Book Review--The Sins of the Wolf by Anne Perry

The Sins of the Wolf 

When I was reading this book (my seventh in the “Monk” series) I hardly realized what the title was—because I was reading it on my Kindle.  However, when I finished, I recognized that the title of the book was ingenious.  Anne Perry is so clever and such a good thinker and writer.  So, one must ask: “who was the wolf?” and “what were the sins?”  The title may be a biblical reference to Jeremiah 5:6—and also an allusion to Dante’s Inferno.  Dante, in his epic poem, uses a she-wolf as a metaphor for sins of uncertain symbolism during his walk through hell. And, at the end of this book, Monk names them. 

The main character is Hester Latterly.  She is on her way to Edinburgh to escort an elderly woman on a return train trip to London.  She arrives at the Farraline house and spends one day with her patient Mary’s family, which includes two daughters and two sons-in-law, two sons and one daughter-in-law, and also the brother of her dead husband.  Some reviewers have complained about all the characters but that’s because they haven’t read carefully enough.

After reading six previous Monk books, I have come to know Hester as if she was part of my family.  And, I must admit I became very uneasy when she was falsely accused of murdering, Mary Farraline, as they were returning to London from Edinburgh.  At first it was thought that Mary died of natural causes, but later after autopsy, it was found that she died of an overdose of her own digitalis heart medicine innocently administered by Hester. 

Previous to her arrest Hester goes to see her friend, Lady Callandra Daviot, and while looking for pins for her hair, she discovers a gray pearl and diamond brooch belonging to Mrs. Farraline in her own bag.  She immediately goes to see her friend and barrister, Oliver Rathbone, for advice but on her return to Callandra’s, she is arrested for theft and taken to jail—later to be accused of murder.

Monk is immediately dispatched to Edinburgh by Oliver to dig up evidence against Mary’s family members as only they had access to her medicine case and her jewelry box.  Monk deviously gets to know the family, but doesn’t find anything that will help Hester.  In the meantime, she is suffering in prison and seems to be losing hope. 

Oliver learns that Hester will have to stand trial in Edinburgh.  Callandra hires an experienced and well-known Scottish barrister, James Argyll, to defend her with Rathbone as an advisor.  Anne Perry is brilliant when it comes to describing the trial, word for word.  I especially liked the testimony of Florence Nightingale whose reputation was “second only to the Queen herself.”  And, Hester’s testimony was the epitome of a woman of character and honesty.  At the end of the trial, Hester is released but is not judged innocent. 

Thus, Monk continues to look for the person or persons who murdered Mary Farraline. Each member of her family is suspect, but after a perilous journey and a close call for both himself and Hester, the case is solved.  I enjoyed getting to know the characteristics, both good and bad, of each member of the Farraline family including their dead father.  And, Monk finally realizes that he is strongly involved in friendship with Hester although he doesn’t consider it love.  You will like the descriptions of England and Scotland.  The actual place where Anne Perry lives is referred to in this story.  And I enjoy reading about the Victorian era.  Perry always includes bits of actual history such as the tale of Burke and Hare, two Irishmen who sold corpses that were used to study anatomy, and of course, the Crimean war where Hester served under Florence Nightingale.

So, have fun and try to solve the mystery.