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At the start of Anne Perry's 20th William Monk mystery, a disastrous explosion sinks the Princess Mary, a pleasure boat filled with partygoers. Monk and his colleague Orme are out patrolling on the Thames at the time and witness the event and its tragic aftermath. Although every nearby boat attempts to save the passengers cast into the river, almost 200 drowned, many of them women whose heavy skirts suck up water and pull them under. The Thames itself was polluted and considered poisonous, so swallowing too much of it was also a killer.
As commander of the River Police, Monk believed that he would be charge of discovering who had perpetrated this mass killing. Before he has a chance to investigate, however, the case is reassigned to the regular Metropolitan police, although they do not have the same contacts or understanding of the river and its denizens. Over the course of a too-brief investigation, pressured by those in power and by the outraged public, an Egyptian named Habib Beshara is accused of the crime. This was during the time of the building of the Suez Canal, and the British knew that much resentment existed in Egypt against them. Many Egyptians had lost their lives working on the canal, and it was assumed that the destruction of the boat was in some way an act of revenge, although no real motive is found. Beshara is quickly tried and sentenced to death.
Monk tries to stay away from the case, but his instincts tell him that it has been mishandled. As they have in previous books, both his wife Hester as well as Scruff, the orphan they have been raising, become involved in gathering information about the crime. Monk also seeks the advice of the disgraced lawyer Oliver Rathbone who is more than willing to lend him expertise, if not his person, to solve the mystery of what happened and why. Eventually, after the case has been seriously compromised, Monk is called back to lead a further investigation. He uncovers evidence proving that Beshara was someplace else and could not have set off the explosion. The question of who would have benefited from removing Monk in the first place is also an important one. Finding the answer to this puzzle becomes more urgent as Monk finds his own life threatened.
As is often the case with Anne Perry's novels, the topics she chooses seem to have echoes in our own time. A mass murder is committed and people become both outraged and afraid. As the person who was initially convicted seems to be innocent of the crime, or at least innocent of acting alone, the public also has the fear that they cannot trust the law to protect them. From horrifying start to satisfying conclusion, BLOOD ON THE WATER is a fine addition to the William Monk series.
§ Anne Corey is a writer, poet, teacher and botanical artist in New York's Hudson Valley.
Reviewed by Anne Corey, September 2014
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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