First, I want to say that I now know where the television detective Adrian Monk got his name. His last name, anyway. A private detective named William Monk is the protagonist is many of her novels. He’s a very popular character, especially in England, and Anne Perry is a very popular writer, again, especially in England. But she has quite a few fans “across the pond,” too.

In Slaves of Obsession, Monk dines with Daniel Alberton, who sells, among other things, guns. He has a reputation for having the best product at reasonable rates. He is also known to be a man of honor; it is very important to him that those who deal with him know his word is his bond.

This is set just before and during the Civil War. Philo Trace from the Confederacy has already made a deal for the guns and paid half up front. He is a highly likable character, whatever you may think of his stance on slavery. Then Lyman Breedlove from the Union shows up. He wants to buy the guns and thinks it is obvious that, since his cause is the righteous one, he should get them. He is very difficult to like, even if you admire his cause. He does everything he can to persuade Alberton to refund Trace’s money and sell him the guns. So does his 16-year-old daughter, Merrit, 16 years old and full of idealistic fervor. But Alberton will not break his word.

Then Alberton turns up dead, the guns are stolen, and Breedlove heads back to America with Merrit in tow. The assumption is that Breedlove is the guilty party and the hope is that Merrit went with him willingly and is unharmed.

To Breedlove and Merrit, The Cause is all that matters. Honor means little to them if it does not serve The Cause. But is there ever one cause that is truly the right one? Mrs. Alberton says, “I am not sure if there is anything entirely without contention. Even if you were to sell tin baths or turnips, I daresay there would be someone on your doorstep declaring your demands were unrighteous and prejudicial to someone else’s livelihood.” Amen, sister!

Anyway, Monk and his wife Hester go to America to find Merrit and bring her home, preferably Breedlove, as well. Hester is a nurse and has experience in war zones in the Crimea, so she pitches in when the war starts in America  This was one of the most important parts of the book to me  Through Hester and Merrit, Ms. Perry paints a gruesome picture of what a war zone is like. Idealism is a large part of what has sustained both the north and the south, and it is torn to pieces by the reality. Most of us are so removed from battle that we have no ideal what it’s really like. And I’m not saying that’s bad. But I think having at least a glimpse of what these people go through is a very good idea.

The Monks do find Merrit and Breedlove and bring them back to England. On the way, they pass through other battle sites and they come across a man whose injuries will kill him. Hester knows that, but she can’t move on. She stops and does what she can to at least make him comfortable. Why? “It was not always the success that made it bearable; it was the ability to try.”

Finding Merrit and Breedlove and bringing them back is the easy part. The rest of the book is dedicated to figuring out what really did happen, since it quickly becomes clear it could not, in fact, have been Breedlove.

Now, this may have been covered in earlier novels, but all I know is that Monk had some sort of horrendous accident that left him with no memory of his life up to that point. Five years ago, he got the kind of fresh start in life we all fantasize about from time to time. But in the course of his search for the murderer, he discovers that he used to be a pretty nasty guy. People he did business with were afraid of him, but he doesn’t know why or what he did. He does figure out that he himself worked with slavers in his forgotten past. Seeing him wrestle with that is painful, especially since he does not know how his wife will react to this news. It brings up an interesting conundrum. Are you still who you were, even though you are clearly not behaving as that person now? Or is there such a thing as a new lease on life?

You should read this book just to learn who Monk is. It’s a somewhat slow read, but worth the time.