The Twisted Root (William Monk Novels)

Victorian-era private detective William Monk returns as he and his new wife, Hester, investigate the mysterious disappearance of Miriam Gardiner, who vanishes from a croquet party at the sumptuous estate of her future in-laws, leaving behind the body of a murdered coachman. Read by Simon Jones. Simultaneous.

Read by Simon Jones
3 cassettes / approx. 5 hours

In a stunning feat of the imagination, Anne Perry brings to life the lost world of England's Victorian Age.  Hoofbeats clatter on cobblestones, gaslight glimmers through fog, and in the exclusive privacy of elegant drawing rooms, powerful men and women once again live the splendor and the shame of that matchless era.  With The Twisted Root, Perry holds us rapt with a chilling story of love, betrayal, and consummate evil.

As private investigator William Monk listens to young Lucius Stourbridge plead for help in tracking down his runaway fiancee, he feels a sense of heavy foreboding.  Miriam Gardiner disappeared suddenly from a croquet party at the luxurious mansion of her in-laws-to-be, and has not been seen since.  Monk finds the coach in which Miriam had fled and, nearby, the murdered body of the coachman.  There is no trace of Miriam.

What could have driven the beautiful widow to abandon the prospect of a loving marriage and financial abundance?  Monk's attempt to answer that question proves a challenge, as Miriam Gardiner's fateful flight ends in a London courtroom where barrister Oliver Rathbone wages an uphill battle to absolve her from a charge of murder.  And in a race with the hangman, Monk and clever nurse Hester Latterly--themselves now newlyweds--desperately pursue the elusive truth...and an unknown killer whose malign brilliance they have scarcely begun to fathom.