This introduces us to William Monk, a detective with the police in London of 1856. After recovering from a serious accident in a carriage, he finds he has lost his memory. He is assigned to investigate the brutal murder of an aristocratic Crimean war hero and in the process finds out more of his own past – and is terrified of what he sees. Did he commit this crime himself? During his investigations he meets Hester Latterly, a forthright young woman of middle class, who nursed with Florence Nightingale in Crimea...

Inspector William Monk has his hands full when an aristocrat’s daughter is stabbed to death in her own bed.  His efforts are hamstrung by his own amnesia and the ineptitude of his superior, who would love to see him fail.  With Hester’s help, he unravels the shocking truth... and learns more about his own past.

Although esteemed General Thaddeus Carlyon meets his death in a freak accident at home, his beautiful wife, Alexandra, confesses that she killed him.  Monk, with the help of Hester and the brilliant counsel for the defence, Oliver Rathbone, work feverishly to break down the wall of silence raised by the accused and her husband’s proud family, culminating in a dramatic court room scene....

Prudence Barrymore, a talented nurse who had worked with Florence Nightingale in the Crimea, is found strangled to death in a London Hospital.  While Monk investigates, Hester takes a job at the hospital to learn more behind the scenes.  He discerns the shadow of a tragic evil and more of his own murky past, and some unsavoury truths are revealed in the courtroom...

Hester’s job is to accompany the elderly and infirm Scottish lady, Mrs Mary Farraline, on a train journey to London.  However, the elderly woman dies during the night and post mortem examination reveals a lethal dose of medicine.  Hester is charged with murder and faces the gallows.  Monk must find the calculating killer amongst the prominent and coolly unassailable Farraline clan and barrister Olive Rathbone can only sit on the sidelines as this case is heard before a judge in Edinburgh, where Scottish law rules....

In his family life, Angus Stonefield had been gentle and loving; in business, a man of probity; and in his relationship with his twin brother, Caleb, a saint.  Now Angus is missing and the depraved Caleb is suspected of killing him.  Monk must find the body and discover the means and the motive for murder – and the missing murderer’s whereabouts.  The more he investigates the more bizarre the twists and turns become...

It had been twenty years since Countess Zorah Rostova’s countryman Prince Friedrich abdicated his throne to marry a woman who was an unacceptable consort.  Now the Prince is dead and Countess Zora claims that Princess Gisela murdered him, but cannot produce a scrap of evidence to this accusation – and neither can Monk or Hester.  But as events unfold it seems that the most likely suspect is the Countess herself...

In sunless Water Lane, respected solicitor Leighton Duff is found, kicked and beaten to death.  Beside him lies the barely living body of his son, Rhys.  The police cannot fathom these brutal assaults until Monk uncovers a connexion between them and a series of rapes and beatings of local prostitutes.  Then shockingly, it begins to appear that young Rhys may have killed his own father...

In a sensational breach of promise suit, two wealthy social climbers are suing on behalf of their beautiful daughter, Zillah.  The defendant is Zillah’s alleged fiancé, brilliant architect Killian Melville, who adamantly declares that he cannot and will not marry her.  Melville’s counsel, Oliver Rathbone, enlists the help of Monk and Hester and the court case ends in a tragic outcome that no-one could have foreseen.....

A young groom enlists private investigator William Monk to track down his fiancée, Miriam Gardiner, who disappeared suddenly from a party at a luxurious Bayswater mansion.  But Monk soon finds the coach in which Miriam fled and nearby, the murdered body of the coachman.  There is no trace of Miriam.  Monk and Hester, newly married, chase down the clues as to why Miriam would run away from a marriage that promised so much...