Acceptable Loss (William Monk)

#x1C;Give her a good murder and a shameful social evil,#x1D; <i>The New York Times Book Review</i> once declared, #x1C;and Anne Perry can write a Victorian mystery that would make Dickens#x19;s eyes pop.#x1D; And Perry#x19;s new William and Hester Monk story, a mesmerizing masterpiece of innocence and evil on London#x19;s docks, outshines all her previous novels in this successful and beloved series.<br /> <br /> When the body of a small-time crook named Mickey Parfitt washes up on the tide, no one grieves; far from it. But William Monk, commander of the River Police, is puzzled by the expensive silk cravat used to strangle Parfitt. How did this elegant scarf-whose original owner was obviously a man of substance-end up imbedded in the neck of a wharf rat who richly deserved his sordid end?<br /> <br /> Dockside informers lead Monk to what may be a partial answer-a floating palace of corruption on the Thames managed by Parfitt, where a captive band of half-starved boys are forced to perform vile acts for men willing to pay a high price for midnight pleasures. Although Monk and his fearless wife, Hester, would prefer to pin a medal on Parfitt#x19;s killer, duty leads them in another direction-to an unresolved crime from the past, to blackmail and more murder, and to a deadly confrontation with some of the empire#x19;s most respected men.<br /> <br /> To a superlative degree, <i>Acceptable Loss</i> provides colorful characters, a memorable portrait of waterfront life, and a story that achieves its most thrilling moments in a transfixed London courtroom, where Monk faces his old friend Oliver Rathbone in a trial of nearly unbearable tension-in sum, every delectable drop of the rich pleasure that readers expect from an Anne Perry novel.