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Defend and Betray

Audiobook
2 of 2 copies available
2 of 2 copies available
After a brilliant military career, esteemed General Thaddeus Carlyon finally meets his death, not in the frenzy of battle but at an elegant London dinner party. His demise appears to be the result of a freak accident, but the general's beautiful wife, Alexandra, readily confesses that she killed him—a story she clings to even under the threat of the noose.
Investigator William Monk, nurse Hester Latterly, and 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, these there sleuths inch toward the dark and appalling heart of the mystery.
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    • Publisher's Weekly

      August 31, 1992
      In Perry's third mystery set in Victorian London, military hero Thaddeus Carlyon falls from the top of a staircase and is impaled on a suit of armor below--an ignoble end to a distinguished career and a definite damper to the dinner party he had been attending. When his death turns out to be a murder, his wife takes sole responsibility and is quickly arrested. But Carlyon's sister believes the widow innocent and enlists the help of her friend Hester Latterly, a nurse, who soon brings in her associates from The Face of a Stranger and A Dangerous Mourning : barrister Oliver Rathbone and troubled former policeman, amnesia victim and dogged investigator Thomas Monk. The quietly feminist Latterly, the gentlemanly Rathbone and the seemingly cold Monk (who discovers hidden aspects of himself as readily as he does clues) advance the narrative in tandem. Unobtrusively creating a richly detailed period atmosphere, Perry leads readers gradually through a case involving Carlyon's traumatized son and vengeful daughter, revealing social and moral nuances in the grand tradition of the Victorian novel--even though the finale relies on a plot device badly overused in current crime fiction.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Perry's third entry in her Inspector Monk/Hester Latterly series (set in 1850's London) finds the pair investigating the murder of a military hero. His wife has freely confessed, but there's more to this tragedy than surface appearances indicate. Davina Porter's narration employs a variety of accents (of geography, as well as social class) and is as richly textured and complex as Perry's engrossing story. Perry's stories immerse the reader in the period, and Porter enhances this experience through her attention to vocal characterization. Listeners looking for detailed plotting, authentic period detail and superb narration will find it all here. M.A.M. Winner of AUDIOFILE Earphones Award (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine

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  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

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  • English

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