A Dangerous Mourning

A Dangerous Mourning (1991) by Anne Perry — Fawcett Columbine
ISBN: 0804110379
Condition: Used (socially distressed, structurally sound, faintly smelling of respectability and scandal)
Offered with a discreet cough behind a black veil by Crappy Old Books

Welcome to Victorian London, where the smog is thick, the morals are thin, and murder in a respectable household is considered deeply inconvenient for everyone involved. In A Dangerous Mourning, Anne Perry once again proves that nothing says “good morning” like a corpse in a nice house and a family full of people pretending everything is fine.

Inspector William Monk is on the case, which is unfortunate for the sort of people who prefer their reputations intact and their secrets unexamined. Monk, still piecing together his own lost memories, is blessed with a talent for asking questions nobody wants to answer. Add in Hester Latterly—sharp-tongued, opinionated, and utterly done with male nonsense—and you have a duo about as welcome in an aristocratic drawing room as a live rat in the tea tray.

The crime? A brutal murder in a wealthy home. The setting? Heavy drapes, deep carpets, and more hidden tension than a family Christmas. Expect:

• Upper-class ladies who are far more worried about social disgrace than violent death,

• Servants who know far too much and say far too little,

• Brothers, cousins, husbands, and guests, all with rock-solid alibis and wildly suspicious behaviour,

• And the delightful Victorian tradition of blaming anything awkward on “nerves.”

As Monk and Hester dig deeper, mourning becomes less about grief and more about panic. Because the dead woman is not the only thing being quietly buried—there are reputations, secrets, and entire histories at stake. This is a world where appearance is everything, and the truth is something you’d only bring up if you absolutely had to… preferably never.

This particular copy, solemnly retrieved from the atmospheric shelves of Crappy Old Books, is proudly Used. That means:

• The cover may show light scuffs and edge wear, like it has been stuffed into more than one overpacked bag “just in case I get time to read.”

• The spine likely bears one or more creases, each one a record of “I’ll stop after this chapter… oh, maybe one more.”

• The pages are probably gently tanned and softly worn at the corners, with exactly the right mood for reading under a lamp while feeling glad you do not live in 19th-century London.

No missing pages, no mysterious stains on crucial clues, no torn-out final chapter (we would never). Just honest, slightly aged Victorian murder and manners.

Perfect for:

• Fans of historical crime who enjoy their corpses accompanied by social commentary,

• Readers who like detectives with complicated pasts and nurses who refuse to behave,

• Anyone who believes the real mystery is how these people manage to breathe in all those corsets while lying through their teeth.

Place this Used copy of A Dangerous Mourning on your shelf and instantly add a touch of “respectable household with something terribly wrong in it” to the room. Read it in public and let people assume you’re quietly judging modern society through the lens of Victorian homicide.

Take it home, put the kettle on, and let Anne Perry escort you through drawing rooms, servants’ corridors, and inquests where everyone wears black, but very few are truly innocent. After all, in this world, grief may be expected—but honesty? Now that’s dangerous.

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