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About the Book

About the Book

Acceptable Loss: A William Monk Novel

“Give her a good murder and a shameful social evil,” The New York Times Book Review once declared, “and Anne Perry can write a Victorian mystery that would make Dickens’s eyes pop.” And Perry’s new William and Hester Monk story, a mesmerizing masterpiece of innocence and evil on London’s docks, outshines all her previous novels in this successful and beloved series.

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?

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’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’s most respected men.

To a superlative degree, ACCEPTABLE LOSS 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.

Acceptable Loss: A William Monk Novel
by Anne Perry

  • Publication Date: August 21, 2012
  • Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Mystery
  • Paperback: 336 pages
  • Publisher: Ballantine Books
  • ISBN-10: 0345510615
  • ISBN-13: 9780345510617