The Face of a Stranger

A man wakes in a Victorian London hospital after an accident on the street, alive but with no memory of his life. He is told his name is William Monk and that he is a police detective. His reflection shows a face women would like, though he suspects people have feared him more than they have loved him.

On returning to work, Monk is handed a sensational case: the brutal murder of Major the Honourable Joscelin Grey, a Crimean war hero and popular man about town. Grey was killed in his rooms in Mecklenburgh Square. His high rank means any police inquiry must dig into the private affairs of a noble family, and a misstep could finish the investigator who makes it.

Monk cannot tell friend from enemy. His superior, Runcorn, is wily and may be hoping he will fail. Every colleague and acquaintance knows a man Monk cannot remember being.

This is a historical detective novel and the first to present Investigator William Monk. It follows two searches at once: one for a killer among the gentry, the other for Monk's own past. The mood is tense and suspicious, and the clues he turns up lead toward answers about himself that he dreads to find.