On 2008-06-15 Michael K. Smith, Gonzales, Louisiana wrote: This is one of more emotionally draining of the William Monk novels, set in London in 1861. It´s also more melodramatic than most, even for Perry. The case this time concerns Dr. Kristian Beck, close friend and colleague of Hester Monk and Lady Calandra Daviot, whose wife, Elissa, is murdered at an artist´s studio, together with one of the models. It turns out she was a compulsive gambler (one of the social themes this time around) and Kristian, being responsible for her debts, was on the brink of bankruptcy -- an excellent motive. The story goes deeply into the couple´s background in Vienna during the heady revolutionary days of 1848 (a period Perry has also mined in her longer-running Thomas and Charlotte Pitt series), into the nature of Germanic anti-Semitism, and the tragedies that may be caused by jealousy. And Monk gets to add to his growing globe-trotting experience with a couple of weeks in Vienna. There are some weak points, of course: The author repeats herself far too often in describing Elissa´s ethereal beauty. And also Monk´s continuing anguish over his still mostly unknown past. Also, several of the characters whom the reader identifies at the beginning as being potential culprits are left to fade away. And the final solution is somewhat unsatisfying in its lack of passion. Still, the interpersonal relationships are generally quite well done -- especially between Monk and his old Nemesis, Runcorn, who seem to be on a verge of a rapprochement.. And summed up by saying One of the best in several volumes of the series. Currently Funeral in Blue has an overall rating of 6 over 10.
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Fawcett claimed In her haunting new Victorian novel, Anne Perry brings to rich and passionate life the city that she has made her own. Once more she shares the intimacy of London´s opulent drawing rooms and guides readers through gaslit thoroughfares that echo with hooves on cobblestones, the cries of street vendors, the shouts of newsboys reporting the headlines . . . of two beautiful women found strangled in the studio of a well-known London artist. One of the victims is the wife of Hester Monk´s colleague, surgeon Dr. Kristian Beck, a Viennese emigre who swiftly becomes the principal suspect. Now investigator William Monk and his wife seek evidence to save Beck from the hangman, hoping to penetrate not only the mystery of Elissa Beck´s death, but the riddle of her life. . . .From the Hardcover edition.
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