Pre-release Review of 'Dark Tide Rising' by Anne Perry

Anne Perry has a wonderful gift, pulling us into whatever century and location that she has set her tale. Dark Tide Rising is no different. Set in Victorian England, we continue to follow William Monk as he is drawn into the kidnapping of a wealthy man's wife. Still deeply impacted by his own wife, Hester's kidnapping, he does not hesitate in the least when long-time friend and attorney, Sir Oliver Rathbone, comes to him and requests his assistance in retrieving his wife Kate after her kidnap from a riverbank where she had been walking with her cousin. Harry Exeter is a wealthy man, clearly distraught over the kidnapping and more than willing to turn over the exorbitant ransom that has been demanded. Feeling a kinship, Monk agrees and assembles a team of his best men from the River Police to assist him. Among them, John Hooper, an ex-Merchant Seaman, now Monk's second in command, who later finds himself attracted to Kate's cousin, Celia Darwin, in his regular contacts with her for background in unraveling the case. Monk's team, with Exeter follows all of the kidnappers demands to the letter to retrieve Kate from Jacob's Island, but all are attacked as they near her location, the money taken and Kate is found slashed to death. Monk is horrified and dismayed as he witnesses Exeter's keening over Kate and vows to bring the killers to justice. Monk must explore all angles, including the possibility that one of his own men may be involved, and is closing in on the kidnappers when one turns up dead in a boat, his throat slashed, and a young woman who has vital and damning financial information is murdered before Monk's meeting with her. Is he looking in the right direction? Who on his team would possibly betray them? The only certainty is that it's all about the money.