Detective William Monk wakes up in a hospital and suffers from amnesia after meeting an accident. At the same time, he is in a middle of a crime investigation. He tries to piece his past and the crimes almost simultaneously until he remembers an event that would possibly put him as a murder suspect
A very intense plot involving two story arcs that do merge. The first is about a missing widow, Miriam Gardiner, who has vanished on the day that she is celebrating her engagement to young Lucius Stourbridge. Missing along with her is the family coachman along with the carriage and horses. When the man is found with his head bashed in, suspicions fall on Miriam, being the last person to see him alive, but when Lucius' mother is found in her bedroom with her head crushed, Miriam is arrested. And she appears doomed to hang -- for she will say nothing in her defense. In a parallel tale, Hester is continuing to volunteer at the hospital but her attempts to modernize the care for patients and nurses' training is halted by a bureaucratic director. Then she finds out that one of the nurses is stealing morphine. Does Hester turn her in, or will she try to find the real truth? It's a fairly good novel, and has a nicely complex plot, but the reason why this didn't get five stars was that I was able to figure out who did the killing early on. I hate it when that happens. Overall four stars and a recommendation. Oh yes -- Hester and Monk have finally married.
For the longer review, please go here:
http://www.epinions.com/review/Anne_Perry_The_Twisted_Root_epi/content_642647887492
Eighth in the William Monk series by Anne Perry, and I have to say, it's a good one. Starting in January 1860, two men are found in St. Giles, one of London's most notorious slums,. One is Leighton Duff, a respected business man, and the other is Rhys, his son. Both have been very badly beaten, and while Leighton is dead, Rhys is still clinging to life. Hester Latterly is brought to the Duff home to nurse Rhys back to health, but there is a serious problem -- Rhys is mute from the experience...
On the other side of London, William Monk has been hired by Vida Hopgood, a sweatshop owner, to discover who it is that is raping and beating her employees. The rapists are no respecter of age -- two little girls are among the victims, and the residents of the Seven Dials would be more than happy to take matters into their own hands ...
I did like this one. While the subject matter is certainly awful enough, Perry cleverly doesn't over focus on it, but instead on the hypocritical attitude that Victorians had about women and social class. And there's also quite a bit about poverty and the horrendous conditions of London's poor. On a personal level, Hester and Monk keep up their running battle of words, Sir Oliver is apparently courting Hester, and a good deal of the cause for Monk's animosity towards Runcorn is revealed.
This one gets a hearty four stars from me along with a recommend. Fans of the series should find this one worth the trouble to read.
Another entry in Perry's William Monk series. This time it's a case of a missing man, his notorious brother in the London underworld, and a typhoid epidemic. Not quite up to par with the other novels, but still fairly good. Unfortunately, I was able to figure out what was really going on about a third of the way through, which made the rest of the story feel anticlimatic, but it's still a good read. Four stars overall. 
A very enjoyable entry in the William Monk series. While there was some problems -- I figured out who the murderer was within the first fifty pages -- where this one works is the why someone is so callously disposed of. This time, one of the main characters of the series, Hester Latterly, is accused of murdering a client. The story moves from London to Edinburgh and with all sorts of twists and turns. I give this one five stars despite the flaws. Recommended. 
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