Preamble
Check out my short story collection of cosy mysteries featuring Victorian “lady detective” Meinir Davies; order now! Or, if you’re a particular Edinburgh enthusiast, try my novella Researcher Wanted, available on Kindle.
Review
I’m grateful to the publisher and author for an Advanced Reader Copy of this novel via NetGalley.
Victorian Edinburgh. I’ve covered a bit of the summary of why this is fantastic setting for historical detective fiction featuring medical professionals (and aspiring female medical professionals) in my review of Carole Lawrence’s Edinburgh Twilight.
First, to the history. This book also introduces a few more real-life characters into the mix, covered a short epilogue, including Emily Blackwell, one of the first female doctors, and the Butlers, a reference to Josephine Butler and her campaigning for women’s rights. There is even a thrilling fire set at one of the Butlers’ anti-prostitution meetings, echoing the fire set at one of Butler’s meetings against the Contagious Diseases Acts 1866 and 1869 (more about which you can read in Kate Morgan’s The Walnut Tree).
We are here in 1854, so Parry brings forward a number of specific concerns, particularly around the “white slave trade” panics of the 1880s, in both Brussels and the UK, where the panic was led by WT Stead’s “Maiden Tribute” articles (also discussed briefly in the epilogue). The difference here is that while Stead’s articles were almost entirely fictitious, an early example of journalistic “truthiness” (mis)shaping societal responses, Parry’s Edinburgh contains precisely the sort of exploitation he had in mind.
So, to the fiction. As the above indicates, this book falls into one of the historical fiction types most likely to give me the ick: those focused on child sexual exploitation. It’s a dash of the plot of Taken, plus Ripper Street, mixed with a take on Sherlock Holmes’ most deplored crime, blackmail. However, the sexual exploitation is a fairly small element of the overall whole.
Unlike some end-of-series books, this one is not overlong (perhaps one of the many blessings of the genre!). The pacing is a little slow in places, despite the intertwining plot lines, but this might be because I’m not familiar with the intricacies of the characters and their interrelationships from the previous books, so may have been missing something. This book was given up to some of the romantic entanglements between the protagonists in a way that will have been obviously necessary for long-term readers, but does still help to advance the plot.
There is occasionally an antiquated diction somewhat foreign to the period’s best fiction, which exacerbates the slow pacing. For example: “It had looked a thoroughly unpromising premises from the outside, and yet the meeting room within still managed to disappoint”. (Try instead, “From the outside, the premises looked thoroughly unpromising. Still, the meeting room managed to disappoint.” 25% shorter and easier to read.) In places, this isn’t too burdensome, but it can be stodgy when this sort of thing persists, and I did find that I’d started to skim a little before we got a third of the way through.
Overall, the plotting was pretty effective. There were one or two twists and turns that were predictable but still satisfying, and one or two turns not taken that were pleasing! I enjoyed the two primary leads, but I’m not sure I was fixed enough by them to start the series from scratch. Still, this was a good stand-alone read and will no doubt satisfy those who’ve been following Sarah and Will all the way along!
See also
These lists capture other stories and characters that I thought of as I was reading this piece. I won’t explain why, to avoid spoilers, but they’re associations and not ‘if you liked this, then you’ll love…’ recommendations!
- The Wages of Sin (Kaite Welsh)
- Edinburgh Twilight (Carole Lawrence)
- David Ashton’s James McLevy novels
- Mortal Mischief (Frank Tallis)
- The Black Drop (Leonora Nattrass)
Take a look at my short story collection featuring Victorian “lady detective” Meinir Davies; order now!
Dominique Gracia 
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