The William Monk Series- Trilogy

Few authors have made Victorian London as engaging and lively as Anne Perry has, and her rich descriptions and charismatic characters have long captivated fans around the world.  Here are Anne Perry's first three classic novels featuring private investigator William Monk:

 

The Face of a Stranger

A Dangerous Mourning

Defend and Betray

 

There are twenty books in Perry's William Monk series.  After reading the first three I am looking forward to the next seventeen.  They should be read in order to fully understand the character development.  Perry takes the suspense of the solution right to the last page!

And did you know... Anne Perry herself is a convicted, sentence served, New Zealand murderer?  Check it out on www.FantasticFiction.com

-Mona

Undaunted Courage

Some years ago Mona told me about this book.  She had read it and knew I would like it too.  But I forgot
about it as time passed. Until we began planning to live on the road. Then I began to read many books about or by those who lived, at least for a time, on the roads, and trails, of the North American continent.

The most impressive thing I found about this book was author Steven Ambrose' style of writing.  Casual, yet precise.  Care in every word to say what he means but also what is true.  This is a book which replaces none of the others written about Lewis, Clark or Jefferson. Instead it informs the reading of all of them.

I won't tell you any of the conclusions Ambrose comes up with  for Lewis' decision to break his little band of Americans up into five tinier bands on the way home, having his own first and only fight with Indians in the process. Or why Lewis never bothered to complete the manuscript for his journals in his lifetime. And I surely don't want to reveal Steven's belief's about the sad suicide of Meriwether Lewis (or was it suicide?).

What I will say is that upon completion of this tale I, like Ambrose, and Lewis and Clark before him and others, want to stand in Lemhi Pass, with one foot in the Missouri and one in the Columbia watershed, and say with these first Americans to do so, "I've done it".

-Ken

Travels with Charley

In 1960 world renowned American author John Steinbeck took a trip of 10,000 miles  to see if his country had changed much at ground level since he had become so well known.  Steinbeck wasn't sure when he began what he would do with all of his notes.  What came out was one of the twentieth centuries most fascinating travelogues. While he seemed not to be ill during his journey, he told others that indeed, he knew he was dying at this time.  If that is so, it only lends poignancy to the personal tale of man and dog searching out roots and finding their way together, perhaps one last time.

I picked up this book in preparation for the journey Mona and I are preparing to take, traveling over the US and Canada as we live out our retirement on the road. While our vehicle will be somewhat more comfortable than Steinbeck's custom made Rosinante, and we have no animals to take with us, we expect to discover nuances of the North american continent wherever we go.

And while Steinbeck mourned the loss of regional identity in 1962, when the book was published (McDonald's was only beginning it's world conquering tour, though Coke was already a standard everywhere) I think we'll find plenty of local color, and wisdom, left now over fifty years later.  America had, and has, much to offer the traveler, and comparing Steinbeck's journey with ours will be a special treat.

-Ken