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The Way of All Flesh

Raven, Fisher and Simpson, Book 1

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About this listen

Edinburgh, 1847. City of Medicine, Money, Murder.

Young women are being discovered dead across the Old Town, all having suffered similarly gruesome ends. In the New Town, medical student Will Raven is about to start his apprenticeship with the brilliant and renowned Dr Simpson.

Simpson's patients range from the richest to the poorest of this divided city. His house is like no other, full of visiting luminaries and daring experiments in the new medical frontier of anaesthesia. It is here that Raven meets housemaid Sarah Fisher, who recognises trouble when she sees it and takes an immediate dislike to him. She has all of his intelligence but none of his privileges, in particular his medical education.

With each having their own motive to look deeper into these deaths, Raven and Sarah find themselves propelled headlong into the darkest shadows of Edinburgh's underworld, where they will have to overcome their differences if they are to make it out alive.

©2018 Ambrose Parry (P)2018 Canongate Books Ltd Crime Thrillers Historical Mystery Thriller & Suspense Fiction Crime Thriller Exciting Scary

Critic reviews

"Parry's Victorian Edinburgh comes vividly alive - and it's a world of pain." (Val McDermid)
"Menacing, witty and ingeniously plotted, Ambrose Parry’s debut draws you into the dark heart of nineteenth-century Edinburgh and won’t let you go until the final page." (S.J. Parris)
"Utterly compelling, this tale of Old Edinburgh is so full of characters and startling incident that I never wanted it to end." (Denise Mina)
All stars
Most relevant
Incredibly interesting & well researched historical crime novel. Great narrators. Really looking forward to the next in the series.

Superb historical fiction

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Thoroughly enjoyed listening to this excellent and exciting book, it successfully leads you into the story and gets you really involved

Excellent gripping story

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loved it! was included in membership so discovered by accident. now ready to listen to book 2

great book

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I absolutely loved this as a paperback. As an audio book it is let down by part of the narrating. I scored the performance 3☆, an average taken from Bryan Dick's 5☆ and Louise Brealey's 1☆.

terrific story

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This is a decent tale of 1840’s Edinburgh and early surgical and midwifery practice, with a little nefariousness thrown in for good measure. I look forward to more in the series.

On the downside, there is the female narrator. Her voice has a terrible nasal quality and the affected Scottish accent consistently jars with odd vowels. She also garbles too many long sentences, apparently having run out of breath. Those chapters are really quite uncomfortable to listen to, and lie in stark contrast to the excellent narration by the male reader.

Decent

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