The Way of All Flesh
Edinburgh, 1847. Will Raven, a young obstetrician, cannot believe his good luck. He has beat out the competition and joined the practice of Dr. James Simpson, surgeon to royalty and medical experimenter extraordinaire. Soon, Raven accompanies the famous man on his rounds, but his happiness does not remain undimmed. His mistress is murdered, and before he can uncover the circumstances of her death, other women—their faces twisted and their bodies contorted—are found dead in the poorer parts of the Scottish capital. Raven is aware that medically speaking, he is living through great times; the discovery of chloroform is about to make ether obsolete, and childbirth less dangerous and agonizing. However, the shadow of a cruel serial killer threatens to extinguish the light of medical progress, and Raven must discover who is murdering the women he strives to save. Luckily, Sarah Fisher, Dr. Simpson’s housemaid and a self-taught healer, supports his endeavor. Together, they hunt the villain who seeks to revert the course of modern medical science.
An atmospheric mystery set in the heart of Victorian Scotland, The Way of All Flesh will please the discerning reader. The period detail is beautifully fleshed out and 19th-century Edinburgh vividly described. The descriptions of taverns and brothels, mansions and hovels, physicians’ practices and apothecaries, are compelling; since the doctor’s home forms the center of the story, this novel might be considered to stand in the tradition of gothic fiction. The good protagonists are as loveable, the rogues as hateful as they should be in a work of nostalgic detective fiction. Highly recommended.
