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Ambrose Parry’s first book, The Way of All Flesh , introduced a terrific crime investigation team with a lot of potential, creating or recreating a successful and somewhat original blend of Victorian Gothic crime thriller and historical medical drama. Its depiction of crime on the backstreets of Edinburgh in the mid-19th century was consequently a little dark and grim, but there was a glimmer of light breaking through in the medical developments around anesthetics and hygiene, two things that were badly needed in Edinburgh, progressed by the real-life eminent physician Professor Simpson and his colleagues around this time. Also progressing around this time, but perhaps not quite so rapidly, was the question of the treatment and attitudes towards women and women’s rights. Dr Simpson’s maid Sarah Fisher’s knowledge of the issues faced by women, her own observations working with Dr Simpson in an unofficial nursing capacity gaining medical experience, would prove instrumental in helping Dr...

Is there room for another Victorian era historical murder-mystery series? On the evidence of this first book from Ambrose Parry, there is definitely the makings of something special and a little bit different from the norm in The Way of All Flesh . Undoubtedly the reason for its success is in the authorship, ‘Ambrose Parry’ being a pseudonym for a writing team comprising of author Chris Brookmyre and medical historian Marisa Haetzman. The rationale behind the team-up, rather than the conventional route of an author relying on expert sources for specialised information, is that the book can enjoy the benefits of authentic detailed historical and medical knowledge of a fascinating period in the development of modern medical procedures and combine it with an established crime author’s sense of plotting and pacing that can tie it into a thrilling murder-mystery. One indication of the collaboration being seamless is that if I didn’t know the Chris Brookmyre was involved in this book, I cert...