Cody Hoyt, while a brilliant cop, is an alcoholic struggling with two months of sobriety when his mentor and AA sponsor is found burned to death in a remote mountain cabin. When clues found at the scene link the murderer to an outfitter leading tourists on a wilderness trip into the remote corners of Yellowstone National Park --- a pack trip that includes his son --- Cody is desperate to get on their trail and stop the killer.

Cody Hoyt, while a brilliant cop, is an alcoholic struggling with two months of sobriety when his mentor and AA sponsor is found burned to death in a remote mountain cabin. When clues found at the scene link the murderer to an outfitter leading tourists on a wilderness trip into the remote corners of Yellowstone National Park --- a pack trip that includes his son --- Cody is desperate to get on their trail and stop the killer.

This latest installment in Anne Perry’s Victorian crime series finds Commander William Monk returning to a dangerous case that he thought he had left behind. High-stakes murder, conspiracy and dark secrets abound, and no one involved will escape unharmed.

This latest installment in Anne Perry’s Victorian crime series finds Commander William Monk returning to a dangerous case that he thought he had left behind. High-stakes murder, conspiracy and dark secrets abound, and no one involved will escape unharmed.

“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.

While jogging in a park nearby, Dr. Ellie Sullivan witnesses the shooting of an FBI agent in pursuit of wanted criminals, a couple identified as the Landrys. The only person to see the shooter's face, Ellie is suddenly at the center of a criminal investigation. Agent Max Daniels takes over the case --- he’s definitely not the ideal man Ellie always imagined, yet she's attracted to him in a way she can't explain.

While jogging in a park nearby, Dr. Ellie Sullivan witnesses the shooting of an FBI agent in pursuit of wanted criminals, a couple identified as the Landrys. The only person to see the shooter's face, Ellie is suddenly at the center of a criminal investigation. Agent Max Daniels takes over the case --- he’s definitely not the ideal man Ellie always imagined, yet she's attracted to him in a way she can't explain.

Dr. Ellie Sullivan has just completed her residency at a large urban hospital. While jogging in a park nearby, she witnesses the shooting of an FBI agent in pursuit of wanted criminals, a couple identified as the Landrys. The only person to see the shooter's face, Ellie is suddenly at the center of a criminal investigation. 

Agent Max Daniels takes over the Landry case. A no-nonsense lawman, he's definitely not the ideal man that Ellie has always imagined, yet she's attracted to him in a way she can't explain. 

Ellie heads home to Winston Falls, South Carolina, to attend her sister's wedding. Shortly after she arrives, though, she receives a surprise visitor: Max Daniels. The Landrys have been captured, and she'll be called to testify. But they've been captured before, and each time the witnesses are scared into silence --- or disappear before they can take the stand. Max vows to be Ellie's shadow until the trial, and it isn't long before sparks fly.