Having just enjoyed a vacation in Edinburgh, I was thrilled to come across this medical mystery set in 1840's Scotland, already set to become a televised series with the rights snapped up by Benedict Cumberbatch! There are several mysteries presented in The Way of All Flesh: a series of tortuously constricted corpses, main character Will Raven's shady origins, and how in the world women back then (like heroine Sarah Fisher) kept from going insane given their limited rights and resources.
Ambrose Parry's writing is first-rate, which makes sense since it's the pen name for best-selling author Christopher Brookmyre and his anesthesiologist wife Dr. Marisa Haetzman; ergo the cheekily recurring reference to Currer Bell's Jane Eyre. Colorful Scots language-derived bon mots like "sphincter-blossom" abound and titillate, and descriptions of Edinburgh with its closes, the Forth, the Scott Monument, and "public decorum and private sin, city of a thousand secret selves. Aye."

I received this ARC from NetGalley and will definitely look for more reads from Canongate in future.

This has to be one of the most gothic visits to Edinburgh town
I ever did make in my life. Ooh that sounds like the start of a rhyme doesn’t it? The cover opened and what a cover it is by the way! and immediately I was sucked into a world of vice, dark deeds and a ‘Fetid labyrinth’ that was Edinburgh in 1847.

Novels like this are thrilling if done right and boy was this done right. Evoking sights, sounds and smells of a time gone by, with a little bit of history thrown in such as the “Irish invasion from Glasgow”

I loved this from the first page. A fully immersive novel with a great plot and mysterious threads throughout. It’s extremely vivid read and I hear it’s the first of many. Bring them on! Missing Raven and co already.

The Way Of All Flesh is a terrific new novel by Ambrose Parry. It is not for the faint-hearted. Set in Edinburgh in 1847, there are some very descriptive passages of medical procedures I knew little about, but will not soon forget. Don't let that put you off.
Our two heroes are: Will Raven, apprentice doctor to charismatic Dr Simpson, and Sarah Fisher his inquisitive and highly intelligent housemaid. Will has a shady past, and has reinvented himself. Sarah is a woman out of time. She is scientifically inclined, but the time prevents her from fulfilling her ambitions. Both are reckless characters, and the more interesting for it
There is a dark mystery to solve, largely in dangerous parts of old Edinburgh. It is set at a time on the brink of scientific advances . Sarah is reading Jane Eyre by Currer Bell, just before the Bronte sisters came forward. Chloroform is invented, making anaesthesia much easier. Will assists Dr Simpson in emergency midwifery, and there are some desperate scenes of childbirth gone badly wrong.
The book sets the scene nicely for further blood-stained adventures of Will and Sarah. The quality of writing and the level of gory details elevate this book above the penny dreadful style it is paying homage to.

Firstly, thankyou to Netgalley, Canongate Publishing and Ambrose Parry for the opportunity to read this wonderful novel.
In my opinion, the author has delivered a fantastic novel set in Edinburgh in 1847. The central characters of Raven and Sarah have a wonderful dynamic between them as they investigate the murders of young women in the area. The setting itself was so vivid, it made the book seem to come alive. The story is face-paced and keeps you intrigued from start to finish. If you enjoy murder mysteries/ historical novels, this book is well worth a read.
I can't wait to read more from this author.