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.
This is book 13/20 of my 20 Books of Summer.
Thanks to Canongate Books for providing a copy of this book for review via NetGalley.
She Reads Novels 
I like the background you describe and its feel of authenticity, but its the Biblically-inspired quote that sells it most, I thought — though I kept wondering why it hasn’t already been taken for a book title already? Perhaps it has, as writers can’t copyright them as they can with text.
Just checked: Samuel Butler also wrote The Way of All Flesh in the 1870s — I thought it sounded familiar!
It’s a great title and, as you say, can’t be copyrighted, so I’m not surprised it has been used before. Another interesting thing about this book is the pseudonym Ambrose Parry, which was apparently inspired by Ambroise Paré, a French surgeon from the 16th century.
Clever: I like pseudonyms with a back story, more interesting than those arrived at by sticking a pin in a telephone book. 🙂
Since I’ll be reading this soon, I’m glad to hear you enjoyed it overall. I’ll just have to shut my eyes at the gruesome bits and get lost in the streets of Auld Reekie… 😉
I’ll be interested to hear what you think of it as I haven’t seen many reviews from other bloggers yet. I’m sure you’ll cope with the gruesome bits. 🙂
Sounds like they shouldn’t have tried to write a mystery but just a historical novel that talked about the history of medicine.
It would have worked better for me that way, but I suppose mysteries are more popular. I liked it overall, though, and will probably read the next book.
This sounds intriguing and also a great present for my friend who is a midwife!
It’s fascinating and I think your friend would appreciate how much midwifery has moved on from the 1840s!
I haven’t enjoyed Brookmyre’s solo work so I have given this a miss. I do like the premise though so I may reconsider if I suddenly find myself with nothing to read😉
I haven’t read anything else by Chris Brookmyre but I suspect it was probably the Marisa Haetzman influence I liked in this book anyway.
I love the premise of this book, the cover, and the clever meaning behind the duo’s pseudonym. Too bad the gruesomeness was a bit much, and that the mystery was underwhelming. I agree that it would have worked better as historical mystery. I look forward to your review of the next entry in the series.
I think, for me, it was one of those books that sounds and looks better than it actually is. I did find the historical background fascinating, though, and I enjoyed the book enough to want to read the next one.
I love the settings and am very intrigued; but if the mystery does not work, well, not sure. I will come back to this after you have posted your review of the second book of the series! 😉
The setting and the historical background definitely worked better than the mystery for me. I did enjoy the book overall and will read the second one, but I didn’t love it as much as I’d hoped to.
Helen, I have seen this about and it has intrigued me. But reading your thoughts I don’t t think this is for me if the crime aspect, which is what I am interested in, is second place to the medical aspects. Also I am not sure I could do graphic birth descriptions lol!
I enjoyed this book overall, but it does have a lot of graphic descriptions of medical procedures, so it’s probably not for everyone!