Ambrose Parry

In 1847 Edinburgh, Will Raven, apprentice to Professor of Midwifery James Young Simpson, and housemaid Sarah Fisher look into the death of a friend of Will's and a friend of Sarah's both written off as suicide.

The mystery was a bit predictable at times but the historical background was very well done. The professor was a real person, and his discovery of chloroform as an anaesthetic is one of the events in the book. The descriptions of surgery and obstetric problems without the benefit of anaesthesia, although less graphic than they could be, should convince anyone that the past was not a desirable place to live.… (mere)

A good friend who shares my love of reading told me about this book and said she thought I would like it. She was right!

The Victorian era was pretty scary for anyone needing medical help. Doctors didn't undergo much training and, mostly, learned on the job to the detriment of some of their patients. There was little in the way of pain relief and antibiotics were unknown as penicillin wasn't discovered until 1928. Childbirth was often fatal to either the mother or the child, or both. And, as this book shows, ether was the only anaesthetic in use. This book follows young medical student Will Raven as he apprentices with Dr. James Young Simpson, a renowned obstetrician in Edinburgh, Scotland. Dr. Simpson was one of the earliest advocates of ether use during childbirth and it is mainly Will Raven who administers it. Will has a mysterious background and he is quite poor. His financial situation became even more precarious when he obtained a loan from a loan shark at the behest of his friend, Evie Lawson. Just before he started his apprenticeship Will found Evie dead in her garret and from her contorted limbs it seems she died in great pain. Evie's death haunts Will even though the police characterized her as just "another deid hoor". Then he sees another young woman similarly contorted in death and this victim was a maid known to the maid in Simpson's house, Sarah Fisher. Soon, Will and Sarah are teamed up to investigate these deaths. Dr. Simpson is determined to find another anaesthetic and he and his associates often sit around after dinner trying out chemical concoctions. When Simpson obtains a sample of choroform and it knocks all of the men out for overnight, he realizes he has found his treasure. Will wasn't part of the group that night but he came back to the house to find all of the others lying around the dining room table. Will has other dangers to face. The loan shark that he borrowed the money from wants to be paid and he has sent enforcers a number of times to rough Will up. Between avoiding these men and looking for whoever is administering poison to young pregnant women, Will hardly dares to show his face in parts of Edinburgh. Luckily, the intelligent and resourceful Sarah is persuaded to stick by him. If they occasionally succumb to their physical attraction to each other, who can blame them?

Interestingly, the author is actually a husband and wife team. Chris Brookmyre has written a numbr of mysteries on his own but I haven't read any of them. Dr. Marisa Haetzman is a consultant anesthetist and it was her research for her master's degree that suggested a book based on the discovery of chloroform.… (mere)