A Corruption of Blood

by Ambrose Parry

5 out of 5

Synopsis

Edinburgh. This city will bleed you dry.

Dr Will Raven is a man seldom shocked by human remains, but even he is disturbed by the contents of a package washed up at the Port of Leith. Stranger still, a man Raven has long detested is pleading for his help to escape the hangman.

Back in the townhouse of Dr James Simpson, Sarah Fisher has set her sights on learning to practise medicine. Almost everyone seems intent on dissuading her from this ambition, but when word reaches her that a woman has recently obtained a medical degree despite her gender, Sarah decides to seek her out.

Raven’s efforts to prove his former adversary’s innocence are failing and he desperately needs Sarah’s help. Putting their feelings for one another aside, their investigations take them to both extremes of Edinburgh’s social divide, where they discover that wealth and status cannot alter a fate written in the blood.

Review

Dr Raven and Sarah have two seperate mysteries to solve; and as much as they hate to admit it, they always work better together.

I received a free copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is the third book in the Raven, Fisher and Simpson series. I've read the first book, but not the second - it was very easy to pick back up, but I definitely want to read The Art of Dying now.

The narrative is still split between Will Raven and Sarah Fisher.

Will is thinking to his future as a doctor, and starts to court Eugenie - a bold young woman who would make the perfect doctor's wife.

When Eugenie's childhood friend is arrested for the murder of his father; she implores Will to investigate and find the truth.

Sarah returns from visiting her hero - Dr Elizabeth Blackwell - and finds everything is changing in the Simpson household. One new addition is housemaid Christina, whose child has gone missing whilst in the care of a dubious Mrs King.

Which may unfortunately be connected to the dead babies found by the river...

This was quite slow to get started, and focussed a lot on Will Raven - his current work and his social aspirations. He's involved in the discovery of a dead baby wrapped in parcel paper, and he unofficially helps where he can in that investigation, as well as that into the innocence of his fiancee's friend, Gideon.

I found it interesting to follow Will as he searches for the truth. He has to put his personal dislike for Gideon aside, and work out whether the lazy rich man's son is capable of murder.

After really enjoying the characters of Sarah and Dr Simpson in the first book, I was a little disappointed at how small a role they played in the first half.

After the events of the second book (which I admit that I haven't read yet), Sarah is a shadow of her former self. She is newly-widowed and finds there is a great deal of freedom afforded to her now. She tracks down her hero Elizabeth Blackwell - the first British female doctor.

Upon her return, Sarah realises that she no longer fits in her old life, and struggles to find her true place. This is made worse by the news that Will is engaged.

I can relate to Sarah throughout her chapters, but they were very slow, until she starts to work on the mystery of Christina's missing son.

In the second half, we get to see more of the old Sarah.

Poor Dr Simpson was definitely a background character. Which was disappointing after how colourful he was in the first book.

Anyway, by the second half, the pace had picked up, as Will and Sarah follow their respective mysteries.

I really enjoyed following the stories, guessing where it would take us.

The story of the poor children was particularly hard-hitting. The role of women was so restrictive at the time, and they were solely to blame for any children out of wedlock. You could sense how desperate these women are - that they would put there children in the care of Mrs King, because it was the only way to survive.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book, and I'm intrigued how Sarah and Will's 'friendship' will cope now that Eugenie is firmly in the picture.

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