In his first mystery, detective William Monk wakes up in a squalid hospital, his memory shattered after a carriage accident. He manages to hide this fact from his police department, relying on clues like a receipt in his pocket (and the assistance of nurse Hester Latterly) to piece together his sense of self. Edgar Award winner Anne Perry vividly evokes the atmosphere of gas-lit London in the mid-Victorian era, while plumbing psychological depths in her detective's singular mind.

"Gradually, as he begins to solve a much-publicized murder case, Monk's established abilities as an investigator are renewed. As he unravels the case, he also comes to know his own past. [Anne] Perry leads readers to the solutions of the two mysteries with a fine, comfortable style."—School Library Journal