 |
| William Monk | |
|---|---|
| First appearance | The Face of a Stranger |
| Created by | Anne Perry |
| In-universe information | |
| Gender | Male |
| Occupation | Police detective |
| Nationality | British |
Inspector William Monk is a fictional character created by the writer Anne Perry and hero of a series of books.
Monk was born in Northumberland shortly before the accession of Queen Victoria, the son of a fisherman. Before he joined the police, Monk worked as a banker under Arroll Dundas, who became Monk's mentor and taught him how to behave and dress like a gentleman. When Dundas was wrongly convicted of railway fraud, Monk decided he would never again be so powerless against injustice and became a policeman. He was ruthlessly ambitious and quickly climbed the career ladder—while making many enemies along the way.
He had a coach accident in 1856, after which he lost his memory—a fact he kept secret to save his job. After the accident he met Hester Latterly, a Crimean War nurse and they became close. Only Latterly knew about Monk's memory issues.
In the second book, A Dangerous Mourning, Monk was fired from the police force for insubordination and became a private investigator. Lady Callandra Daviott (Hester's best friend) financed his private investigations. Sir Oliver Rathbone was his love rival (he too wanted to marry Hester) and judicial adviser in his case.
In "Dark Assassin," Monk joined the Thames River Police to pay a debt to a friend who died on a previous case. Although he finds the shift from street policing to river policing difficult, he earns the respect of his men and continues on in this position.