Blood on the Water

William Monk and his comrade, Orme, are on the Pool of London when suddenly a pleasure boat experiences an explosion in its bow, and rapidly sinks.  They are able to save six survivors before they needed to head to shore.  Monk and Orme are convinced it was sabotage.  The morning after, Monk is relieved of the investigation when the commissioner of the London Metropolitan Police, Sir John Lydiate is put in charge by the Home Office because there were a number of important foreign dignitaries on board.

London is jubilant when an Egyptian is arrested for the crime.  Hester, Monk's wife, is shocked to see that the judge in the case is an old enemy of their friend, Oliver Rathbone.  It seems that the evidence is insurmountable and the man is found guilty and held over to be hung.  However, a short time later the sentence is commuted to life in prison.  Many people are upset as a result, including Monk's River Police, who feel that they could have done a better job of investigating.

Monk and Orme begin their own investigation into the explosion, and it doesn't take long to find contradictions.  The information that Monk has is passed on to Lydiate.  Shortly after that Monk is called to the office of Lord Osset, where he recounts what he has learned.  Osset then tells him to reopen the case.  Hester and their adopted son, Scuff, decide to secretly help with the investigation.

One of the things that Monk discovers while reading through the police reports is that there seems to have been some political interference.  Then an attempt is made on his life, so Hester decides to take a little action of her own.  Shortly afterwards, a new suspect is arrested.  People are up in arms, that possibly an innocent man could have been hung.  Everyone awaits the new trial.

However, Monk wants to get to the people behind the plot because he is sure that the new suspect acted simply for the money he could earn.  Monk and Hester's friend, Oliver Rathbone is going to be helping, Brancaster, the crown prosecutor.  Unimpressed by the way the case is going, Hester sets out to gather further evidence.

Once again, author Anne Perry has written an extremely good Victorian murder mystery, a book the reader will be hard pressed to put down.