Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.
Great historical mystery. I was able to predict the end but I still enjoyed it. I also loved the time setting and the place since I don’t live far from Philadelphia
Author did a great job on the historical accuracy.

Thank you for allowing me to read this book as an ARC.
I have thoroughly enjoyed this book and its storyline. The characters well developed and the twists were great. I had to remind myself that this took place in the mid 1800s so I loved to see the portraying of the role of women then. There was a little too much detail in the beginning section on the autopsy part but understood shortly after why these details were important to show the doctor's expertise.
I have not read anything else yet from this author but am looking forward to reading more works!
Great storyline, likeable and relatable characters, unexpected twists and turns, ai give it 5 stars.

Fairly predictable mystery, but it was still a good read that I enjoyed. I only thought it was predictable because I solved the mystery before the characters did.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the advanced copy of this one!

I really liked the historical aspect of this one. It really put me into the MCs mind frame and helped steer the story. At times I feel like the medical terminology were a bit much for me to follow along with, but overall I found this to be an enjoyable story!

I can also really appreicate the strong female lead here! Mixing a murder mystery with some historical fiction and you've got yourself an interesting read here!

Philadelphia, 1875: It is the start of term at Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania. Dr. Lydia Weston, professor and anatomist, is immersed in teaching her students in the lecture hall and hospital. When the body of a patient, Anna Ward, is dredged out of the Schuylkill River, the young chambermaid’s death is deemed a suicide. But Lydia is suspicious and she is soon brought into the police investigation.

Aided by a diary filled with cryptic passages of poetry, Lydia discovers more about the young woman she thought she knew. Through her skill at the autopsy table and her clinical acumen, Lydia draws nearer the truth. Soon a terrible secret, long hidden, will be revealed. But Lydia must act quickly, before she becomes the next target of those who wished to silence Anna.

The time period is interesting, and the mystery scene is set, but I felt that too many POV's without much depth and extraneous details took away from what could've been a more interesting read.

Thank you to NetGalley and SimonBooks for the ARC!
Published 10/2023

“It was one thing to read an account of disease in textbooks, but there was no replacing the visceral experience of seeing, hearing, touching the patients.” ‼️‼️

“Reading was her solace, literature the sustaining force of her life. She thought of the countless times she had sought refuge in her books, when literature had provided the ballast and strength of an old friend.”

Synopsis:
Philadelphia, 1875: It is the start of term at Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania. Dr. Lydia Weston, professor and anatomist, is immersed in teaching her students. When the body of a patient, Anna Ward, is dredged out of the Schuylkill River, the young chambermaid’s death is deemed a suicide. But Lydia is suspicious and she is soon brought into the police investigation.

Aided by a diary filled with cryptic passages of poetry, Lydia discovers more about the young woman she thought she knew. Through her skill at the autopsy table and her clinical acumen, Lydia draws nearer the truth. Soon a terrible secret, long hidden, will be revealed. But Lydia must act quickly, before she becomes the next target of those who wished to silence Anna.

There are quite a few points in the book where medical terms are used, which I have no issue with as I work in medicine, but might stumble you up if you don’t. Overall this was a slower paced murder mystery full of twists, scheming, old school medicine, and “lady doctors” that got an awful lot of crap for simply being women. An enjoyable and entertaining read!

Thank you to @SimonBooks and @RituMukerji for the #gifted copy.

Enjoyable historical mystery set in Philadelphia in 1875. The main character is a female physician who also teaches at the Woman's Medical College. I really liked the historical aspects of the book: the state of medicine in the 1800s, how female medical professionals were perceived, class issues, etc. I also liked the medical details of the autopsy and her patients' illnesses. The plot was good and the characters were well-developed. Hope this becomes a series!

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for a free e-ARC of this book.

After a slow start, this book rapidly picked up steam and drew me in. Dr. Lydia Weston is breaking new ground as a female doctor in 19th century Philadelphia. When the body of a yours women is pulled from the river, she gets pulled into the postmortem and subsequent investigation. Compelling story that weaves together themes of women'sindependence and societal roles in Philadelphia following the US Civil War.

I love a good historical mystery and this one was quite good. Murder By Degrees takes place in 1875 in Philadelphia and features a female doctor, which was a pretty unusual thing in those days - and those female doctors weren’t always accepted or respected. Luckily, times have changed! I always enjoy a story that takes place in an area I’m familiar with, and I used to live within a few blocks of where a lot of the action takes place, namely near Washington Square and Pennsylvania Hospital in center city Philly.

Dr. Lydia Weston is not only a doctor. She also teaches at the Women’s Medical College of Pennsylvania, passing on her knowledge to other women interested in practicing medicine. One day, a patient of hers, Anna Ward, a housemaid, disappears and is subsequently discovered in the Schuylkill River. There are mysterious circumstances around Anna’s disappearance and death, and since she was one of Lydia’s favorite patients (they discussed poetry among other things!), Lydia is curious and gets involved in the investigation. I was happy that Lydia wasn’t investigating independently, but was working with the local police.

The medical content seemed real/accurate and I later discovered that the author is a doctor herself, so the accuracy of the medical content isn’t a surprise.

I don’t know if this will become a series, but if it does, I look forward to reading the next book!

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the opportunity to read an advance readers copy of this book, although I was rather late to it. I bounced between the ARC and the published audiobook, courtesy of my public library. The narrator, Gabra Zackman, did a good job with the various voices and accents. All opinions are my own.

My thoughts - if you’re looking for a unique, historically set mystery, this one may be for you! I really enjoyed that this book was different from other thrillers/mysteries that I’ve read this year since it was set in 1875. I enjoyed the main character, Lydia, and learning about her desire to become a doctor and pursuit of that dream. I also liked reading about her continued struggles as a female doctor in 1875 and her desire to help other women, both in their careers as female doctors and as a practicing physician helping women seek treatment.

There was plenty of mystery to keep me on my toes throughout the audiobook. I thought it was paced well and there was good suspense throughout the story!

My only takeaway is that there is quite a bit of medical talk. It’s interesting to a point because of how different practices were in 1875, however, it got to be a bit too much for me.

Thank you to the author and the tagged publisher for providing me a physical copy for an honest review.

#simonbooks #simonbooksbuddy

This is the kind of book that flies under the radar and it shouldn't. This was a freaking good book. Well paced and fleshed out characters. Which is exactly how a thriller should be.

I love historical fiction/mysteries/romance where the lead is a woman. The social and gender prejudices were just that much more for a woman and so reading about a woman overcoming all of that makes it a worthwhile read for me. And this one definitely was.

This mystery has Dr. Lydia Weston ( That's right. A lady doctor in the 1800's) has her pairing up with two detectives. One of her patients was found dead and is deemed a suicide. But the doctor has doubts about that.

I wouldn't be upset if this book would turn into a series. I'd love to see more of Dr. Lydia Weston.

I enjoyed this one. I love historical mysteries and when they use a female doctor as the main character I get a little worried they will try and go to feminist with it, but I thought the author did a good job of making her confident without getting nasty and I liked that she used the history of women in medicine without going all feminist. I thought it had a really good mystery and kept me interested. It doesn't say anything about it being a series but I do hope that it is as I would like to read more.

I DNF’d about 1/3 through this.

This is far too slow for me. I didn’t think there was any good character development and the plot wasn’t engaging at all

I received a free eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Then I lost the actual file (I’m not sure it downloaded correctly), forgot I had access to it and purchased a hardback copy. I need a better NetGalley tracking system for myself, because this is definitely the 3rd or 4th time I’ve done this!

This intrigued me because it reminded me both of Dana Swartz’s excellent <I>Anatomy</I> series (thankfully minus the fantasy element) and <I>The Knick</I> (when it was actually about surgeons and less about the politics of building a new hospital, or whatever nonsense was happening in the 2nd season). I enjoyed this for the most part, but there was something that didn’t quite land for me. It felt a little like reading two different versions of the same story woven together - one where Lydia is the protagonist and one where the detectives are. We switch back and forth between them, and I kept being surprised when we would get back to Lydia and her chapters <I>weren’t</i> in first person. (to be clear, they never were, it just seemed like they *should* be, if that makes sense)

The story begins with a woman being chased by a nefarious man and choosing to jump into the river rather than be caught by him. In a classic mystery trope, we don’t know who either of these people are, and we immediately begin following completely different characters. Eventually, the body is deemed to be Anna Ward, a patient of Lydia’s and a chambermaid for a family renowned for its wealth and philanthropy. Anna’s death is deemed a suicide, but Lydia has her doubts, since Anna had a sister and disabled younger brother who she was supporting on her chambermaid salary. There’s no way she would have abandoned them, so Lydia suspects foul play, and basically just inserts herself into the investigation, much to the consternation of the detectives.

I had a difficult time telling the two detectives apart (I had to look up their names - Voelker and Davies). There’s the older one who’s seen it all and the younger hotshot who resents a *gasp* lady doctor being involved. I guess Lydia is sort of a de facto medical examiner? In the absence of such position at this point in history (we’re in Philly circa 1875). She and a colleague perform Anna’s autopsy which reveals the case is more complicated than it initially appeared.

Needless to say, there’s a lot happening here, and while it wasn’t all that difficult to keep track of in the moment, now that a few weeks have passed, I’m finding it hard to remember too many specifics beyond “Lady doctor in the 1870s tries to solve a murder.”

"Doctor? A lady doctor?" he asked a brow arched in amusement. "My goodness, what will the modern world serve up next?"

It's the late 1800's and Dr. Lydia Weston, a lady doctor (gasp) is making an impression in Philadelphia. She's teaching at a women's medical school, providing care at local hospitals, performing autopsies, and based on her association with a patient who's been found dead she now finds herself involved in a police investigation. Much to the dismay of the men in her orbit.

"Murder by Degrees" is a page turner with lots of twists and red herrings, a ton of medical jargon, and one big twist that I just couldn't swallow. Also lots of eye-rolls as the lady doctor commentary became tiresome. We get it, she was up against society, pulled up her bootstraps and made something of herself with her intellect, tenacity and determination. I can see Mukerji developing a series based on Dr. Weston.

My thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the ARC. "Murder by Degrees" was published in October 2023.

What happens when a young woman is found drowned in a river? Set in 1875, this is the story of a female doctor and her quest for justice. Dr. Lydia Weston prides herself in taking care of all walks of life, but becomes concerned when one of her patients has gone missing. When the body is discovered, the circumstances around the death come into question. Was it a servent girl who overstepped her station in life, or was it an unfortunate suicide?Feels like it could be a series. Recommended.

This book wasn’t what I thought it would be. Perhaps I would have like it more had I known what I wasn’t getting myself into. Overall I would say the book was pretty good but it was no literary masterpiece in my opinion.

An absorbing mystery, the book is set in 1875 Philadelphia. Lydis Weston is a female doctor , unusual for the times. When Lydia’s help is enlisted in a complicated drowning case, the mystery deepens as one dead body leads to another missing woman. Lydia is able to uncover the truths, even though she was working against the prejudices she experienced as a woman doctor. I liked the mystery but felt since the author has a medical background, the autopsy description was a bit too realistic and gruesome for me. Otherwise, it was a good mystery with the right amount of red herrings and interesting characters.

Dr. Lydia Weston faces many challenges in Murder by Degrees. It is 1875 in Philadelphia and Dr. Weston teaches at Women's Medical College of Pennsylvania. She learns that one of her patients has drowned and is suspicious of her alleged suicide. With the aid of the patient's diary, she not only learns more about why she might have died but also about the patient herself. The police reluctantly allow Dr. Weston to assist with the investigation when she demonstrates that her clinical background and intelligence are useful. As Dr. Weston comes close to determining what happened and learning a long-held secret, she begins to receive threats. I enjoyed the book very much. I felt like I was in 1875 due to the detailed descriptions of the setting and the medical procedures as they would have been performed at that time.

I thoroughly enjoyed Murder by Degrees by Ritu Mukerji. The blend of mystery and historical fiction set in 19th century Philadelphia is captivating. Dr. Lydia Weston's character is compelling, and her determination to uncover the truth behind Anna Ward's death kept me engaged. The book's exploration of female empowerment in a male-dominated society is thought-provoking, and I appreciated the well-researched medical aspects. The use of poetry and cryptic passages added an intriguing layer to the narrative. The author's attention to detail and well-developed characters made this debut a delightful read. I look forward to more books in the series.