The Death of Shame
Ambrose Parry
427 pages
Published June 5th, 2025
Canongate Books
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This is the fifth and (sadly) final book in the fabulous Raven & Fisher series set in Victorian era Edinburgh. While each is a standalone mystery, I highly recommend reading them all in order for the character evolution and background subplots. I’ve loved how they feature real historical characters, like famous obstetrician James Young Simpson, and pioneering physician Emily Blackwell, in amongst the fictional characters, and how Edinburgh itself is such an important part of the stories, with its inseparable glamour and darkness, as true now as it was then.
It’s 1854, and Will Raven has finally branched out into his own practice, but is struggling to attract patients, much to the displeasure of his depressed wife Eugenie. Then he is asked to visit the scene of a suicide and discovers to his horror that the dead man is his father in law – what could’ve driven wealthy physician Cameron Todd to take his own life? Meanwhile Sarah, still training to be a doctor in secret, in the hope that the rules change, is disturbed to learn that her niece has disappeared after moving to the city for work – and no one in the police cares.
Ambrose Parry is the pseudonym of bestselling Scottish crime writer Christopher Brookmyre – one of my favourite authors – and his wife, anaesthetist Marisa Haetzman. The mix of perfect mystery plotting and accurate medical minutiae and history are irresistible to me as a crime fiction loving graduate of Edinburgh’s medical school. This caps off an amazing series and while I’m sorry it’s ending, I admire the authors for quitting while they’re winning. (And am happy that Brookmyre’s contemporary hero Jack Parlabane is returning, so that’s a silver lining and a half.)
The afterword to this explains which parts of the plot are based on real events – the technological advances that made some of it possible, and the hypocritical Victorian attitudes that permitted certain crimes to flourish. At the heart of this series is the wonderful relationship between Will & Sarah – a solid friendship complicated by impossible love between two people both destined to be doctors, but one prevented from practising because of her sex. This one brings their story to a worthy conclusion. Thanks to Canongate books and NetGalley for the ARC.
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