Hester Latterly is a main character of

Anne Perry Anne Perry (born Juliet Marion Hulme; 28 October 1938) was convicted of murder in New Zealand when a teenager, later moved to England and became an author. In 1954, at the age of fifteen, she and her 16-year-old friend Pauline Parker were tried ...

's ''Monk'' detective series. She is a nurse by trade who served with

Florence Nightingale Florence Nightingale (; 12 May 1820 – 13 August 1910) was an English Reform movement, social reformer, statistician and the founder of modern nursing. Nightingale came to prominence while serving as a manager and trainer of nurses during t ...

in the Crimea. Upon her return home in 1856 she finds her family in a shambles and meets

William Monk 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 Victorian era, accession of Queen Victoria, the son of a fisherman. Before he jo ...

who is investigating a crime related to her family. Her inquisitive nature eventually allows her to help Monk in his investigations, despite annoying him at first. After trying to work in a free hospital, she is fired for insubordination and takes to private nursing clients. After this, with the help of her friend Callandra Daviot, she opens a clinic for injured and sick prostitutes in the Central London slums. She marries William Monk 4 years after they meet. They have no children yet, but have adopted a '

mudlark A mudlark is someone who scavenges in river mud for items of value, a term used especially to describe those who scavenged this way in London during the late 18th and 19th centuries. The practice of searching the banks of rivers for items cont ...

' named Scuff.

References

Literary characters introduced in 1990 {{tv-char-stub