Voices of the Dead - Ambrose Parry

The appearance of Voices of the Dead is a welcome addition to Ambrose Parry's Edinburgh Victorian period medical crime drama series (now collectively known as the Raven and Fisher mysteries, extending it successfully beyond the first three excellent books. There is no shortage of period crime thriller series, but there is obviously something special about this one in the way that it makes use of historical progress and development in science and medicine around this period that contributes to its unique perspective. All the more so since Edinburgh and Dr. Simpson are at the centre of those important advances; advances that not only benefit the general public - and even Queen Victoria, who helped give legitimacy to the use of chloroform to ease the burden of childbirth - but those advances also contribute to the investigation of crime.

Medicine and crime are a good match, but it also means a good match in the husband and wife team of Christopher Brookmyre and Marisa Haetzman, who as 'Ambrose Parry' collectively bring their expertise to the table. In fact, I can detect the hand of Chris Brookmyre in the nature of the subject that arises during the latest case in Voices of the Dead. Brookmyre has written in the past of his scepticism of mediums and spiritualists in his Jack Parlabane series (Attack of the Unsinkable Rubber Ducks), and interest in them happens to be very popular with the public at this period. Raven and Simpson, being of a rational scientific mind, are both keen to seek to debunk these charlatans and fraudulent sciences. Mesmerism or hypnosis too, although Sarah Fisher is more interested in the phenomenon as a potential for medical treatment, since the conventional route into medicine is denied to her as a woman.

There is of course rather more to the criminal aspect of Voices of the Dead than hokum and mere fraudsters, and those elements are typically varied and not obviously connected, involving body snatchers, the discovery of dismembered body parts and the world of the theatre. Inevitably of course they come to relate to the aforementioned complications of fraudsters and charlatans operating in a grey and mysterious area outside the realm of science. Include the fact that the man they are pursuing in relation to the dismembered body is an actor who is adept at disguise," a man of a thousand faces", and you know you are being set up for terrific twists and revelations along the way.

What is also great about the period of this series is the way it highlights the stark divisions in the struggle between good and evil, or just in the divisions that allow evil or suffering to thrive despite the best efforts of good. There are clear divisions between the wealthy and the poor, between men and women, where the benefits of education that are denied to parts of the community. Set against this, medicine is in a way seeking to reduce the distance and free everyone equally from the misery of disease, while other progressive thinkers and benefactors are helping to provide education and help for the benefit of everyone. All of this is there in the background, but provides an accurate depiction of the kind of circumstances in which crime and death can arise.

…And remain hidden. I initially got the impression that Voices of the Dead was quite slow to reveal its purpose and direction, Raven and Sarah's involvement in the criminal investigation a little contrived for an apprentice doctor and a widow with medical ambitions. Both surely would have more on their plates than to do the work of the police for them. It did seem like Brookmyre getting on his high horse again about fraudster spiritualists and mediums without any apparent connection to the crime. As you can imagine, sleight of hand is involved in these targeted pseudo-sciences and you suspect that the author(s) are indulging in a similar game of bait-and-switch. And indeed it proves to be the case, the plotting perfectly balanced with revelations dropped with precision at the right places and times. Impressively so.

There is joy just to see all these elements fall neatly into place, but what makes this more than just a great period crime thriller and account to a large extent for the success of the book is in the choice of characters, Sarah and Raven. A woman and a man (like the authors), both have differing views and experiences in regards to how society treats them and their respective positions. Without taking away from the skill employed in the plotting and historical detail, they are perhaps the real reason you keep reading. You become invested in their characters, the complicated history they have as individuals, as a man and a woman of apparently differing social classes and backgrounds - to say nothing of temperament - and in the relationship that has grown between them which also keeps them apart.

That in a way also sums up basically all the contrasts to be found in this series, the drama arising out of those differences. But in them Ambrose Parry also permits a grey area to emerge from between the differences and divisions, where things are not black and white, where evil and good are not so easily defined, where people have the opportunity to keep an open mind and develop. This is vital not only to keeping the series fresh, but it also allows for a more 'modern' outlook on the period that might be realistically expected. Rather than just presenting a revisionist take that doesn't reflect the historical reality, rather than being merely a way of presenting a more palatable way in for the modern reader, it's actually key to understanding why this period and the progress made here was so important.

Reading notes: Voices of the Dead is published by Canongate on the 15th June 2023. My thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the advance eBook proof.