Review: The Way of All Flesh by Ambrose Parry

The Way of All Flesh by Ambrose Parry

Publication Date: May 2, 2019

Canongate Publishing

Genre: Historical Mystery

A vivid and gripping historical crime novel set in 19th century Edinburgh, from husband-and-wife writing team Chris Brookmyre and Marisa Haetzman

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.

Review

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Nothing pleases me more than a good Victorian mystery and I am happy to say that I had the best time these past few days while immersed in Ambrose Parry's The Way of All Flesh! Seriously, I was obsessed with this book and anyone that interrupted me while reading was subjected to the look at death :)

Will Raven (which IMO is the coolest name EVER!) is beginning his new apprenticeship to Dr. Simpson, who specializes in midwifery, when he finds a female acquaintance dead. She is a whore and she isn't the last one to turn up dead.

Sarah is Dr. Simpson's housemaid, but she longs for more than the normal life of a woman - to be a wife and mother - and her curiosity for medicine often gets her into trouble. Thankfully Dr. Simpson is a humble man and endulges her by allowing her to help in his home clinic.

Raven and Sarah soon develop a friendship and team up to find out the cause of why these women are dying so horrendously.

What I loved most about this book was the writing and the dialogue. It's clever and witty and I loved the repartee between Raven and Sarah. They didn't get along at first but slowly become friends. I like that there was attraction there but not a fast romance and that it stuck with the mystery and didn't add in an unnecessary romance.

Another aspect that fascinated me was how the book talked about the medical practices in Victorian times, when doctors were desperately trying to find a safe anesthetic. All I have to say is that I'm glad I gave birth in the 21st century!

I thoroughly enjoyed my visit to the seedy underbelly of Victorian Edinburgh and cannot wait for more from Ambrose Parry. There will be a new book in the series that features Raven and Sarah and I am there for it! Will definitely be picking that up as soon as it releases! The Way of All Flesh is a brilliantly written novel that I will be shouting about for weeks! And the author is a husband and wife team, how cool is that?!

Thanks to Anne Cater for inviting me to host the tour!

About the Author

Ambrose Parry is a pseudonym for a collaboration between Chris Brookmyre and Marisa Haetzman. The couple are married and live in Scotland. Chris Brookmyre is the international bestselling and multi-award-winning author of over twenty novels, including Black Widow, winner of both the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year and the McIlvanney Prize for Scottish Crime Novel of the Year. Dr Marisa Haetzman is a consultant anaesthetist of twenty years’ experience, whose research for her Master’s degree in the History of Medicine uncovered the material upon which this novel was based. The Way of All Flesh is the first book in the series.