The Way of All Flesh - Ambrose Parry

I picked up this novel in Golden Hare Books in Edinburgh, after visiting the very intention of buying a Scotland-based novel. The Way of All Flesh was written by a husband and wife team, Chris Brookmyre (an accomplished author) and Marisa Haetzman (a consultant anaesthetist), who have assumed the pseudonym Ambrose Parry. I can only assume that Brookmyre has written the bulk of the narrative whilst Haetzman supplied the intricate medical knowledge which is laced throughout.

The novel is set in 1840s Edinburgh in which a doctor's apprentice, Will Raven, has taken up a new position with the esteemed Dr Simpson. The pair mainly attend cases of problematic childbirth, and the use of ether is prevalent as an anaesthetic, though its dangers are not fully known. At the same time, young women are mysteriously dying across the streets of Edinburgh Old Town - primarily housemaids and lowly prostitutes who will not be mourned - and turning up contorted, as though they have suffered a slow and painful death. Will Raven, accompanied by an unlikely friend, decides to investigate the murders himself at the risk of his career and whilst being pursued through the dark, gloomy streets.

The novel documents the discovery of new anaesthetic drug, chloroform, and the medical history detailed throughout is largely based on truth. Dr Simpson and his colleagues did in fact test out potential drugs by inhaling the substances around a dining room table in 1847. This is the perfect historical fiction in my eyes - murder, an atmospheric setting and some fantastic characterisation. The smog-filled, putrid smelling streets of the raucous 1840s Edinburgh Old Town are brought to life perfectly by the authors, and the story was a thrilling and suspenseful drama. I absolutely loved it!