Corridors of the Night

Hester Monk is filling in for a nursing friend at the hospital when she is waylaid by a young girl.  The girl takes her to her brother who she claims is dying.  Hester administers water through the night to the lad and he seems to recover somewhat.  But, why are children in a soldiers' hospital?

Later, an older man comes in suffering from the white blood disease.  Hester is asked to serve as his nurse.  She is surprised to see that the doctor and his brother, a chemist are putting blood into the patient.  She realises that it has come from the young lad that she had helped earlier.  Will it help the patient?

Meantime, Hester's husband, William, is working on the river to break up a gun smuggling gang.  During the battle with the gunrunners, his mentor is killed.  Exhausted, Monk returns home, but Hester is not there, nor is she the following morning.  When he enquires at the hospital, he is told that she suddenly left.

Monk begins to search for Hester and fear that her life may be in danger.  He discovers that the patient, her daughter, the children and the chemist have all disappeared.  After discovering where Hester might be, Monk and some friends set out to retrieve her and the children.  Although Monk and his team manages to rescue Hester and the children, a court case looms now.  The chemist is charged with kidnapping, but can Oliver Rathbone prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Hester did not go willingly?

Other questions arise after the court case.  Is blood transfusion safe? Why does it save some and not others?  Why was the daughter of the first patient murdered and by whom?  Blood typing and transfusions wouldn't be successful until 1901.  Author Anne Perry has written a novel that shows how medicine and the courts must have struggled with the new concepts.  An entirely enjoyable read.