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Summary
Summary
As a deadly cholera pandemic burns its way through Victorian London in the winter of 1866, a trailblazing female physician and a skeptical Scotland Yard detective reluctantly team up to stop a sadistic killer in this dark, atmospheric, historically rich mystery for readers of Andrea Penrose and Deanna Raynourn.
"Enthralling debut. . . Mystery, pulse‑pounding suspense and a budding romance. More, please!"-Mary Jane Clark, New York Times Bestselling Author
When a vengeful, sadistic killer terrorizes London twenty years before Jack the Ripper will stalk its same streets, an unlikely duo is prompted to investigate- one of Britain's first female physicians, Dr. Julia Lewis, and Scotland Yard's Inspector Richard Tennant, a Crimean War veteran with lingering physical and psychological wounds.
November 1866- The grisly murder site in London's East End is thronged with onlookers. None of them expect the calmly efficient young woman among them to be a medical doctor, arrived to examine the corpse. Inspector Richard Tennant, overseeing the investigation, at first makes no effort to disguise his skepticism. But Dr. Julia Lewis is accustomed to such condescension . . .
To study medicine, Julia had to leave Britain, where universities still bar their doors to women, and travel to America. She returned home to work in her grandfather's practice-and to find London in the grip of a devastating cholera epidemic. In four years, however, she has seen nothing quite like this-a local clergyman's body sexually mutilated and displayed in a manner that she-and Tennant-both suspect is personal.
Days later, another body is found with links to the first, and Tennant calls in Dr. Lewis again. The murderer begins sending the police taunting letters and tantalizing clues-though the trail leads in multiple directions, from London's music halls to its grim workhouses and dank sewers. Lewis and Tennant struggle to understand the killer's dark obsessions and motivations. But there is new urgency, for the doctor's role appears to have shifted from expert to target. And this killer is no impulsive monster, but a fiendishly calculating opponent, determined to see his plan through to its terrifying conclusion . . .
Author Notes
Patrice McDonough is a former educator who taught history for more than three decades. A member of the Historical Writers of America, the Mystery Writers of America, and the Historical Novel Society, she splits her time between New Jersey and the Florida Gulf Coast. Please visit her online at PatriceMcDOnough1789.com.
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
McDonough's run-of-the-mill debut finds a pioneering female physician in Victorian England enmeshed in a murder mystery. A legal loophole allowing doctors with foreign accreditation to practice medicine in England has benefited Julia Lewis, who's recently returned to London after completing medical school in the United States. She gets a chance to put her training to use when her grandfather, Dr. Andrew Lewis, is unable to fulfill his summons to a gruesome crime scene at a construction site, and Julia takes his place. There she meets Scotland Yard Insp. Richard Tennant, who shows her the corpse of Reverend Tobias Atwater, "a tireless champion of the downtrodden" who's been found dead with his genitals mutilated. Atwater proves to be the first in a string of savage slayings linked by a punctured balloon concealed in the victims' clothing, one of which contains a note that casts doubt on Tennant's arrest and execution of the infamous Railway Killer several years earlier. Terrified that the Railway Killer is still at large and impressed by Julia's observations in the Atwater case, Tennant recruits her to help him solve the recent murders. McDonough delivers a competent whodunit, but little about the characters or the setting is memorable. Readers intrigued by the premise of a historical mystery centered on a woman physician should check out E.S. Thomson's Jem Flockhart series for a fresher take. Agent: Jim Donovan, Jim Donovan Literary. (Mar.)
Kirkus Review
An unusually violent and methodical killer terrorizes 1866 London in McDonough's debut. D.I. Richard Tennant has just received evidence that Franz Meyer, a tailor hanged two years ago, may not have been the Railway Murderer after all, and he's in no mood for another round of serial homicide. Unfortunately, that's exactly what the murder of Rev. Tobias Atwater, found dead and castrated inside a sewer pipe, kicks off. As if he and his sergeant, Jonathan Graves, hadn't troubles enough, Dr. Andrew Lewis, the doctor he'd asked to examine the body, has been laid low by heart disease and has sent his granddaughter instead. Julia Lewis is a fully qualified physician, but she took her medical degree in far-off Philadelphia, and she's a female who has no business climbing around filthy places examining corpses. Predictably, Julia turns out to be filled with a wide range of progressive attitudes that would make her right at home in the 21st century, and predictably, her sparring with Tennant gradually develops into something more complicated, even though Julia tells her aristocratic great-aunt that "marriage with him would not be a companionable union of equals." But McDonough keeps the pace brisk as the body count rises, each corpse physically violated, each discovered with a balloon, amid a series of increasingly disturbing revelations about the calamitous effects of the cholera outbreak that began back in 1832 and has returned repeatedly with a vengeance--just like the malefactor whom cheeky Illustrated London News reporter Johnny Osborne prematurely dubs "the music-hall murderer." The spree of period murders, capped by a welcome surprise, provides the perfect backdrop for debates about gender politics. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
On a gray November London day in 1866, Dr. Julia Lewis is called away from her clinic to be the medical examiner for a particularly grisly murder. DI Tennant and his team expected her grandfather to attend but let her proceed. Another victim, with similar mutilation, is found a few days later, and Tennant calls for Julia. Then taunting letters, written in florid purple handwriting, arrive on Tennant's desk, one raising questions about a case he had solved early in his tenure. The connection between the serial murders--a clergyman, a city-waterworks executive, then a drag performer--eludes Tennant and Julia, whose insights he has come to respect. Worse, the murderer seems to be one step ahead of DI Tennant and Scotland Yard. Woven through the investigation are discussions of Julia's work with cholera victims, the efforts of the city to ensure a safe water supply, the agonies of the poor sent to the workhouses, and the seedier side of music-hall entertainment. Fans of Anne Perry's William Monk series will enjoy this well-researched first novel.
Library Journal Review
DEBUT This atmospheric, strong debut features two intriguing lead characters. After medical school in Philadelphia, Dr. Julia Lewis is one of Britain's first woman physicians. In 1866, that's still so unusual that Scotland Yard Inspector Richard Tennant is appalled when Dr. Lewis, and not her grandfather, shows up to help at his crime scene. Although this is her first crime scene, Dr. Lewis capably handles the gruesome murder. It's only the first of several, as a serial killer taunts Tennant with handwritten notes. Tennant, his team, and Dr. Lewis attempt to connect the victims through lifestyles and workhouses. As the working-class and poverty-stricken people of London suffer from cholera and typhus, and Dr. Lewis tries to help them, she gets closer and closer to a murderer who is watching. Although she doesn't fit the killer's M.O., a twisted mind can find its own pattern. While Scotland Yard looks in other directions, Julia's guesses about a troubled childhood are the clues that ultimately lead to a surprising villain, one too close for comfort. VERDICT Fans of Victorian mysteries, medical mysteries, and detective duos will appreciate this historical suspense. Suggest for fans of Andrea Penrose or Ritu Mukerji's debut.--Lesa Holstine
