I've got to be honest. I don't typically read a lot of historical fiction, that's more Mandie's cup of tea. But there was something about this story that intrigued me, possibly down to the writing team behind it, but also just the sound of the story. Having been very fortunate to hear a couple of readings from the book at Bute Noir early last month, including hearing the pair talk about the book and how it came to fruition, I knew I'd made a wise choice. As soon as I started to tuck into those opening pages I was gone, lost in a world of 19th Century Edinburgh inhabited by the delightful Dr Will Raven and Sarah Fisher. And believe me, lost is the right word as in no time at all I was twenty-five percent of the way through and tearing through the story in what felt like a blink of an eye.

The story opens in intriguing fashion. We meet newly qualified Raven on the eve of his starting an apprenticeship with the esteemed Dr Simpson. As we quickly learn, Raven is not typical of the type of men you would associate with the practice of medicine, his history, and immediate present, a little checkered, the company he appears to keep and to attract, of the less salubrious variety. From the opening we get a taste of what is to follow although no hint as to what may have happened, as Raven discovers the body of a young woman, previously of his acquaintance, who appears to have suffered a horrific death. Sadly it appears that she is just one of many, and what follows is the slow uncovering of foul play on the streets of Edinburgh, a truth that Raven, assisted in no small part by Dr Simpson's housemaid Sarah, is determined to uncover.

Now it is hard to discuss the book or its plot further that this, as to do so would give vital clues as to what is to transpire. Needless to say, as you discover the nature of Raven's chosen field of speciality, you may take a hint as to what you will discover in the coming pages, but not the who, the why and the how of it all. Despite the setting, the era in which the book is set, the story is truly compelling and the very nature of the patriarchal system and the sense of right and wrong which pervades the novel very authentic. Sadly there are truths in this book which still exist in society today, although thankfully the practice of medicine is decidedly less brutal. Can you even imagine having a limb amputated, deliberately I might add, without the aid of an anaesthetic or pain killer of any sort? Me either, but that is what you are faced with here.

I loved the characters of Raven and Sarah. Sarah is a woman very much ahead of her time, at least in the eyes of her peers and her 'betters' but reflective of the sentiment which was starting to prevail. A young woman who is capable of and who wants far more than her circumstances would allow. She is astute, very intelligent, and gets the best of Raven on more than one occasion, her tenacity and determination making me smile. There are certain feelings of inevitability to her actions as you know she will not be bested by a mere man, but still, I was rooting for her. As for Raven, he is a man of contradictions, but clearly one who is hiding something, a matter which is not revealed to the reader until you are one hundred percent on his side. And you will be as, despite his initial attempts at grandeur, he is a man who lacks the true pomposity of many of his peers and who is simply trying to get to the truth. Both are brilliant characters and make for a formidable and highly likeable pairing. I can't wait to meet them both again.

I am always concerned when reading historical fiction that there will be a tendency to make the language too flouncy or pompous, inaccessible in the way it is presented and, well quite honestly, off putting. Not so in this case. The story simply flowed and while feeling very much of the period, there was still a sense of pace and rhythm which made the reading experience highly enjoyable. Full of mystery and with moments of great tension, notably near the start and end of the novel where our hero Raven is in great peril, there is something about the read which had me completely engrossed and it is kind of hard to tell you why.

It wasn't particularly dark, although in terms of story and the truth of history it makes for grim reading. It wasn't the thrill of the chase unless you count a couple of emergency carriage rides across Edinburgh to attend to women in labour. Whilst there are moments of mirth, it isn't that it was a particularly funny read either. I think it boils down to good, old fashioned, bloody brilliant story telling. Nothing more nothing less. This book comes highly recommended from me.

In another blogpost, from The Edinburgh International Book Festival, I’ll be talking about the session with Chris Brookmyre and Marisa Haetzman where they discuss their first co-writing venture as Ambrose Parry. But before that, I want to tell you about this brilliant book.

The first thing that strikes you, as you open the pages, is how quickly you are drawn in to the narrative voice. It immediately transports you back into the past; back to the days of Edinburgh in 1847 – a city of two halves, Old and New Town: of “public decorum and private sin, city of a thousand secret selves.” In the Old town people were living one atop another in ‘the foetid labyrinth that was the Old Town, like Breugel’s Tower of Babel or Botticelli’s Map of Hell.

Will Raven is spending his last night as an impoverished and in debt student in the old town, prior to going as an apprentice to Dr James Young Simpson, a doctor specialising in obstetrics and anaesthetics, and after whom the Edinburgh Simpson Maternity Hospital is named.

Will is in pieces, after finding his friend Evie, a prostitute, dead in her squalid room in the Old Town’s Canongate. On his way to the New Town he is set upon by two men, enforcers sent by moneylender Flint to ensure that he pays his debts sooner than anticipated. Hurt, wounded and in disarray he arrives at the door of Dr Simpson’s residence at 52 Queen Street to begin his sojourn.

The household at first glance seems chaotic, though that’s mainly due to the two children who rampage through it; that and the fact that Dr Simpson conducts his surgeries and his experiments at home.

Will fails to endear himself to the household staff, and he soon learns that his life will be much smoother if he makes his peace with Sarah Fisher, an intelligent and resourceful housemaid who loves to help Dr Simpson with his potions and who would dearly love to work in medicine, were she not both from a poor working class background and also a woman.

Sarah’s pain from her head constantly hitting the glass ceiling is so frustrating to watch as lesser, more dullard men are enabled in front of her and this story is as much hers as it is Will Raven’s.

In many ways Simpson was a remarkable man. A pioneer in using anaesthetics to relieve the pain experienced by many women in childbirth he is courted by the rich but will happily spend as much time as he can ministering to the poor for no reward. Driven by the need to improve the practice of obstetrics, he will follow his vocation wherever it takes him.

Brilliantly weaving together fact and fiction the authors offer a dark and evocative tale of a young man searching for a terrifying killer against a backdrop of the exciting and sometimes quite dangerous methods employed by James Young Simpson in his quest to advance the cause of science and medicine.

Amidst the foul smells and putrid air, the stories of malpractice and butchery abound, but what really strikes home is the power that men had over women’s lives. Whether preaching over their need to experience pain in childbirth, or simply not slowing them to fulfil their potential, this is a book that had me railing against the many injustices of the time.

Brilliantly evocative of the different faces of Edinburgh and charting the use of ether and then the discovery of chloroform as an anaesthetic, it is both a fascinating murder mystery with great characters and relationships, and at the same time an intriguing factual tale about the medical advances of the time.

I loved the characters of Will Raven and Sarah Fisher, both well drawn and well-rounded characters who are more than deserving of a second book in this series. It was good, too, to see the involvement of Inspector James McLevy of that ilk, though it’s fair to say he doesn’t always come across as the ace detective history would like him to be.

Verdict: Fabulously atmospheric, unafraid to explore the dark underbelly of Edinburgh and gloriously written as a fast paced and gripping tale, this is a terrific read that I immediately want more of – and soon.

This is an interesting first novel in what could be an entertaining series. The setting is that favourite venue of Rankin and others, made all the more intriguing by placing the action in nineteenth century Edinburgh at the time of some fascinating medical advances. The characters are well-drawn and the plot sufficiently complex to engage the reader, in terms of both the emerging crime detection skills of our heroes as well as the evolving relationship between them. For this reader the interweaving of historical characters and real-life medical advances was a very positive feature. If there were to be a minor criticism it might be that an apparent effort to write in a 'nineteenth century style' possibly detracted from the fluency of the narrative, although this may be in this reader's imagination. This is a different novel that will appeal to readers who like their crime novels spiced with historical accuracy and enjoy interesting digressions into the development of medical practice in nineteenth century Edinburgh. Very highly recommended.

Will Raven is a medical student who becomes an apprentice for Dr. Simpson in 1847 Edinburgh.. Claimed to be the son of a deceased lawyer, Will seem to be all too well knowledgeable at the art of surviving in the mean streets of Edinburgh, among the loan-sharks and prostitutes.
Sarah Fisher the handmaid. in Dr Simpson's household, is also a self taught student for medicine at an era when women weren't allowed to study. She helps the good doctor with his free clinic, and immediately takes a disliking of the new apprentice..
This takes place as young women are being found dead in the city in the most horrid way, but since these are maids and prostitutes, suiting to Dickensian Britain - nobody really seems to bother investigating it.. Since both are acquainted with some of the murdered girls, the duo team up to find the answers, the plot thickens as there seem to be more than one suspect.
At the background there's the real-life story of Dr Simpson's search for a better anesthetic than Ether, among his group of scholars.

This is very well written novel. Both protagonists are likable and have been setup as a multi-dimensional and complex characters,. The background to the story, regarding the anesthetics, is very well told.
This is due to the fact that the author is a fictional pseudonym of two people: Chris Brookmyre, who does an excellent job on the prose end; and Marissa Haetzmann, whose dissertation on the History of Medicine was the base for this novel. You could tell that there's someone very knowledgeable about the technical parts, while another is restraining her - keeping the medical "mambo-jumbo" to an absolute minimum.

The story, albeit not too complex, is plausible. You could tell that the author is setting the scene to a series here, but unlike many other similar scenarios- this specific story comes to an satisfactory end, with no cliffhanger (god I hate cliffhangers!)
This is a gem, and I salute the literary agent who saw the potential in this book, a risk which will pay off.. Will be looking forward to number two.

The Way of All Flesh by Ambrose Parry
Publication Date 30 August 2018

I'm an Edinburgh girl and was born in Simpsons Memorial Hospital so of course I was interested in reading this book and I'm glad I did.
It's set in Victorian Edinburgh and tells the story of Dr Simpson, his experiments with anaesthetic, his household and his young apprentice Raven who along with the housemaid Sarah play detective in finding out who is behind the gruesome deaths of several young women.
As I come from Edinburgh it was great being able to get a good picture in my head as I know the area, streets and even where the pubs are situated and the book wonderfully described the darkness of how the old town would have been in those days.
For me this wasn't a "can't put down" book but it is a book that you should pick up It's a gentle paced historical murder story, well written with colourful characters.

Thanks to Netgalley and Canongate Books for the ARC.

The Way of All Flesh is the first in a new historical mystery series written by husband and wife team Chris Brookmyre and Marisa Haetzman under the pseudonym Ambrose Parry. Brookmyre is an established crime novelist, while Haetzman is a consultant anaesthetist with a Master’s in the History of Medicine – the perfect combination when writing a crime novel set in the medical world!

It’s 1847 and young medical student Will Raven has secured a position as apprentice to the renowned Scottish obstetrician Dr James Simpson. Simpson is one of Edinburgh’s leading doctors and Raven intends to make the most of this wonderful opportunity to gain experience in the fields of midwifery and anaesthesia. Unfortunately, he doesn’t get off to the best of starts: just before he is due to begin his apprenticeship he discovers the dead body of his friend Evie, a prostitute whom he has being trying to help financially. Stumbling away through the dark streets of Edinburgh’s Old Town, he is attacked by a gang sent after him by a moneylender and turns up battered and bruised for his first day at work – definitely not the impression he had hoped to give!

Settling into his work with Dr Simpson and his colleagues, Raven is required to assist at some difficult births and quickly comes to appreciate the role ether can play in easing the pain of childbirth. During his visits to other households, and in his conversations with other doctors, Raven begins to hear about other women from the Old Town who have been found dead, like Evie, under suspicious circumstances. Determined to find out what really happened to Evie, he decides to investigate…

But this is not just Raven’s story. We also meet Sarah Fisher, Dr Simpson’s housemaid. Sarah is an intelligent young woman who would love to have the opportunities that have been given to Will Raven, but as a career in medicine is not available to her because of her gender and class, she has to resign herself to reading the doctor’s medical books and helping out in his clinic as much as she can. Sarah and Will take an instant dislike to each other, but as they continue to work together – not just in the same household, but also to track down the murderer – they begin to find some common ground.

The Way of All Flesh is a fascinating read for anyone who is interested, as I am, in the history of medicine. Some of the doctors and scientists who appear in the book, including James Simpson, are real historical figures and the novel recreates some of the experiments, discoveries and research that led to the development of anaesthetics, as well as some of the challenges they faced – such as the opposition of the Scottish church leaders, who believed it was natural for women to feel pain in childbirth and that using drugs to relieve it was against the will of God. Remembering that one of the authors of this book is an anaesthetist herself, everything feels very authentic and convincing. I should warn you, though, that the descriptions of childbirth and other medical cases and operations are very detailed and occasionally a bit gruesome!

It was actually the crime element which was the least successful aspect of the book for me. I felt that it took second place to the medical procedures and scientific discussions and after a while I lost track of who had been killed and what the circumstances were; it just wasn’t the sort of mystery I prefer, where I find myself looking for clues and trying to guess who the culprit could be. The setting makes up for it, though – the descriptions of Victorian Edinburgh are wonderfully atmospheric.

Although I thought the secondary characters could have been given more depth, I did enjoy getting to know both Will Raven and Sarah Fisher. This was a promising start to a new series and I will be looking out for the second book.

Set in Edinburgh in the 19th Century the reader is introduced to Raven, a young medical student who has just gained an apprenticeship to one of the most eminent obstetrician's in the City. From the outset Raven is an intriguing character, who doesn't quite seem to fit into the mould of a student doctor. His private life is complicated and he's got himself into a situation that means he's always looking over his shoulder trying to avoid some villains. His relationship with Sarah, a housemaid at the Dr's house gets off to a bad start but she becomes his ally when he finally confides in her. Sarah's bright, pragmatic and at times impulsive and the two of them make a very good pairing when it comes to solving the crimes that Raven's uncovered.
I really liked this book, it got better and better as it went on and Edinburgh was portrayed wonderfully, you could almost touch and feel the places in Edinburgh that Raven and Sarah went to. Sarah and Raven are a good pairing and I'm looking forward to reading more novels that they feature in.

In the winter of 1847, death walks the streets of Edinburgh taking the lives of lowly paupers in their hovels and the husbands, wives and children of the gentry in their warm houses in the New Town with as little discrimination, prostitutes and preachers alike; that is the way of all flesh, yet there is hope as medical science and chemistry progress from old wives’ tales and alchemy.

Young Will Raven has secured an appointment as apprentice to the renowned James Young Simpson, Professor of Midwifery, a position which will allow him to move from the lodgings of the sour Mrs Cherry and her lumpy porridge to a prestigious Queen Street townhouse, provided the agents of Mr Flint to whom he owes a substantial sum do not catch up with him first.

The debt incurred on behalf of a friend to whom he loaned the sum as a matter of urgency, Evie Lawson, a prostitute of whom Raven was also a client, she will not be repaying it to Raven, and nor will her death be investigated in a city of more pressing concerns than “another deid hoor,” her vacated room let out as soon as the body can be collected.

Unable to admit that he saw the body for fear that his reputation would be damaged and he would lose his position, Raven knows that Evie’s post-mortem condition was inconsistent with the dismissive explanation that she drank herself to death, and when another body is pulled from the Water of Leith displaying the same contortions he cannot help but believe there is a connection, whether it is malpractice or murder.

A medical mystery set in the romance of the streets of Victorian Edinburgh, it is a time of anticipation and exhilaration as discoveries are made in the sciences and reputations built or destroyed upon their success and application or their tragic failures, and also great poverty the Old Town south of the High Street, overcrowded and lacking in sanitation or adequate policing.

The city which gave birth to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and his great consulting detective, the name Ambrose Parry may be new to the crime thriller scene, but in a novel of misdirection, deception and false identity it should perhaps come as no surprise that this name is a pseudonym for Chris Brookmyre working in collaboration with consultant anaesthetist Doctor Marisa Haetzman – also coincidentally his wife – whose expertise informs the narrative.

The prose written in the formal style of the period and leaning towards the local dialect on occasion, it is far from a typical Brookmyre novel, more reserved and refined, the principal characters a class above those with whom Glasgow investigative journalist and perpetual trouble magnet Jack Parlabane will associate a century and a half later.

Like Brookmyre’s recent venture to outer space in Places in the Darkness, the often vulgar displays of outrageous humour which were the hallmark of his earlier novels is absent, but told from a medical perspective there is much graphic description of primitive treatments frequently more optimistic than effective in an age of obstructed labour, scrofula, consumption, ringworm and scabies.

As important as Raven is Simpson’s frustrated housemaid Sarah Fisher, with abundant curiosity but a dearth of free time to indulge it, recognising that even should she escape this life of servitude by catching the eye of a potential suitor it would only mean an upgrade of domestic duties to be the head of a household, not anything approaching a career despite being the intellectual match of the male peers automatically presumed to be her betters.

The pieces coming together, coincidences and parallels which form a pattern, the very basis of diagnosis, Will Raven and Sarah Fisher form a bond of uneasy trust rather than friendship to expose The Way of All Flesh, a novel as much about medical discovery and experimentation as it is about the characters discovering themselves and each other; in both, Ambrose Parry has so far only tantalisingly scratched the surface.

Chris Brookmyre and his wife Marissa combine forces to produce a captivating initial book in a projected series. Bring it on! They craft beautifully his skills in storytelling with her factual medical expertise and knowledge of anaesthesia particularly in its early development in Edinburgh in the 1840s. It is a tale of medical advancement set against the social climate of the city at that time. Edinburgh was the seat of innovation in that field. The main characters Will, a trainee doctor with a past of his own and Sarah a housemaid both work in the home of Dr Simpson who is pioneering anaesthesia. Sarah is ambitious and wants to learn more in the field of medicine but is hindered within the social structure of the time and the place of women within it. Will has a dark past but is also concerned about deaths of prostitutes who may have undergone abortions. These two combine forces to try to solve the mystery and a hazardous journey it turns out to be. A wonderful starting block for a series giving a tremendous social history to the period whilst giving a spell binding tale.

Darkly atmospheric with a compelling plot. This historical thriller is definitely not for the faint hearted, there are some very graphic descriptions of medical procedures that had me scurrying to Google with cries of "surely not!" Very eye-opening and relevant.
The main characters are a trainee doctor of midwifery and a house maid. The trials and tribulations that face them both daily provide a fascinating insight into 1840s Edinburgh.
I was originally interested in this title as one of the authors is Christopher Brookmyre, and I have read many of his previous titles. This is written by him and his wife, Dr Marisa Haetzman, who is a consultant anaesthetist.

Received copy from Netgalley for honest read and review.

Set in Edinburgh in mid 1800's,this had a macabre and sometimes brutal storyline,which was thoroughly entertaining and enjoyable.

This storyline had me hooked from the beginning and especially as coming from Scotland this had a very good feel to it.
Really enjoyed this one.

This is a fascinating story, full of horrendous detail about pre-anaesthesia medicine, and the complications surrounding the search for an effective solution. That underlies a well-constructed mystery, littered with red herrings and blind alleys, as Raven tries to work out who is killing the poor girls, probably through illegal abortion practices.

Raven has plenty of reasons to get into trouble on the darker side of town. When he avoids it, it seeks him out. The man seems beleaguered from all sides, yet he conceals more secrets than the obvious ones we are presented with. It is Sarah who uncovers them, as she does most things.

Sarah is a housemaid with ideas way above her station, and well in advance of the Suffrage movement.  Her enquiring mind towers over many insipid young men learning to be doctors and other 'professionals'. Yet she is stuck in the rut of cleaning, tending her mistresses, and running errands.  At times I found her slightly too advanced for her times, but maybe that's me being unreasonable. As the book progressed, I found her continual gripes about her status, written purely for the reader, became tedious.  Was this a fault in the co-authorship approach?  Was someone being heavy-handed about one aspect of Sarah's character? Maybe they did not realise that almost the same paragraph had appeared in an earlier chapter?

Generally speaking, the co-authorship was seamless.  However they shared the workload, it worked.  I did find the last quarter of the book to be somewhat dragged out, though. Perhaps this was the element of repetition, or too many clues that made Raven's discovery more of an 'at last' moment to the reader.

There is plenty of atmosphere in this book: plenty of thick smoke of winter in Auld Reekie, and more than enough dead bodies and smells of decay in the dark side of the city.  It well-paced for the most part, with plenty of what appears to me to be accurate historical presentation of nineteenth century medicine.  I'm just so glad I wasn't alive then to suffer it.  Recommended, but not for the squeamish.

I was sent a copy of The Way of All Flesh by Ambrose Parry to read and review by NetGalley.
This is an entertaining novel set in Edinburgh in 1847. Character led by the two main protagonists Raven and Sarah who both have aspirations beyond their birth right and present status. The novel has plenty of twists and turns along with some rather distasteful medical procedures punctuating the quest to find who is murdering young women and why. The book is atmospheric and quite evocative of the time – a time of medical discoveries and rivalries. A good yarn which is set to be the first of a series.

This is the first in a new, historical crime series, which is sure to find many fans. Set in Edinburgh, 1847, Will Raven is a young man who is about to become the assistant to Dr Simpson; an early Obstetrician. Will is a man who is keen to make his fortune; not least as he recently borrowed from a moneylender, in order to help out Evie Lawson. Evie was a prostitute that he befriended and hoped to help – however, when he arrives to visit her and finds her dead, he is ashamed to find himself slinking away. It later appears that Evie is not the only young woman in Edinburgh who has died in unexplained circumstances and Will is keen to find out how, and why, she died.

However, before he can do that, he is set upon by thugs, sent by the moneylender, Mr Flint. Now he has to add avoiding them to his list of things to do, while trying to make an impression upon Dr Simpson and his household. Turning up, battered and looking disreputable, Will finds himself locked in battle with housemaid, Sarah, who is also interested in medicine and enjoys assisting at the clinics Dr Simpson holds at his house. Sarah is limited by her class, and gender, to progress beyond her status as a servant and is often being told she has ideas, and airs, beyond her station. Eventually, though, Will and Sarah, join up to investigate the mysterious deaths in the city.

If you like historical mysteries, this will certainly appeal. It has a realistic atmosphere and an interesting medical background. Pain relief, and anaesthesia, are in their infancy. While religious leaders argue that women should not have any pain relief during childbirth, both ether and chloroform are being introduced, if not completely understood. Will Raven is amongst those who see the possibilities of making a fortune through easing suffering and there is much, in this novel, about how difficult childbirths could be treated in that era. I enjoyed this aspect of the mystery and Will’s reasons for wanting to help women could be understood better, once his background became clearer. I also enjoyed the headstrong Sarah and liked the other members of Dr Simpson’s household - including his sister in law, Miss Mina Grindlay, who is always on the lookout for a prospective husband.

This is an intelligent and well written mystery and I look forward to reading on in the series. I received a copy of this book from the publisher, via NetGalley, for review.

I haven't read many historical novels, so The Way of All Flesh being set in 1800's Edinburgh intrigued me. The city being brought to life from the first page made the story easy to become immersed in, and I could imagine Will Raven and Sarah the Simpson's housemaid walking the streets trying to solve the string of murders nobody else seems to be paying much attention to.

Some of the characters Raven and Sarah meet were real people who played a part in the development of medicine, and there were plenty of historic details which added to the setting and story.

The resolution was surprising, but given all the little clues which were threaded throughout, made sense, and the last chapter was far from expected.

I really enjoyed this historical mystery set in Edinburgh in the 1800's. I love historical fiction and this one was really absorbing with likeable main characters and lots of interesting medical info from the time. Highly recommend this to anyone.

I enjoyed reading this book .It was interesting to learn how medicine was in the 1800's and about the development of anaesthetic .I found the medical side a bit too much ,pushing the crime side to the back.I would have liked the crime thriller side of the book to be more prominent .The story is a slow burner because of all the medical facts .The book is very atmospheric and I liked the main characters Raven and Will .Many thanks to the Publishers ,the Author and NetGalley for my review copy in return for an honest review .

Super tale of murder and medical matters in 1847 Edinburgh. The use of locations that still exist today give this story a glorious atmospheric feel. The mystery of sudden death, natural or by foul deed is cleverly explored as is the role of women at that time. Quite gruesome at times but necessarily so the pace rolls speedily along and I can only recommend this and look forward to the next episode!

From Goodreads:
I love a good Victorian crime caper - and this is one.
Add in Edinburgh and it going to be good.
Atmospherically written, great potential for characters, clever plot.
AND loved the way historical Scottish characters kept popping up

Well worth a read

Set in Edinburgh in 1847 we follow a young student Raven as he starts out, under the tutelage of Dr Simpson, a renowned physician, who treats rich and poor alike, and a housemaid, Sarah, who has the ability and skills to be every bit as clever as Raven, or maybe even Simpson.

We understand more about the beginnings of anaesthesia, and the horrors of childbirth back in the 1800’s, with some very graphic descriptive writing.

Its an historical who dunnit thriller, together with a healthy dose of realism, or historical fact, around just how difficult life was in those days. I enjoyed the book, from start to finish. Throughly recommend it.