The Way of All Flesh

Written by Ambrose Parry

Narrated by Louise Brealey and Bryan Dick

A vivid and gripping historical crime novel set in 19th century Edinburgh, cowritten by bestselling author Chris Brookmyre and consultant anaesthetist Dr Marisa Haetzman

Edinburgh, 1847. Will Raven is a medical student, apprenticing for the brilliant and renowned Dr Simpson. Sarah Fisher is Simpson’s housemaid, and has all of Raven’s intelligence but none of his privileges.

As bodies begin to appear across the Old Town, Raven and Sarah find themselves propelled headlong into the darkest shadows of Edinburgh’s underworld. And if either of them are to make it out alive, they will have to work
together to find out who’s responsible for the gruesome deaths.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
• Release date: Jul 20, 2021
• ISBN: 9781705042298

Ambrose Parry

Ambrose Parry is a pseudonym for a collaboration between Chris Brookmyre and Marisa Haetzman. The couple are married and live in Scotland. Chris Brookmyre is the international bestselling and multi-award-winning author of twenty-one novels, including Black Widow, winner of both the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year and the McIlvanney Prize for Scottish Crime Novel of the Year. Dr Marisa Haetzman is a consultant anaesthetist of twenty years’ experience, whose research for her Master’s degree in the History of Medicine uncovered the material upon which this novel was based.

Reviews for The Way of All Flesh

[jillcurrie_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I loved this book. It has a great combination of all my favourite ingredients: pitch perfect characterisation, vibrant sense of place, a driving plot and a clearly depicted historical setting. Set against the backdrop of medical developments in anaesthesia and childbirth, this felt a fresh take on historical mysteries. I could not put it down and can’t wait for Ambrose Parry’s next offering.

[quondame · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

The authors took an interesting period and local and used them with all the finesse of a ham bone. The fictional characters are not likable with better than their times internal monologues and for all Edinburgh seems fascinating outside of this story, they have managed to completely miss adding any of that to this book.

[sandyamcpherson · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This mystery and the historical setting of 1840's London really worked well for me. The characters were idiosyncratic and well-developed, especially Will Raven and Sarah Fisher. The adventure felt very credible, the medical difficulties of difficult births amongst the poor all too real, but handled sensitively by the authors.While it became somewhat obvious who the culprit was, the story was engrossing and the outcome absolutely fitting. I loved the twist at the end. Recommended for those who love historical fiction and can cope with the portrayal of life in the reality of the mid-19th century.

[maryreinert · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is Victorian Nancy Drew in gruesome Edinburgh Scotland along with her sidekick, Will Raven. Raven is really the main character in this book which is easily read, a page turner in places, yet overall pretty historically accurate. Will has become an apprentice to the well-respected Dr. Simpson who delivers babies and takes care of women. The book opens with a dead prostitute who was a friend of Will's. Will borrows money to help her out of some kind of trouble before she turns up dead. The loan sharks rough Will up and he begins his apprenticeship with a horrible wound to the head. Dr. Simpson's house includes his unmarried sister-in-law, Mina, and a housemaid, Sarah Fisher who first dislikes Will, but soon they become "partners" in searching out the truth behind the deaths of several young women. Along the way, there is much about chloroform, ether, abortion, and methods of delivering babies (many of which are brutal). It is an interesting look at the time when medicine was experimental and poor patients were often the subjects. This isn't particularly deep, the characters are not particularly well-drawn, but it still has an appeal for a summer's day read on the porch.

[thiscatsabroad · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Given the book´s setting, focus on class struggles, & the subject of women´s reproductive rights et al., I wanted it to be better than it was. It took a *long* time before the actual story kickstarted, & I was tempted to toss the book aside on several occasions. I´m glad that I kept with it although I could easily have done without the inevitable sexual chemistry bteween the 2 protagonists (the female being head & shoulders more interesting than her male counterpart). As much as I enjoyed the character of the housemaid, well read or not, she spoke like a 40-year old who was born with a silver spoon in her mouth. All in all, a good yarn.

[helenliz_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The first in a detective series featuring a young apprentice midwife and his mentor's housemaid. They both have issues to deal with, hers is being clever and stuck in position of housemaid, his is a torbulent past that may or may not include murdering his father. It's a lot to take in at once. They join forces reluctantly in order to uncover what has bene happening to cause young women to be dying in contorted positions with evidemce of abortions. Set in Edinburgh, the place is as much a character as the people in the book. It was fun, the pace accelerated and there was an interesting array of people, a mixture of classes presented. The only thing that annoyed me is I can quite happily work with male colleagues without wanting to jump them, so why is it any male/female double act always includes a sexual attraction. It's not necessary, really it's not! Despite that, I can see myself looking out book 2.

[nbmars · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This historical crime novel is set in the Victorian Era, specifically in 1847 Edinburgh, Scotland. Will Raven, 19, is newly apprenticed to the eminent physician James Simpson (an actual figure from real life), who specialized in gynecology, or as it was known then, midwifery.When the story begins, Will has just discovered the death of a prostitute, Evie Lawson, a woman he first encountered as her customer but then befriended. Will had come to visit her and found her corpse in a gruesome state of contortion. Will fled from the scene lest he be implicated, but became obsessed with finding out what happened to Evie. He knew the police would have no interest in investigating the fate of “just another deid hoor” as one officer dismissed the case.Before her death, Evie had made a desperate plea to Will for money. He didn’t know what it was for, but having few resources of his own, he borrowed from a less-than-savory money lender to help her. The night before he was to begin his apprenticeship, goons working for the money lender caught up with him on the street and cut his face to show they were serious about getting repaid.Dr. Simpson takes Will along with him on the many emergency calls he receives, and has Will administer ether to patients whose families allow it. Some don’t; there was a great deal of prejudice at the time against anesthesia, mostly from religious quarters. As Will recapitulated their objections for his friend Henry, a surgical intern:“Pain in labour is natural, a manifestation of the life force, an ordinance from the Almighty and therefore painless childbirth is unnatural and improper. Under the influence of anaesthesia, some women have been heard to use obscene and disgusting language - words that they should never have had the opportunity to hear - which of course means that it is wrong ever to employ it.”At any rate, ether had its dangers, and Dr. Simpson was ever on the lookout for a safer method to produce a reversible insensibility during surgery.Sarah Fisher was a housemaid at the Simpson’s and also assisted with Dr. Simpson’s clinic. At first she found Will arrogant - albeit admittedly good-looking - but hoped he would eventually learn that she could be a valuable asset to him. Indeed, he does; Sarah is very bright and capable.Nevertheless, Sarah is constantly told it is only appropriate for a man to do certain things.Speaking of her male peers, Sarah mused:“Given the same chance, she was confident she would excel over any of them, so it stung when all they saw was a housemaid.”She thought Will, too, exhibited “the male trait of believing the world revolved around them, usually because it did.”The women in the Simpson household have accepted the hegemony of men, telling Sarah that “a woman’s God-given role is to be a wife and mother.” Thus, Sarah noted, women were “encouraged to fuss over fripperies as they concerned themselves with how they might adorn themselves the better to please men.” At the same time, they were excoriated for employing these same fripperies to "tempt" men to engage in “sinful” behavior.Before long, the bodies other women - mostly from the lower class, were discovered in the same contorted throes of death as Evie had suffered. Sarah and Will began to work together to solve the mystery of what was happening.The authors conclude with a Historical Note, in which they state that many of the characters and incidents depicted are based on real events and real people, and they provide examples.Discussion: Much of the plot turns on two medical controversies swirling at the time; as indicated above, one involved the use of anesthesia during surgery - especially during childbirth - and the other involved the supervision of women’s bodies by men. Alas, over 170 years later, in August 2019, I came across this in an article:"Women’s bodies are one of the biggest political battlegrounds of our time. What should in many ways be personal – a woman’s body – is instead political. The assault ranges from the recent clampdown on family planning in the United States (and its global gag rule prohibiting funding for international family-planning organisations that discuss or offer abortion), to new repressive restrictions on clothing, including ‘burqa bans’, or new laws in a growing number of European countries that aim to abolish women’s ability to monetise their bodies. Everyone, it seems, has a view on what women should or shouldn’t be doing with their own bodies."Moreover, the article continues:"Still, today, almost one in two pregnancies globally are not intended, and more than 200 million women worldwide who would like to control their fertility have no access to birth-control technology. . . . In the US, the assault on family planning includes headline-grabbing changes to abortion law in certain states, renewed offensives on Planned Parenthood, an organisation that provides birth control and sexual health services for millions of the poorest women in the US . . . .”It should be noted that Ambrose Parry is the pseudonym for the married couple Chris Brookmyre and Marisa Haetzman. Brookmyre has written over twenty novels for which he has won a number of awards, and Dr. Haetzman is a consultant anesthetist. The information provided on the authors explained that Dr. Haetzman uncovered the material for this novel while doing research for her Master’s degree in the History of Medicine.Evaluation: Although there were two authors writing this novel (see Discussion, above), the writing was seamless. The Edinburgh setting appealed to me, as well as the evolution of the main characters. There were a number of twists, and the ending caught me completely by surprise.It turns out that this book is to be the first in a series, with Benedict Cumberbatch’s production company SunnyMarch already pre-empting the television rights. I’m delighted to hear it; I look forward to returning to these characters as well as to Victorian Edinburgh and the history of medicine.

[kristymk18-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Way of All Flesh is a great historical fiction crime novel. Parry (a husband and wife writing duo) combine his years of writing mysteries and her expertise as a doctor to create a fascinating book starring Will Raven, a medical student turned amateur detective. Raven is joined by housemaid Sarah, and together they go about looking for clues of the death of Raven's friend, Evie, and soon others. Parry does a great job detailing 1847 Edinburgh and at the medical procedures of that time. You get completely immersed in the descriptions they wrote. It is clearly a well-researched piece of fiction, one that I believe historical fiction and mystery lovers alike will enjoy.

[marmie7-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I received this book in exchange for a review. A historical crime novel interwoven with medical mysteries, my kind of novel! The characters were well written. Sarah was my favorite, strong , independent, inquisitive. The romance wasn't over the top, which I appreciated.I enjoyed reading about this era,the struggles of women, medical discoveries. The ending-loved it! I hope to read more from these authors in the future.

[toobusyreading · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This mystery is quite dark, a little too dark for me. Set in mid-19th Century Edinburgh, the period feel and language of the book is wonderful. I liked that the protagonist Raven had both flaws and goodness. And, of course, there is an intrepid heroine, in this case, a housemaid, Sarah. I cared about them There were suspicious deaths but the mystery was not as strong as it could have been, although there were some red herrings thrown out. The mystery is in a medical setting, and some of the treatments and descriptions were quite gruesome and brutal. That was hard for me to read. But the experiments with the newly used ether and chloroform were interesting. Quite a nice mystery if you can set aside your empathy.

[jamespurcell · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A good look at Edinburgh medical world when it was the cutting edge for innovation and experimentation. A medical apprentice and a bright earnest housemaid team up to track a poisonous killer. Lots of insights into the art and practice of medicine at a time when religion and culture align against new procedures and practices. Characterization is solid and the story moves along nicely.

[strongstuff · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This novel is a smart and engaging tour of Victorian Edinburgh, rife with danger around every foggy corner. Our heroes are Raven, a young doctor, and Sarah, maid at the household where he is apprenticed. In pursuit of a charlatan taking advantage of women at the fringe of society, Raven and Sarah are participants in the era’s medical developments as well as the timeless barriers that women face, both in seeking an education and in the ability to control their own reproductive choices. I greatly enjoyed the entwining of fiction and fact; several characters and their historic discoveries walk right out of the medical history books. There is also a delightful map of old Edinburgh in the preliminary pages. There are a number of characters to keep track of and I sometimes wished the chapters weren’t quite so short, but overall this was a memorable and thoughtful mystery to recline with.

[larxol_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This The Way of All Flesh shares a setting in the early Victorian period with Samuel Butler’s novel of the same name, but apart from an examination of the hypocrisy of the times, little else. This book has the structure of a noir murder mystery in Edinburgh, seen from the viewpoints of a young medical student and a maid in the household where he holds an apprenticeship. The two main characters are a natural for author “Ambrose Parry,” in reality Scottish mystery writer Chris Brookmyre and his wife, Marisa Haetzman, an anesthetist with a master’s degree in medical history. Brookmyre’s experience as a writer shows through in clean, straightforward story-telling here, while his partner’s knowledge illuminates the state of medicine, and mid-wifery in particular, in mid-19th Century Edinburgh.
I found the book a little heavy on the local color and technical descriptions, at the expense of the actual mystery, which resolved itself predictably. Some of the passing comments on feminism clanged a bit anachronistic.

[sunqueen_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

If you like the Victorian time period, you will most likely enjoy this book. Well written story set in Scotland, interesting tale of doctors, medical research at the time, and murder.

[lauriebrown54 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

In 1847, Will Raven has just been accepted as an assistant under the supervision of Dr. James Simpson. Simpson was a real person, an obstetrician who pioneered the use of anesthesia for childbirth. This granted him a room in the Dr.’s house to live in, which was a good thing as Raven already owes money to a gang of violent thugs who want their money NOW. Right before he moves, Raven finds his friend, Evie, a prostitute, dead- and it wasn’t an easy death. Evidence says she died in agony. Raven wants to find out how and why she died thus. Also living in Simpson’s house is the maid Sarah Fisher, who, when housework doesn’t prevent it, works for the doctor doing paperwork and concocting treatments. She dreams of becoming an apothecary, but her gender prevents this. Raven finds himself working in the clinic Simpson runs out of his house, going on house calls with the doctor, and trying to find time to find out why young women are dying like Evie did. Sarah finds herself caught up in this, also. This is an incredibly detailed novel. The authors (Parry is the pseudonym for a husband and wife writing team) present Victorian Edinburgh, both Old Town and New Town, in all its filthy, class stratified, glory. There is a great deal of medical detail- amputations without anesthesia, complicated childbirths, how homeopathy was killing people. It was a time without many real cures for anything, and medical research could be as sloppy as the doctors sitting around sniffing chloroform to see what it did. It was a frightening time to need medical care! While I appreciated the details, some may find certain scenes too gory, like the childbirth where the child was positioned wrong to come out. I found myself sunk deeply into the story and the time and place (while I love Victorian London, it was nice to have a change of venue), but the story wandered. The medical history, while fascinating, over powered the crime story- at times I forgot all about the murders. There are a lot of side tracks. If you want a tight murder mystery, this isn’t going to be for you. Personally, I was happy to follow along all the plot lines and side tracks. Four and a half stars.

[danfango-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

What a pleasant surprise. Getting a free early reviewer book and absolutely loving it. An unusual, interesting story and written in language that takes you back to the mid 18th hundreds. I was afraid that the medical procedure descriptions would be too graphic for my taste, but they didn't really bother me. The authors use subtlety well, and allow you to let your imagination work.While reading it, I thought it would be a 5 star rating, but after finishing it, the ending let me down a little, thus the 4 stars. Thank you for the opportunity to review this book.

[karenherndon · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was an early review free book- thank you.I loved this book.If you like historical fiction (time period rather than people), a mystery, great characters and generally a really fun fast moving read, this is for you.Centers around Edinburgh 1847, a medical student and a mystery of whose killing several young women. I am surprised I haven’t seen this book promoted anywhere since I believe it’s on the shelves already?I recommend it.

[janerawoof · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Fascinating novel set in 19th century Scotland-- a medical mystery in which an apprentice doctor to a famous doctor/"male midwife" and a housemaid together solve the murders of young women dying all over Edinburgh in strange circumstances. The victims give off no whiff of suspected poison and they die in agony with contorted limbs. We get a view into the world of 19th century medicine: the use [and misuse?] of ether and the discovery of chloroform to ease childbirth pain.

[ouroborosangel · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Way of All Flesh is a twisty mystery and a historical thriller set in Scotland in the mid-1850s. If you know anything of Scotland at that time, you will know that Edinburgh had become the seat of medical innovation. This story is set when the use of anesthetic concoctions were just beginning to be formulated, tested and used on patients. There are plenty of fascinating medical tidbits to satisfy those with an interest in the macabre history of medicine, and it was nice to read them embedded in a work of fiction.

The story also revolves around a young apprentice doctor and a housemaid determined to rise above her station. They both work with a lauded obstetrician who is at the forefront in using new techniques in the hopes of better survival rates for mothers and babies. Unfortunately, there is someone killing working women - housemaids and prostitutes - who find themselves in the "family way" and looking to remedy the situation. This, and the sketchy backgrounds of a couple of the physicians introduced in the book, make for an intense read.

This is an interesting, well-written book by two authors, Chris Brookmyre and Marisa Haetzman, writing under a pseudonym. I will definitely be picking up any other books they collaborate on. Check it out in October when it is available for purchase!

(A preview copy of this book was provided by the publisher.)

[darcia_10 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I wish I could share the love for this book that's being expressed by the majority of early reviewers. Unfortunately, while there are certainly some glowing aspects to this story, I didn't enjoy the overall execution.I'll start with the pros: The research is impressive. From the major issues right down to the minor details, I felt like I was there in 19th century Edinburgh. We see some fascinating and appalling aspects of early medical treatments, particularly regarding women's care. Most of the characters are well developed and interesting.Now for the stuff I consider cons:The writing style becomes tedious, with long-winded narration and repetition. We are beat over the head with certain aspects, such as Sarah's desire to break out of her role as housemaid and Raven's desperation to fit in with the upper class. The repetition lessened my emotional response and dramatically slowed the story's pace.Given the book's description and marketing, I expected a historical crime story. But the murders are immensely overshadowed by the medical pursuits and relationship dynamics. This is far more a historical drama about doctors and their treatment of patients than it is a crime story. The storyline about the murders is quite thin. Consequently, by the time we get around the the killer and the big reveal, it isn't a surprise at all.If you enjoy historical drama, then you'll probably love this book. If you're looking for a faster paced historical crime novel, this might not be it.*I received a copy from the publisher, via Amazon Vine, in exchange for my honest review.*

[debtat2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book was brought further into life for me as I was up in Edinburgh last week on holiday so it seemed the perfect time to bring it forward to the top of my skyscraper of a TBR pile!! And also, today is publication day for this gem of a book Having done some of the touristy things we went and saw the Edinburgh Dungeons and The Real Mary King’s Close tour to see the rooms, streets and spaces underneath the famous Royal Mile, and Edinburgh’s only preserved 17th century street, so even though that was 2 centuries further back in time to when this novel is set it still went a massive way to bringing the past even further into my cozy reading chair!!Set in 1840’s Edinburgh, when Edinburgh led the world in the field of medicine, in both medical practices and procedures and also pioneering drugs and anaesthetics.As well as being a historical medical thriller it also brings to life Dr Simpson who was a real, pioneering figure of the time. Wanting to find better drugs and anaesthetics for his patients we get some great scenes of the research done by these medical practitioners of old which included nights spent with some of the city’s top surgeons sitting round the dinner table sampling various substances looking to find the perfect anaesthetic!!Dr Simpson makes his discovery of chloroform following some of these sampling sessions ?The plot is simply brilliant full of twists and turns, and some great characters, especially Sarah and Raven. They stole the show for me. Will Raven is a young medical student recently apprenticed to Dr Simpson and Sarah, a housemaid for Dr Simpson who has her own ambitions to work in medicine herself, despite their being little opportunity to do so for those born the ‘inferior sex’ as well as her social status.When a couple of young women are found dead in similar suspicious circumstances, Sarah and Raven take it upon themselves to investigate the deaths as they both fear a more unscrupulous doctor operating illegally and naturally their investigations lead them into a whole host of trouble!The medical reality in 1847 is horrifically compelling with some fairly narly procedures described throughout the book but they haven’t just been thrown in for a gross out factor, they serve a purpose and bring the story further to life.Blending a historical tale with an intriguing mystery and even a little splash of romance this book really does have something for everyone.If you are a fan of historical fiction or maybe interested in medical procedures and their histories you really don’t want to miss this book. I will go as far as to say that this is by far, hands down, the best historical fiction book you will read this year!!And now for the cherry on top of the cake – It’s the first in a new series ? The only downside to that is the wait for the sequel to hit the shelves ?I’m already looking forward to it and can’t wait!!And if you need an even bigger cherry on top to read this book, well apparently there are already rumours flying around that it is set to become a tv series starring Benedict Cumberbatch!! ?The Way of All Flesh was published today 30th Aug 18 and you can grab a copy now