The Face of a Stranger

by Anne Perry

This is the first in the William Monk series by this author.  It is about William Monk, a police detective.  The story opens with Monk being in hospital after being injured in a carriage accident.  He has lost his memory.

A police officer comes to see him and he does not recall he is a police officer, he thinks he is a criminal.  Eventually he recovers enough to go back to work but his memory is still weak.  His boss treats him with disdain, accusing him of being aggressive, egotistical, only interested in progressing in his career.  Monk is very disturbed to see himself characterized in this manner and fears it might be true. The boss assigns him a young assistant and tells him to solve a high profile case that was being investigated by another officer.

A man of a wealthy family has been found viciously beaten in his apartment.  Monk first of all goes to the north of England to meet a sister he doesn't remember.  As he meets the family of the dead man and people who knew the young man they all say that he was liked by everyone... if so why was he murdered.  Monk sees a cane in the umbrella stand at the man's house and it seems to be familiar to him but why.

The caretaker of the building admits seeing someone enter the building on the night of the murder but the guest went to visit a different tenant.

As the story progresses Monk comes to realize that he visited the dead man on the night he died and he fears that he may be a murderer although he can't imagine why he would do it.

Eventually he figures out that the man's brother murdered him in frustration because the young man was accumulating debts and possibly involved with a financial scam that caused families harm and shame.

The book mentions the inheritance rules in England and the class difference issues.  The wealthy people are reluctant to talk to Monk as they consider themselves to be much better than him.

It was an interesting story... I am looking forward to reading the next one in the series to see if he recovers his full memory.