Thanks to Black Thorn press and Netgalley for a copy of The Art of Dying by Ambrose Parry in exchange for an honest review.

The Art of Dying by Ambrose Parry

Genre: Historical mystery

Publisher: Black Thorn/Canongate

Publication Date: March 4, 2021

(Hardcover previously released by Canongate in January 2020)

Blurb

Edinburgh, 1850. Despite being at the forefront of modern medicine, hordes of patients are dying all across the city, with doctors finding their remedies powerless. But it is not just the deaths that dismay the esteemed Dr James Simpson – a whispering campaign seeks to blame him for the death of a patient in suspicious circumstances.

Simpson’s protégé Will Raven and former housemaid Sarah Fisher are determined to clear their patron’s name. But with Raven battling against the dark side of his own nature, and Sarah endeavouring to expand her own medical knowledge beyond what society deems acceptable for a woman, the pair struggle to understand the cause of the deaths.

Will and Sarah must unite and plunge into Edinburgh’s deadliest streets to clear Simpson’s name. But soon they discover that the true cause of these deaths has evaded suspicion purely because it is so unthinkable. (from Amazon)

My thoughts

This book dazzled me from the beginning. I plunged into 1850 Edinburgh so deeply that it was difficult to emerge from under Ambrose Parry’s spell. I didn’t want to stop reading to eat dinner and dessert with my family. Even chocolate cake couldn’t overcome the power of this book. I gobbled up my cake in the 21st century and rushed back to the 19th century as quickly as possible. And then I was back in Edinburgh . . .

the setting

The dark streets where women didn’t dare walk. The sordid slums of the poor and beautifully-decorated parlors of the wealthy.

The social hierarchy that dictated who could marry whom. The scandal when a brave few threw off societal restraints and married for love.

The ever-present threat of dying in childbirth. The number of children who died in infancy or early childhood.

The list goes on.

I felt like I was physically there. More importantly, I was emotionally present. The tumultuous emotions swirling in the atmosphere were my emotions, the characters existed in my life, and I cared about them deeply.

the characters

I immediately liked both Sarah Fisher Banks and Will Raven. (He’s usually called Raven in the book). Sarah is smart, eager to learn about medicine, and chaffs under the social dictates for her gender. Though she and Will were romantically involved in the previous book, he refused to marry someone beneath his social class and fled to Europe to study medicine. In the meantime, she married Archie Banks, a doctor with quite egalitarian views who encourages her to study medicine.

the story

When Dr Simpson’s reputation is smeared, Raven and Sarah butt heads over the proper response. She wants to investigate; he wants to stay out of it.

I enjoyed watching the two spar over this and other issues. Even when they team up, the two don’t always work well together. Both have secrets. Both are stubborn and have huge blind spots. And Sarah’s marriage puts a barrier between them. When they need to be in agreement, too often they miss clues because they interpret them in different ways. This gives their unseen enemy an advantage, an advantage that the killer will exploit . . .

the killer

Though most of the book is told from Sarah and Will’s points of view in 3rd person, several times, the killer narrates from a 1st person point of view. Though it soon becomes obvious who this woman is, I didn’t work out how all of the elements fit together until the climax. Her voice commanded my attention. She demanded that I see her impoverished childhood, abused teenage years, the way she became who she was, even when I wanted to look away.

The Art of Dying is a beautifully-written historical mystery. The book captivated me, sweeping me away with its masterful prose, deep characters, and tight control of the plot. I thoroughly enjoyed it! Well done, Ambrose Parry.

recommended for . . .

All historical fiction readers. Historical mystery fans. People interested in medical history. Thriller fans, as long as they don’t expect adrenaline-pumping action throughout; there is some at the end! Even literary fiction readers may enjoy this, if they’re okay with more action than many literary novels have.

Want to read another historical mystery? Check out my review of The Woman in the Veil by Laura Joh Rowland.