Corridors of the night by Anne Perry

Hester, Monk, and Scruff their adopted street urchin are back on the case in this latest installment of the William Monk series.  Hester has agreed to take over the night nursing duties of a friend called away on a family emergency. On her first night, she encounters a young girl calling for someone to help her dying brother.  What are children doing in the Royal Naval Hospital? Why does Hester fail to return home after a shift at the hospital? Monk and Scruff call on all their friends to help find out what has happened to Hester.

The first part of the book is a fast paced search for Hester against the backdrop of medical care in post-Crimean War England.  Imagine a time when patients routinely bled to death because doctors didn't know how to give blood transfusions. Perry makes the reader question just how far medical research should go in search of life-saving treatments. As is always the case in the series, the solving of the crime is followed by the court case.  I found this part of the book less interesting and the ending a bit abrupt, as if Perry didn't know how to end the story.  If you like the series, you will enjoy reading about the continuing development of Hester and Monk's family and friends in the Corridors of the Night. 271 pages.

Blood on the Water by Anne Perry

William Monk, Thames River Police Commander, is out on patrol one fine summer night when an explosion rips across the water.  Immediately plunged into rescue work, Monk only later realizes that he saw someone jump off the deck of a pleasure cruise ship seconds before the explosion.  Monk must conduct his own investigation when the case is given over to the Metropolitan Police.  I enjoyed the story but feel that Perry spent a bit too much time rehashing the emotional turmoil experienced by the characters.  They are all traumatized by the 200 lives lost in the explosion and by the botched investigation and trial that follow. There are some satisfying chapters about Scuff, the street urchin that Monk and his wife Hester adopted, and about Oliver Rathbone, their brilliant barrister friend who has been barred from practicing law.  But a bit more action would have improved this installment of the series.    309 pages.