Anatomy of Deception

I don’t read a lot of mysteries. Those that I do read must bring something extra to the plate. I enjoy the Amelia Peabody series by Elizabeth Peters for its humor and Egyptian atmosphere. I like the Jade Del Cameron series by Suzanne Arruda for its exotic African surroundings, and I love the Phryne Fisher series by Kerry Greenwood for its 1920s feel and feisty heroine. Recently a co-worker who enjoys the same historical fiction I do urged me to read The Anatomy of Deception. It is a mystery by Lawrence Goldstone but has the intriguing background of a 1889 Philadelphia medical school. It is billed as forensic thriller. Things were very different then, doctors operated in street clothes with bare hands, anesthesia was still an uncertain, dangerous science, the theory of antisepsis was just being explored, and autopsies had just been legalized. Young doctor Ephraim Carroll is studying under the brilliant William Osler when he stumbles into the mystery of the beautiful girl’s corpse that disappears from the Dead Room, a.k.a., the morgue. His search for the truth will lead him into impoverished, dangerous neighborhoods, and the equally dangerous drawing rooms of the rich and powerful. True life characters like Osler, and artist Thomas Eakins add flavor and depth, as do details like Bayer patenting and marketing Heroin as a non prescription pain reliever, even as a cough remedy for children. If you enjoyed The Alienist by Caleb Carr and The Interpretation of Murder by Jed Rubenfeld, you will like this novel too.