A Sudden, Fearful Death

By: Anne Perry

Narrated by: Davina Porter

In a London hospital, Prudence Barrymore, a talented nurse who had once been one of Florence Nightingale’s angels of mercy in the Crimean War, meets sudden death by strangulation. Private inquiry agent William Monk is engaged to investigate this horrific crime—which intuition tells him was no random stroke of violence by a madman.

Greatly helped by his unconventional friend Hester Latterly, another of Miss Nightingale’s nurses, and barrister Oliver Rathbone, Monk assembles a portrait of the remarkable woman. Yet he also discerns the shadow of a tragic evil that darkens every level of society, and a frightening glimmer of his own eclipsed past.

©1993 Anne Perry (P)1996 Recorded Books

Critic reviews

"Anne Perry's mysteries, set in Victorian England and featuring William Monk and Hester Latterly, are engrossing....Anne Perry and Davina Porter seem made for each other. Porter reads in a manner that enhances the story and completely immerses the listener in the various characters, no matter what their sex or station in life. She captures the essence of each person's voice as the novel moves from an arrest to a trial and a surprising conclusion" (AudioFile)

A long walk to nowhere

This is a well written book, and I enjoyed listening to it in that "I'm doing something else and I just want my mind occupied" way that I listen when knitting or doing something else. But it didn't engage me at all. (But then again, I'd listen to Davina Porter read the St. Louis phone book and enjoy it!)

Perhaps it was the sketchy-to-be-almost-nonexistent back story on characters I guess I was supposed to already know, or the very tedious women-are-property-DO-YOU-GET-THIS hammer (yes, very true, but once the horse is dead you don't have to beat it over and over in the same book!) but most of all it was the slim mystery and the fact that all the men in the book were very short sighted (what, a woman DOCTOR! Why, how ABSURD - now get back to the fainting couch!)

I would have SO preferred to hear more of the fascinating life that the dead victim must have crafted for herself, a bit about surgical procedures, even a nod to the few women doctors who DID practice in Victorian times. I hadn't expected this to be so predictable - and it took a damned long time getting there!

The characters evolve well

What did you love best about A Sudden, Fearful Death?

Discovering new facets of the characters.

What did you like best about this story?

The reader is, as always, superb.

What about Davina Porter’s performance did you like?

She is beyond reproach in her characterizations.

Good stories, great characters.

Would you consider the audio edition of A Sudden, Fearful Death to be better than the print version?

I love this series. The stories are secondary to the very rich and complex characters Ms. Perry creates. She focuses each story on an aspect of social history in 19th C England, making it very personal. And Davina Porter is a brilliiant interpreter, bringing nuance and clarity to every single character. I have not "read" the books on the page, but I am sure Ms. Porter's reading of them improves an already good story.

Oh, yummy, yummy -- another great Anne Perry

I'm not normallly a fan of Victorian anything, including mysteries. But Anne Perrry is such an incredible writer that I always jump on her latest and can listen to them several times. She is among the best at character development, and her juxtaposition of England's upper and lowest classes, along with those inbetween, is stunning, and usually a strong component of the mystery -- indeed, often of the crimes themselves. Couple Perry's writing with excellent narration and it's no wonder she's much-loved at Audible.

Hypocrisy, Corruption, and Suffocating Patriarchy

Monk, Hester, Lady Callanda, and Barrister Rathbone work together to solve the mystery of a well-respected nurse in a London hospital. The plight of women of all social classes under the extreme strictures of Victorian society takes center stage. Davina Porter superbly narrates this fourth novel in Anne Perry's Monk series. While I love Anne Perry's novels, I would like to know something of how the characters fare after the climax of the story. However, it is left to the reader's imagination.

Complex and compelling

The William Monk series provides a fascinating view into Victorian ethics with a feminist perspective. This particular mystery is distinguished by contrasting current sentiments about a controversial issue with how it was viewed in Victorian times. Endings in the series are abrupt, but as an over-arching goal of the author is to focus on ethics rather than a “comfortable ending,” the sudden terminations do not diminish my interest in completing the entire series.

Enjoying This Series

I discovered the William Monk series while searching for books narrated by Davina Porter. This is the first of the Anne Perry series I have read - I don't usually read novels set in this time period - but am enjoying the characters and stories. (Unfortunately, it appears that several in the series are not available on Audible and that later books have a different narrator. As a Davina Porter fan, it remains to be seen if I will like them as well with another narrator.)

Very Good

I disagree with prior reviewers, I did not find the readers accent or her reading pace to be difficult to hear. I think she is excellent and added very much to my listening experience.

I have read other Anne Perry novels and I liked this one very much. I enjoy her descriptions of Victorian English society and her development of the characters.

I love all her books!

I thoroughly enjoy every book I have ever read or listened to of hers. Davina Porter is my favorite narrator as well.

Another well done novel

Perry has again peppered her compelling plot with characterizations and period color to make a story well worth reading. The dreadful plight of the poor and the blind selfishness of the rich are starkly evident in this novel.