Anne Perry builds her novels as solidly as the Houses of Parliament, taking us into the exclusive boudoirs and withdrawing rooms of London's Victorian gentry, into the quarters of their servants and the schoolrooms of their children. Now, she continues her critically acclaimed Inspector Monk mystery series with a splendid evocation of England's nineteenth-century legal justice system. Defend and Betray will please enthusiastic Perry fans and everyone who loves courtroom drama.After a brilliant military career, bravely serving crown and country in India, esteemed General Thaddeus Carlyon finally meets death, not in the frenzy of battle, but at an elegant London dinner party. In a bizarre incident that shocks aristocratic London. General Carlyon is killed in what first appears to be a freak accident. But the General's beautiful wife, Alexandra, readily confesses that she killed him - a story she clings to even under the shadow of the gallows.Investigator Thomas Monk, nurse Hester Latterly, and brilliant Oliver Rathbone, counsel for the defense, work feverishly to break down the wall of silence raised by the accused and her husband's proud family; and with the trial only days away they inch toward the dark and appalling heart of the mystery. The final act is a courtroom masterpiece, through which we dare not breathe too deeply, lest the precarious balance of a woman's life be lost. Read Less