Set in Edinburgh starting in 1847 following the life of a young, intelligent housemaid and an apprentice doctor; both working for a Professor of Midwifery this is a gritty and realistic novel. From reasonably straightforward birth to the most distressing, the story takes them all in. There is a real sense of the difference between the haves and the have nots - and those who float somewhere in between.

I enjoyed this book and look forward to the next in the series.

This book really does have it all. I was initially attracted by the genre: historical fiction and the setting: 19th century Edinburgh. However the actual novel offers the reader so much more than this including a fascinating insight into the development of anaesthesia and obstetrics, as well as glimpses into the new science of photography. The cast of the novel includes strongly written main characters, Raven and Sarah and interesting lesser characters, many of whom were real historical personages such as Professor James Simpson, photography pioneers Robert Adamson and Octavius Hill and other doctors of the time, Keith and Duncan. The plot covers historical and scientific discoveries as well as an exposure of the dark underbelly of 19th century Edinburgh and an investigation into the gruesome deaths of young women in the city whose bodies are found to be twisted and contorted but with no apparent cause. Throughout this plot run strong themes of gender and class discrimination, mostly with Raven and Sarah as the vehicles but also through the character of Simpson's sister in law, Mina.
As I read the book I did see it as very televisual, particularly during scenes in the Old Town streets of Edinburgh and round Simpson's dinner table. I was therefore delighted to find out that the TV rights have already been bought for this book In my mind's eye I see Lorn Macdonald as Raven and Dani Heron as Sarah. These Scottish actors appeared together recently in the Citizen's Theatre (Glasgow) adaptation of A Long Day's Journey into Night).
As I read the book I really appreciated the work of the author in researching the scientific history and historical geography of Edinburgh as well as his (?) crafting of character and narrative development. I did wonder on several occasions who Ambrose Parry, the author, was: what gender, professional background and home location. I had not come across the name before and determined to find out more, hoping that there would be more to come from this author. I laughed out loud when on finishing the novel's last page, I turned to the next page in the book and found an interview with Ambrose Parry which is in fact a pseudonym for a writing partnership between Chris Brookmyre and Marisa Haetzman, the former being one of my favourite authors who has always inspired me by his ability to write from a female perspective. Chris is married to Marisa who is a consultant anaesthetist with a Master's degree in medical history. At an author's talk I attended last year, Chris referred to Marisa's influence on his work. I had later read that there was to be a collaborative writing project between them but had forgotten this as I read 'In the Way of All Flesh'. This writing partnership has worked really well to produce a fascinating and gripping read with strong characters, plot and themes as well as through research. My recommendations have already started and I was also delighted to read this is to be the first of a series.
I received a complimentary ARC of this book from the publisher via Net Galley in return for an honest review.

The name of the author is a good joke – an anglicised form of the French court surgeon during the Paris St Bartholomew’s Day massacre.
And there are massacres in this book too…but in early nineteenth century Edinburgh…and involving doctors, surgeons and medical students. The protagonists, Raven and Sarah, are an engaging pair, the first a medical student with no money, the second, a serving girl, who asks very astute questions. The Scottish setting is very convincing, with its mixture of casual, poverty stricken violence and thrusting advances in the knowledge and application of medical science, for example the discovery and use of chloroform to alleviate pain in child birth.
For some time, society carries on unaware that there is a murderer in its midst, but the reader knows better and gradually Raven and Sarah are drawn into dangerous investigation. That the killer is a medical man is clear from early on and although there are some red-herrings, it is not at all difficult to identify the guilty party. Nevertheless, there is much to enjoy in this novel: the Edinburgh setting, the appraisal of the limited freedom available to women, the advances in study and especially medical knowledge, an exciting and inventive, if downright bloody, narrative and very sympathetic hero and heroine.

This book is a historical serial killer thriller and hits the perfect spot betwixt.

Our wannabe medical man protagonist Is placed in Victorian Edinburgh, a place darkened by body snatchers and medical advancements unaided by anaesthesia. Uncovering the grotesquely contorted body of a friend sets him down a path of multiple murders and a desperate race to find the killer. An advantageous love/hate relationship with a housemaid of the lower orders provides some comic relief and the plot advances swiftly and excitingly.

The language of the period is caputured fantastically and this book seems to have been very well researched. I have no hesitation in recommending it and have awarded 4 stars. I am also delighted to report that this is the first in the series and I cannot wait to devour the next one. An excellent debut.

I was not overwhelmed by this book. The historical detective genre is not really something I would normally read. The themes of feminism and the development of anaesthetics interfered with the story a bit - you could see where the interests of the two authors clashed. I am not sure which one won. They used the word grotty at one point, which dates from the 1960s. The gothic gangsters and villains were over the top and I did not like the graphic descriptions of the operations. I will not be reading more in this series.

Was so relieved when I realised that this was not end of the story! When will the next one be released? I want to know more? And that about sums up my feelings for this book. A young Rebus in the making mixed with a little ‘Call the Midwife,’ I loved the characters, the history, the setting and the fact that it always kept one step ahead of me! I would be thinking ‘ah what about that?’ And the next page would reveal all. I am hooked, more please!

This book was a really good historical murder mystery. So many twists and turns that kept me reading into the night

What a fantastic book - it absolutely deserves to be a book of the month. Not only is this a murder mystery, there is social and medical history and even a touch of romance. The characters are compelling and the setting in Edinburgh is described very evocatively. Looking forward to the next book in the series.

Set in Edinburgh in the mid-19th century, The Way of All Flesh is both an informative account of the development of anaesthesia and a historical murder mystery.

Will Raven is a young medical student working as assistant to the famous James Young Simpson, pioneer of painless childbirth. Impoverished and of dubious parentage, Raven has secrets to keep and financial problems to solve. If he can do well with Dr Simpson, he will be set up for life. The work is challenging and often gruesome - women die in agony or survive at the cost of their infant's life. Simpson experiments with ether and other prospective anaesthetics (often on himself and his colleagues) before he hits on chloroform.

Meanwhile, women's bodies are being found contorted into positions of apparent agony. Raven's friend, Evie, is one such and he determines to discover what has happened to her and to the other women of the lower orders thus cruelly disposed of.

He forms an uneasy alliance with Sarah, the Simpsons' housemaid, who has also had a friend die in similar circumstances. Sarah is intelligent and forthright - neither qualities likely to serve her in her employment. She dreams of better things and resents Raven's ability to move up in the world in a way that is denied to her.

This is an extremely well-written page-turner with plenty of excitement and interest on every page. The descriptions of medical matters are often graphic but never unnecessarily so. Both Will and Sarah are well-rounded characters with faults and foibles as well as strength and compassion. Edinburgh itself plays a major role, from the foetid wynds and ginnels of the Canongate to the pleasant streets of the Georgian New Town.

Ostensibly by Ambrose Parry, this novel, as I discovered after reading it, was in fact written by Christopher Brookmyre and Marisa Haetzman. Brookmyre, who needs no introduction, has reined in the more excessive aspects of his graphic comedy; Haetzman is his wife and a consultant anaesthetist. It appears to be a perfect partnership. More books in this series are planned and I could visualise them as a tv series.

My thanks to Netgalley for an ARC of this book in return for an honest review.. I requested this novel, set in Edinburgh in 1847, because I was about to visit the city, having made a previous trip. I’m so glad I did .The author, Ambrose Parry is in fact two people, the author Chris Brookmyre and his wife Marisa Haetzman, who researched medical history for an MA. They realised that all her research material had the ingredients of a novel and as they developed it they knew that it would probably be several books. I usually avoid co authored books because you can often see the joins.. Not this time. What a great piece of writing. So darkly atmospheric.

It’s set in both the Old Town and the New Town of Edinburgh. In New Town it centres on the Home of Dr Simpson, a well known gynaecologist and surgeon, who that year was instrumental in discovering the anaesthetic properties of a substance that he was to call chloroform. He used it to alleviate the sufferings of child birth and to assist with difficult births, which in those days were frequently fatal. Also living in his house were his assistants, Drs Mathew Duncan and George Keith, all actual people .Around these facts the authors have woven a chilling and intriguing tale. Their principal characters , all imaginary, are Will Raven, a graduate of the university and now living in Dr Simpson’s house in Queen Street as an apprentice learning the skills of midwifery and gynaecology.. Also living in the house is Sarah Fisher the seventeen year old housemaid, who is highly intelligent, but because she is of lowly birth and more importantly, female, is destined to never rise above this station in life. Sarah reads the chemical and medical books that are in the house and assists in a basic capacity with clinics. There are many other colourful characters, typical of their time, who contribute to the unfolding story. The filth smells, brutality and shortness of human life are all portrayed as are the finery and pretensions of the more wealthy inhabitants.

Should anyone be visiting Edinburgh, I recommend a visit to the National Trust for Scotland houses, one in the Old Town and the other in the New Town. They will help to set the scene and greatly enhance enjoyment of this superb novel.. I eagerly await the next in this series.

Hungover, dazed, bruised and half naked in a strange bed how did she get there, Something bad happened but who was it. The police can't help, she needs to figure it out herself.

Clever and thoughtfully written book about an all too real problem with the system.

As the author of Doctor Pritchard the Poisoning Adulterer, about the murders committed by Dr Edward William Pritchard in Victorian Glasgow. I was intrigued to read this book. I wasn't disappointed. A fascinating well-written book, which expertly details the atmosphere of the city at the time. An excellent fictional plot with many twists and turns. Recommended

Absolutely brilliant.

I was absolutely hooked from the first page to the last it is one of books where you say to yourself just one more page and before you know it you have read three more chapters. Loved the setting of Edinburgh for the plot, loved the many twists and turns. The author has created some great characters and can't wait to see how they develop in future stories.

Very highly recommended

A very enjoyable read.

I do love historical fiction, and the very best is based on meticulous research and understanding of the time in which the story is set. In this case, the factual details beautifully support a well crafted tale of murder and mystery.

We meet a cast of people faced with choices on how they live their lives and witness how these choices are influenced by their income - direst poverty need not lead to crime, but the temptations must be overwhelming. Those who live in comfort and have status in society have their own choices to make - and there is little excuse for choosing the path of villainy. There is one character however who has all the choice in the world - and none at all. His actions are those of a psychopath - a description our medical men of that time would barely recognise. This coming together of crimes, some driven by necessity and others from purely selfish motives, makes for a fascinating story. It's hard in our times to appreciate the sheer power of social status and the rigid moral codes of Victorian society, where 'fallen women' were never victims, but always the transgressor - and once fallen, there was no way back.

In a society where name and reputation mattered immensely, whatever your social class, our two leads make the perfect heroes. A young man hiding from his name and his past, seeking to lift himself into society through education and a reputable profession, yet drawn to the darker elements of a city he knows both sides of well, and a young woman who despite her intelligence and ability is wholly dependent on the good will of others, in her role as a low ranked servant.

During this period of history Edinburgh was at the forefront of the new age of Enlightenment - discoveries in science and medicine that would change the world - and yet a darkness hovers at the edges; a man driven by purely selfish needs and a society that prefers to look away rather than confront duplicity and immorality in those they have set at the top. Enlightenment, it seems, is only for those who keep one eye shut.

Through its wily and waggish narration “The Way of all Flesh” is a damned fine historical crime with the added kick of a distinctive duo. As the atmospheric reek of misery wafts through the streets of 19th century Edinburgh to sting their eyes, the collaboration of these pioneering personalities becomes nothing short of impressive.

But ask any servant where Will Raven should be placed in the official hierarchy of his medical apprenticeship’s household and most would consider him lower than the Doctor’s unruly parrot. Arriving on his first day a little worse for wear, the servants see him as an undernourished, dishevelled waif and are not coy when airing their disapproval.

Housemaid, Sarah Fisher, channels her own refined brand of hostility towards him. Her status and gender prevent her pursuing a career practicing medicine and Raven’s appearance only adds to her resentment, as this wretched young man is given opportunities while she remains invisible. Plus she’s generally suspicious of his character. To protest she cuts down his portions at meal times and volleys retorts quicker than her ‘rival’, despite his self-assured street smarts.

The trials of Raven and Fisher see the progression of medicine and regression in morality. The perspective of the abysmal options available to some, and the reprehensible conduct of others, is sharper than any surgeon’s knife.

I hope I will be treated to more of their curative exploits very soon.

This story is set in 19th Century Edinburgh in the infancy of anaesthesia. A young apprentice doctor and a knowledgeable housemaid who doesn’t know her place make unlikely allies on the surface, but this is going to be a formidable partnership.

It’s a slow burner in the sense that the first part of the book sets up characters and their relationships with one another. As this is the first of a proposed series, and the writing is enticing and the setting very atmospheric, this wasn’t a problem for me. I found this interesting both medically and historically and a jolly fine mystery too. A very good book indeed and I’ve already recommended it to several people.

In Edinburgh in 1847, medical student Will Raven is given the post of apprentice to Dr Simpson, a highly respected physician and an expert in anaesthesia. Raven is also given a room in the Simpson home and there he encounters Sarah, a maidservant who has a fascination for medical matters and secretly reads books on the subject, borrowed from Dr Simpson's library. A strong willed young woman, Sarah has hopes of one day working in the medical profession - an outrageous idea for a woman at that time in history.

Just before he joins the Simpson household, Evie - a prostitute who's become a friend of Raven - is found dead, her face and body hideously contorted and similar deaths in the poorest parts of Edinburgh have him believing these women may have been murdered.

As Dr Simpson treats patients from the richest to the poorest in Scotland's capital city and he and his colleagues carry out daring experiments. The book's language and descriptive settings seem to bring mid-19th Century Edinburgh to life. However, it has to be said that readers may find the details of Simpson and Raven's medical procedures rather unsettling - particularly those which involve difficult births - although I felt these only add to the story's ring of authenticity.

Meanwhile, Raven and Sarah carry out an investigation into the young girls' deaths and the couple, initially disliking each other, gradually share a mutual respect and the beginnings of a romantic involvement.

The action moves quickly along with the occasional pause for some of the characters to give vent to their views on various medical matters, particularly the use of anaesthetics, some of which are denounced by Scotland's more unenlightened religious leaders.

Ambrose Parry is a pseudonym for a collaboration between award-winning author Chris Brookmyre and his wife Marisa Haetzmana, herself a consultant anaesthetist. It was Marisa's research for her Master's degree in the History of Medicine which uncovered the material upon which this novel is based.

This is a remarkable story mixing medical drama with romance and murder mystery. I hope it's the first in a series about Raven and Sarah.

My thanks go to the publisher Canongate Books and Netgalley for the chance to read this book in exchange for an unbiased review.

I nearly didn't get past the first chapter of this book but, luckily, I persisted and by the first few sentences of the fourth chapter I was well and truly hooked on "The Way of all Flesh".

For a start, it is set in Edinburgh, my home town, and I really enjoyed reading this fictitional account of the medical Enlightenment in the 19th century set in a very credible reincarnation of the old city - the Old Town, the New Town and the (then) village suburbs which are now very much part of Edinburgh itself.

The plot is intriguing, based as it is on actual events and characters, and benefits from a brilliant narrative style, enhanced by excellent knowledge of the medical subject matter. It wasn't until I finished the book that I realised that it is the work of two people, one a very well- established author, and his wife, a student of medical history. And I'm delighted that it is the first in a series.

I have no hesitation in recommending this book, although for me it would have been a more compelling read initially if Chapter 4 had come before Chapters 1, 2 and 3. Many thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for providing me with a copy in exchange for this honest review.

This is meant to be the first in a series of crime novels and I cannot wait for the next one! Set in nineteenth century Edinburgh,its context is convincing and cleverly reinvents the atmosphere of the time. The surround of Simpson discovering chloroform makes it educationally interesting and that factual history merges well with the invented crime story concerning the murder of young women around the city. They lie well together. This has been well researched but is also well written. Come on the next one!

The Way of all Flesh by Ambrose Parry is a first novel (and first of a series), co-written by Chris Brookmyre and consultant anaesthetist Dr Marisa Haetzman. It’s set in Edinburgh in the mid-nineteenth century, where Old Town and New Town are poles apart. There’s a lot of medical detail, which you need a strong stomach for but the main focus of the story is an investigation into what Raven, a young trainee doctor, is sure are murders of young women who deserve to be more than just ‘another deid hoor’. His collaborator is a remarkable character, Sarah, a housemaid of unusual intelligence and resourcefulness, who resents the limitations she faces through being a woman. An atmosdpheric story which brings Auld Reekie to life.