Execution Dock by Anne Perry

William Monk had, though the patronage of a River Police Commissioner, joined the force. Now, in thanks to the man, Durban, who saved Monk's life at the cost of his own, Monk takes on his last unsolved case, the murder of a young man named Fig by a Sex merchant named Jericho Phillips. Phillips takes young men and keeps them on barges in the Thames where other, richer, older men can use them... for a fee, of course, or simply buy pictures of them.

But while he leads Monk a merry chase, Phillips is eventually caught and dragged before a Judge and jury. But there is another surprise, for the counsel for the defense is Oliver Rathbone, asked by his father-in-law to defend Phillips. The Father-in-Law's reasoning is that the crime Phillips is accused of is so distasteful that he is afraid that another lawyer will do less than his best in defending the man, so he asks Oliver to do it on behalf of another man, who will remain unnamed.

Oliver uses his knowledge of Monk and Hester to give the Jury more than reasonable doubt, and nearly savages their friendship with him. Monk is enraged by the Jury finding Phillips guilty, and vows to revisit the evidence and prove him guilty of something else... something that will either send him to the gallows or send him away for a long, long time in the Prison at Coldbath Fields. Hester, too, feels the same, and looks for information from her own informants at the Clinic she started and runs.

But there, she must encounter Rathbone's wife, who totally supports her husband, and now there is a hint of coldness between the two women. But Hester isn't the only one at the clinic who wants to see Justice dealt to Phillips, and she has the support of most of her staff to help her.

Monk has Orme, his second-in-command, and Scuff, a young vagabond to help him. But Phillips, sneering at Monk because he got off, isn't taking this investigation sitting down. He does everything he can to warn Monk and Hester off, even to insinuating and spreading rumors that Durban was his partner in crime and wanted to take over his business, and that Monk has the same tastes and ambitions.

But Monk goes to see Rathbone, and talks to him, pointing out the motives that the man who paid for Rathbone's defense might have had, which leads Rathbone to do a little detective work of his own. But how can he go against his father-in-law without alienating his wife and destroying their marriage? If his father-in-law was lying about another man paying for the defense, how can he tell his wife that her father likes sexual congress with male children?

When Phillips kidnaps Scuff and attempts to use him as a pawn to get Monk to back off, threatening to use the boy in his business and torture and kill him if Monk doesn't back down, he truly underestimates Monk. Because Monk will move heaven and earth to get Scuff back, and bring Phillips to justice. But will he be doing it on his own this time?

This book is backwards from the usual sort of novel that Ann Perry writes. At the beginning, we get the chase and the trial, and after the trial is over, that's when we get the investigation. If was different to read it that way around, but I rather liked the changeup, as it started the novel on a rush of adrenaline and built from there.

It was also different in that this villain was someone really disgusting and worthy of hatred and scorn. When he threatens to ruin Monk and Hester's reputations, you know this is someone who will do just that. And while the two of them will charge into a physical battle with no fear, the battle for their good name is something else again, and much harder to fight against than someone with a knife or a gun.

I liked this book, and found a good deal to admire in Monk and Hester in this novel. Though they were beaten on the stand by Oliver Rathbone, they decided to go right out again and drum up new evidence. They barely missed a beat. But the hurt to their relationship with Oliver and his wife was well-drawn and well done. I recommend this book highly.