Funeral in Blue

Two women are found strangled in the studio of a well-known London artist: an obscure model and Elissa Beck, wife of distinguished Viennese surgeon Dr. Kristian Beck. When Beck swiftly becomes the prime suspect, his colleague Hester Monk — who admires him deeply — joins her husband William and their friend Lady Callandra Daviot in a desperate parallel investigation to find the truth before Beck hangs. Anne Perry's twelfth William Monk novel moves between London's social strata with its characteristic moral precision.

Ralph Lister brings a refined, Victorian authority to the narration that suits Perry's world of drawing rooms and courtrooms, his voice carrying the weight of the period's formal speech patterns without becoming stiff. At nearly fourteen hours, the production sustains the investigation's emotional stakes — particularly the strain placed on Hester by her loyalty to both husband and colleague — with consistent attention to character. A gripping entry in one of historical mystery's finest series.