Lord Crick has died. While convulsing. And turning yellow.
And providing his family with a gruesome corpse. Although young Lord Crick had
some health issues (i.e. the pox) and a rather nasty disposition, it really was
a ghastly and horrific death. Welcome to the world of The Anatomist’s Apprentice by Tessa Harris.
His sister Lady Lydia decides that there must be
a further investigation. The gossip against her husband Captain Flynn, who is
her brother’s heir, is becoming scandalous. On the advice of her cousin
Francis, she travels to London to meet with Dr. Thomas Silkstone, an American
physician who is working, studying and teaching with British anatomist Dr.
Carruthers. Silkstone, who is quite taken with Lady Lydia, agrees reluctantly
to exhume and examine the corpse and answer questions at the inquest.
When he is at the estate, he finds not just a house in
mourning, but a household full of secrets. Silkstone uses his primitive
forensic and toxicology skills to study the remains, but he finds more
questions than answers, and his list of suspects in the household grows. The tension swells, and the plot twists, but will Silkstone (with some help from
Carruthers) find the answers with his scientific methods before there is
another body found on the estate? Harris writes a layered tale of forensic
mystery using engaging characters who struggle with the conventions of their
time. Silkstone is wonderful as the outsider looking into their society. Can't
wait to read the next one in the series!
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