to find out more about his past.

Rathbone has a bigger part in this story and we discover more about his personality!

The three characters, Monk, Rathbone and Hester work together to uncover the true motive of the murder since the perpetrator confessed early on and Hester and Rathbone's friendship develops!

Hester has a new job and we get to know her patient who is an interesting personality and quite likeable!

The Carlyons are a complex family with many secrets and the variety of their personalities makes one like some more than others!

The author introduces in this book what rights women have or better said haven't when it comes to their marriage and children and how three women of the same social status reacted to the same tragedy!

It was easy to figure things out but others were unexpected!

Seriously the author has a thing for describing noses but it's boring!

I didn't like that the story ended abruptly at least to me it seemed so! I would have liked some more information about some of the characters not to mention the complete absence of Hester's patient in the last chapters!

A nice story!

[Jokoloyo · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story is not a pure murder mystery, more like a historical legal thriller. The climax is a court room drama, and I really like the court room scene on the last chapter.

The storytelling itself is not so dense. I've read it years ago (and didn't remember most of the story), and just recently re-read the last 2 chapters, and I still could enjoyed the story.

Not-so-important-note: it is personal taste. This is included in William Monk series, but the climax is delivered by another (secondary?) protagonist character, Oliver Rathbone. This novel made me sympathize with Rathbone.

[Felicity]

This book suffered a little from rereading: there were clues in people's behavior on the night of the murder that were inexplicably not followed up for chapters, despite multiple mentions. There were a few leaps of logic, and at least one plot point I would have suggested editing out. I'm no expert on British law of the period, but some of the courtroom rulings seemed a little capricious or unlikely to me. Monk's retracing of his past seemed occasionally irresponsible in the face of his other duties. And let's not get into the 9 instances of the word "aquiline" that I counted.

However, it still works both as a mystery/courtroom drama and a rather searing commentary on Victorian society. I enjoy the Monk books partially for their flawed, human main characters and partly for the courtroom aspect. In these, Perry continues the story into the potentially frustrating and unjust world of Victorian law, with satisfying dramatic results. In general, I enjoy Perry's nuanced characterizations -- almost no one is fully innocent in her books, and most guilty parties have reasons, passions, ample humanity mixed with their turpitude. In this one, the drama comes from untenable situations as well as flawed and floundering humans, and I still found these compelling the second time around.

[laninaki · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this one hard going and I'm wavering between 2.5 and 3 stars for the rating. It's not as strong a story or as engaging as the first two Monk books. In fact, there is very little Monk in it, which I found frustrating. I want to know more about his past. Also, he's supposed to be this brilliant detective, right? And dogged in his pursuit of the truth, etc. He was neither brilliant nor dogged in this book. In fact, he missed glaringly obvious suspects once the true motive for murder was uncovered. He didn't even consider them!

The first half of the book was a repetition of the same facts, ad nauseum. It took far too long for the story to get rolling - about 150 pages too long.

In spite of my disappointment with this installment, I liked the first two Monk books enough to keep on reading the series.

[Pat · Rating 4 out of 5]

I literally could not put this down for the final courtroom scene. I won't give away the final revelations, but they are shockng and riveting. I'm a big fan of Perry, and this is one of her best.

Perry gives us a few red herrings indicating that Alexandra may not be the killer, but the question quickly becomes, why did she do it, not if there is another perpetrator. We know she is sacrificng herself for someone, but who and why? Perry skillfully reels out the line.

The most interesting character is Monk, still grappling with his amnesia. When he finally realizes who is the woman (and lover) he helped exonerate of killing her husband, his self-knowledge grows in leaps and bounds--as does his appreciation of the prickly but courageous and brilliant Hester. Also, his constant realization of exactly what kind of bastard he was before the memory loss, and knowledge that the damage is done, gives him a sympathetic humanity.

The REAL tragedy of this book is how every woman character is victimized in 1857 England, when the Empire was starting to fray (the Indian Mutiny was taking place). It's hard for us to imagine having zero rights to protect yourself or your children and have no alternative to staying with an abusive husband and father. Edith's plight of having to return to her witch mother's home after her hsuband dies is heartwrenching, as are her attempts to find employment to escape Felicia. The abuse and sacrifices that Hester has to make as a woman who IS employed are outrageous. The true depths of Felicia's and Louisa's monstrousness are not revealed until the final pages, and it will take your breath away!

[Tom M. · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book opens with a murder about which very little is known other than the victim's wife openly admits to having killed her husband. No one seems to know why and her only excuse is openly dismissed by everyone.

The next 150 pages or so repeats these minimal facts from various angles and viewpoints. And, really, that's about it.

The final 100 devolve into a standard courtroom drama, although all of the surprises have already been revealed.

I lost count of how many aristocratic characters (a) stood in front of windows, looking out and (b) were describe as having "aquiline" noses. As with her other Monk stories, whole paragraphs seemed to have been copy/pasted into later sections with only minimal rewriting.

Unlike the first two Monk stories, this one is really more Hester's story than Monk's. Perry throws in some occasional Monk scenes and a token bit of reclaimed memory, but he's all but forgotten in this story.

Cut the book in half, edit the rest more tightly and decide who the main character truly is and this should have been a much better story.

[Jose Santos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mais um excelente policial de Anne Perry.
Neste terceiro livro da série do Detective Monk, um sério caso de assasínio em que o objectivo não é encontrar o culpado, mas sim o motivo.
Fabulosas descrições da época e personagens de uma Inglaterra no ano 1853. Uma boa história e uma narrativa muito boa que nos obriga a não pousar o livro até que esteja terminado.
Para quem gosta de policiais, um livro obrigatório.

[Bailey Marissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book broke my heart. A lot. The situation that this mother found herself in was absolutely heartbreaking and especially at this time, where women didn't have any rights.

15+ for emotional and sexual abuse, and some language.

[Julie Durnell · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars I enjoy the series main characters Inspector Monk (still dealing with loss of memory issues), nurse of the Crimean War (serving with Florence Nightingale, as we are constantly reminded of) Hester Latterly, and barrister Oliver Rathbone. Hester's employment as a private nurse to Major Tiplady was a nice sideline. The murder involving an aristocratic London family and subsequent courtroom battle were well done but the subject matter left a very bad taste in my mouth and had me wishing I had not read it.

[Bookish Ally · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh MONK! Rathbone! Hester! I love this Victorian trio picking their way to justice through nefarious deeds. In this third installment of the Monk series we deal with a case in which a high born woman kills her husband, but why???? Dark doings are afoot. Definitely enjoying this fun and well written murder mystery series.

[We Are All Mad Here · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entirely too many aquiline noses and too-wide mouths. For example: "Her cheekbones were broad, her nose short and aquiline, her mouth beautiful but far too wide..." Or this one: "She had a short, aquiline nose, very blue eyes and a mouth far too wide..."

Weirdly, all this very specific description of each character's face did nothing to give me a mental image of any of them.

Also, I'm starting to see a pattern in this series, in which the first half is somewhat tiresome, only to have the story take off like blazes in the second half.

I will likely read the next in the series, but I'll be okay waiting for it to come available at my library.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really love Anne Perry’s books about Hester Latterly and Mr. Monk. They are so well written, rich with historical details and the mystery always leads to something unexpected.
Of course, Davina Porter’s narration is delightful and absolutely perfect for the story. What a golden voice!
Plus I enjoy information about the Crimean War, Nightingale’s contributions to military healthcare and the problems that surrounded the beginnings of professional nursing.
Great stories.

[Michael Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

This Victorian mystery is one of Perry’s more intense novels. It features William Monk, police inspector turned private inquiry agent, who is investigating the death of a retired general, attending a dinner at the home of a friend, who fell off a stair landing and was impaled on the halberd of a suit of armor standing below. Of course, it turns out to be murder, and the list of suspects is limited by circumstances to those present for dinner. But then the general’s wife confesses, and Monk’s only avenue is to discover why it happened and whether there were mitigating circumstances, a project in which he is aided, as usual, but nurse Hester Latterly. The wife’s true motive becomes apparent abut halfway through the book, but there’s plenty of investigating left to do. Perry always includes a social issue, or several, as an underlying theme in her novels, and this time it’s multigenerational child abuse -- and she handles it skillfully, though with enough candor that some readers may be squicked by it. And then there’s quite a fascinating trial, in which Oliver Rathbone has to bring all his considerable skills to bear. This addition of courtroom drama is the major difference of the Monk novels from those about Thomas Pitt, set a generation later, and it’s a good one -- though it’s worth pointing out that, also unlike Pitt, Monk is not entirely the star but shares the bill equally with Hester.

[Frederick Masterman · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the third of the William Monk Victorian detective series I was very pleased to see the character of Hester Latterly developed with careful expertise. Hester figures so strongly in later novels that I was delighted to see how the author introduced her character in this book with words both eloquent and moving. The conditions of Victorian England, the repression of superbly talented women such as Hester, and her determination to be herself in spite of society's prejudiced, ill-informed attitudes of women, make Defend and Betray one of the best Perry novels I have read thus far. I never listened to this one on audio tape, as I did many others of both the Monk and Pitt series a decade past. It was a refreshing treat to read the text. Perry's talents were wonderfully expressed in this work, which can stand alone as a novel, but is yet a wonderful transition piece in the story of William Pitt and Hester Latterly.

[Hazel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've been rereading these early William Monk novels while travelling recently. I appreciate Perry's research and am sympathetic to her views on Victorian social conditions, (poverty, child labour, the position of women). So far, however she doesn't construct the novels well. Every idea, question about motive, puzzle about clues takes pages to discuss. Each lead character has the same internal voice, and they all repeat (ad nauseum) the author's perspective. So the private investigator, the bold Crimean nurse and the civic-minded barrister all tell themselves and us that an upper class lady cannot leave her abusive husband, because she would have no legal right to custody of her children and would be unable to support herself financially etc. Interesting the first time it's pointed out- after that, not so much.

I'll look for the next one though. :-)

[Alisha · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good writing, carefully plotted, and the main characters are becoming more vivid as the series goes on. However, in this book the revelations that solve the mystery are quite, quite sordid and make it unrecommendable (in my opinion).

[Paraphrodite · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars.

A very ugly case. This one has quite a bit of courtroom drama with Rathbone bringing out the big guns. There's a bit of a sub-plot with Monk learning more about his past. But it was definitely the courtroom scenes that kept me engaged.

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Parts of this book moved so slowly, and if that had continued, I would have given a lower rating. I like nurse Hester Latterly’s part in solving the crime. Also, glad to see that Monk is recovering more of the memory of his past. The courtroom scenes are most interesting, but I was a little surprised in the open comments on what I thought would have been an unspeakable thing in that day.

[Chrissie Whitley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Defend and Betray ended in flame and fireworks — and some freshly dried tears on my face — but the cost to get to this point was notable. I found this installment in particular to be quite unbalanced, and I don't know that it wasn't because there was simply far too little of William Monk in it doing actual detecting, which I also complained about in the last book, A Dangerous Mourning. But here he doesn't even serve as narrator for large swaths of story, particularly at the beginning.

The beginning largely belonged to Hester Latterly (most of the first half does), a character I do actually like a lot — but Perry delivered this one rather clumsily and awkwardly. I would much rather have had the story begin in the middle of things than to go through the rigmarole of showing me how Hester's friend brought the case to her by way of being the sister-in-law of the accused and the sister of the victim. The opening is slow and tedious, as is the first half of the novel. In fact, up until about 70% into it, I thought I was going to have to jump into the narrative and shake Monk's and Latterly's shoulders myself to get them to see the main connection they were missing.

However, the second half, certainly the last third of the book (once the pieces started to click together for Latterly, Monk, and Rathbone, thankfully), and the plot settled itself nicely into a courtroom drama, Defend and Betray found its footing and was more the book it was supposed to be. This part of the book felt more of what Perry had in mind perhaps and less of what had to be written in order to get to this destination (i.e., the clumsier first half).

Side note: Depending on the version you get — watch out for the little interview at the end. It has spoilers. So don't read it. I glanced through and accidentally saw one, and I could not be more bummed to know this thing ahead of time.

[Christia · Rating 4 out of 5]

The more I read Anne Perry's books, the more impressed I am with her storytelling. This is the second I've read of her Inspector Monk series and I see a pattern developing where each book proves to be better than the last. I rarely if ever flip ahead in a book, but for the life of me I couldn't resist doing it here, if only to try to get a hint at why the prime suspect was so willing to take the blame for her husband's murder, despite the fact that the motive she provides made no sense. Following a dinner party, the highly respectable General Carlyon, a gentleman with an immaculate reputation, is found dead after presumably falling over a second floor balcony on to a coat of arms below, but did he fall or was he pushed? His softspoken wife Alexandra immediately insists she intentionally murdered him, to the shock of his family, but her explained motive of jealousy makes no sense to anyone. One of Carlyon's sisters just happens to be friends with Inspector Monk's colleague, nurse Hester Latterly, and through Hester, Monk is hired to investigate and attorney Oliver Rathbone is retained to defend Carlyon's wife. I enjoyed this not only because of the plot that had its fair share of twists and turns, (not to mention the descriptive courtroom scenes and shocking motive that finally is revealed) but also because Perry does such an excellent job of describing and providing insights into Victorian life, with all of its challenges to anyone who wasn't fortunate enough to be born a wealthy, upper class male. This was a thoroughly entertaining, great story and I look forward to reading more in this series.

[Renny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredibly good... Anne Perry says in an interview: ..."For you, what are the ingredients of a good mystery? AP: Tension, conflict, and characters that you care about. If you don’t care about people, it doesn’t matter who did the actual crime. It has to be about why, how did this happen? For me there has to be a distinct moral dilemma where I can believe that a person had no alternative. One reason I like writing mysteries is that it’s not just about who committed the major crime, but what you discover about all of the other characters under the pressure of investigation. We all have things we’d rather not have made public; it might not be something seriously wrong but just jolly embarrassing. You don’t want to walk down Main Street with no clothes on. The question becomes, Will you lie to protect those you love? There’s always the temptation to evade the truth, fudge it, not to admit to something embarrassing. How honest will we be, how brave? What happens to our integrity when we’re pushed to the edge of admitting something embarrassing? Also, how will we deal with disillusion? Do we blame everyone else? Maybe we expected something unfair of someone and now must face the truth. So I’d say it’s conflict and what we discover about the whole cast. And it must be believable. In the end, saying “He’s mad” is not an answer. And I’m very bored with “He did it for the money.” It’s been done so many times. I’m also tired of detectives who are social misfits."
The William Monk stories, I have read thus far, express articulately and honestly a reflection of her stated values. The truth contained still lives in families today.

[Robin · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am unable to put into words my disgust and anger in the story. The author has done little to none in the area of research for the time period, English Law, social structure and least of all into the viability of the story. Pages drag on without progression of the story, and the same information is repeated numerous times throughout, for no purpose other than to extend the book itself. Complete waste of time.

[800£Chimneypiece · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5
The repetitiveness of the first two thirds (and the boring scenes of Monk trying following the few memories he has) were balanced by the last third of the book with its very gripping court scenes

[The Library Lady · Rating 4 out of 5]

Set 40 years before the Pitt books, the William Monk books are frequently darker and grittier than that series, and it it is in this book that some of the ugliest aspects of life among the well to do begin to show up. Here too is one of the earliest dramatic courtroom endings Perry specializes in.

[Pam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating story. The final conclusions are discovered in a court room. And then the story ends. It seems to be the author's style to just end the book. . But really nothing else needs to be written, she leaves it to the readers imagination.

[Frank · Rating 4 out of 5]

No spoilers.
Another solid mystery from Perry in the William Monk series.
Here an esteemed General meets his death at an elegant London dinner party.
Who could have killed this man and why??
Many surprises ans shocks along the way.

[Gina Boyd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Talk about courtroom drama! I literally sat here for two hours with a cat on my lap and didn’t move while it all played out!!