Read just under a year ago - but just getting around to posting my review.

I am enjoying this series with autopsy surgeon, Dody McCleland and Inspector Pike - puts me in mind now (in reflection) of the two main characters in the "Murdoch Mysteries" (Julia and William) - which is probably why I was drawn to both.

In this instalment, Dody deals with a corpse that is not dead (and no, not a zombie), whilst Pike finds himself investigating a gang of jewel thieves and skirting around the issue of possible police corruption.

The setting, as always, is brought to life in this well written and oft-times, fast paced narrative. And the author again teases us with little snippets of clues before the final denouement. A sixth tome on the cards ....

(I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.)

Forensic doctor Dody McCleland is horrified when the seemingly dead body of a well-dressed woman she has just sliced with her scalpel bolts upright with a howl. Dody has heard of bodies frozen into a false death before but never come face to face with the phenomenon. She feels a terrible debt - and a strange connection - to this woman, discovered incongruously near the notorious Anchor and Whistle public house. Yet Dody is puzzled: how did a woman of such means and intelligence come to be left for dead in the icy cold of this unsavoury district? Meanwhile, Chief Inspector Pike has a gang of jewel thieves with a trail of murder behind them bailed up in a burning building. When one of the gang escapes, and the remainder are found assassinated at close range, it is clear the modus operandi of the chief suspect has brutally shifted. Then Pike discovers both that the king has an interest in the gang's stolen jewels and that his superior is suspected of corruption. Threats to his career and his relationship with Dody further intensify an already delicate situation.

Not too long ago I read book 4 in this series, and while I really enjoyed the historical aspect of that novel, the mystery seemed to be a little bland, and the relationship between Dody and Pike seemed to take a greater focus.

And, sadly, that appears to be the case here too. Again, the historical angles were magnificent - the attitudes towards women at the time - the suffragettes, the women in the clinic, society as a whole; the winds of war were blowing at the time, adding a different take from the previous book; and the nature of organised crime at that time.

But it is the mystery that really lets it down again - this time it is a missing necklace! Sure, there are some decently written bad guys but, let's face it, when you have a forensic doctor as the MC, you kind of expect to have murders at the heart of the story...


Paul
ARH

Felicity Young does an excellent job of portraying life in London in the early twentieth century - particularly the lives of women from various levels of society. The developments in the relationship between Dr. McCleland and Chief Inspector Pike were particularly interesting. There were enough threads left hanging to make the reader long to see what happens next with the two leading characters but also with the others who have played important or supporting roles throughout the series. I can hardly wait for the next installment!