Happy Friday all!
And to all those that work Monday to Friday, how ready are you for the weekend? What books do you plan reading?
Today I’m reviewing the start of a new series, The Way of All Flesh by Ambrose Parry. The pseudonym for a collaboration between Chris Brookmyre and Marisa Haetzman.
This new crime fiction series is set in Scotland and focuses predominately on medical student Will Raven and housemaid Sarah Fisher, an unlikely sleuthing pair.
Blurb
Edinburgh, 1847. City of Medicine, Money, Murder.
Young women are being discovered dead across the Old Town, all having suffered similarly gruesome ends. In the New Town, medical student Will Raven is about to start his apprenticeship with the brilliant and renowned Dr Simpson.
Simpson’s patients range from the richest to the poorest of this divided city. His house is like no other, full of visiting luminaries and daring experiments in the new medical frontier of anaesthesia. It is here that Raven meets housemaid Sarah Fisher, who recognises trouble when she sees it and takes an immediate dislike to him. She has all of his intelligence but none of his privileges, in particular his medical education.
With each having their own motive to look deeper into these deaths, Raven and Sarah find themselves propelled headlong into the darkest shadows of Edinburgh’s underworld, where they will have to overcome their differences if they are to make it out alive.
Netgalley Review
A slightly gory, but interesting book. Really enjoyed reading this and the history surrounding medicine and childbirth in Edinburgh in the 19th Century. The mystery is also quite surprising!
Star Rating – 4 Stars
I’ve realised that I quite like historical fiction and having a crime fiction set in 1800’s Edinburgh intrigued me. I was not disappointed. I loved the setting, the characters and the immersive descriptions that left you feeling like you were fully enthralled in the dark and foggy streets of Edinburgh.
I throughly enjoyed reading this, filled with history surrounding medicine and childbirth in Edinburgh in the 19th Century and how doctors (in this case Dr Simpson) worked to ease the pain and trauma of childbirth. Be warned though, it’s slightly gory!
The mystery was quite surprising, but that’s the best kind of mystery in my opinion, something that keeps you guessing. The book is full of own little story-lines and subplots and makes for a fun read!
As always, let me know in the comments below if you’ve read the book and what you thought of it. And if you haven’t, will you be adding it to your TBR?
Our First Year Here 