Ambrose Parry has done it again - another fascinating read in the Raven and Fisher series combining the knowledge and skills of authors Chris Brookmyre and Marissa Haetzman. For those new to the series and to the author this is the fourth novel in the mid 19th century Edinburgh-set books concerning the fictional characters Will Raven and Sarah Fisher. Both are from poor backgrounds and have ended up living in the household of and working with the real life obstetrician Professor James Simpson. Each book is a stand alone historical murder mystery but it really does help to read all the books in the series in order as many of the series' strengths would be missed without doing this. The real life and fictional characters are well crafted, blended and developed throughout the series and in this particular book there are some surprises in store regarding some of the less savoury characters from earlier novels.
Brookmyre is a prolific fiction writer and his skills are apparent in this series - strong plot, well developed characters, superb sense of place. Haetzman, in addition to writing, is a consultant anaesthetist and medical historian and it is this aspect that leads to the strong authorial partnership that is Ambrose Parry. The Raven and Fisher series embodies medical developments of the time and gender and class attitudes to the practice of medicine. In Voices of the Dead the practice of mesmerism is coming to the fore and Sarah decides to see for herself if this is an area of medical practice she could excel in. Will meanwhile is sceptical, an attitude which causes discomfort in his relationship with Sarah. Meanwhile there have of course been murders in Edinburgh with body parts being found in a number of locations and a lack of clarity as to who has been murdered and who may have committed the deeds. Sarah and Will are caught up in the investigations which involve many twists and turns and dangerous encounters for the two main characters.
I eagerly await each new Ambrose Parry novel and highly recommend to readers of historical fiction, crime fiction and a thoroughly good read!
Thank you to the publishers Canongate for sending me a complimentary ARC of this title in return for an honest review.

This was a fun period romp that leaves you suspecting everyone as you follow the main characters along their journey of discovery: of self and medicine. Parry manages to capture the feeling of the 1800s Edinburgh, and the height of classism, sexism and the progression of medicine when faced with the appeal of the mystical. A must-read if you like a clever good story.

This series just gets better and better. I know Edinburgh very well so it really adds to my enjoyment of these superb tales. They are so immersive and the characters are like old friends. Great books, buy them now !

The fourth book in the Raven, Fisher and Simpson series is once again a treat to read. The historical detail is as expected strongly evoked. The mystery is compelling and the characters are as engaging as ever – at this point they almost feel like old friends. I love this historical mystery series and hope there will be many more books.

Sleight of hand in Edinburgh........the year is 1853 and the medical profession is making such advances that Scotland - Edinburgh - is becoming the centre of learning.
Where there is knowledge there is power and usually money, followed by criminals and charlatans looking for easy prey. Edinburgh Doctor Raven has been taking tutelage from the emminent Doctor Simpson and has gained enough knowledge and support to open his own gynalogical practice if only he had the funds. He is assisted by his long time friend Miss Fisher - exceptionally intelligent but with the major drawback of being female. Of course with their fragility and reduced cranial capacity, females are not permitted to study medicine.
The discovery of a human foot starts in investigation involving the two. Raven while anxiously waiting the imminent birth of his second child is consumed by the need to prove himself to the elite and Miss Fisher falls on an opportunity to study a branch of medicine that she could not have dreamed of. A murder mystery steeped in the old world of Edinburgh that takes the reader to the heart and liver of the mid nineteenth century.

Another fantastic episode in the lives of Raven, Fisher and Simpson. I love this series set in the medical community of Victorian Ediinburgh with it's seedier elements well to the fore. This tale of the interest in mesmerism is very entertaining with some great characters, old and new. And a good progression in the life stories of the main characters too. I am already champing at the bit for number 5. With thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for an advanced copy to read and review.

Always a joy to meet up again with Raven and Sarah, and I particularly enjoyed this one in the series, which is set against a background of mesmerism and illusion. Victorian Edinburgh is well written with all the social intrigues and dark deeds one imagines happening and the fight for medical status and power- men only of course.
Looking forward to seeing the characters again soon
Thank you to netgalley and Canongate for an advance copy of this book

4.5* Voices of the Dead is the fantastic 4th instalment focusing on those who live and work in 52 Queen Street, Edinburgh in the 19th Century. If you haven’t read the earlier books in this historical crime series, I would wholeheartedly recommend them but this would also work as a standalone.

It’s a welcome return to Dr Will Raven, Ms Sarah Fisher, Prof Simpson and their gang of friends, acquaintances and foes.

When Will is summonsed to Surgeon’s Hall, it’s to be taken into the confidence of Edinburgh’s new Head of Surgery, Dr Christie, a difficult man to keep on the right side of. Will and his friend Dr Henry Littlejohn, set off to unearth the mystery of a grisly discovery in an office of one of the medics. It’s a crime that will see them given the runaround as the clever twists and changes in direction keep them on their toes.

Meanwhile Edinburgh is in the grip of considering alternative and emerging forms of treatment, most notably mesmerism. Sarah sees this as an opportunity to make her mark, given the almost impossible task of making it as a woman in medicine.

As Sarah’s new passion and Will’s investigation collide, you will genuinely be kept guessing until the very end.

Ambrose Parry have written another stunning historical crime fiction book. This is a consistently excellent series. The plots are devilishly clever, the setting of 19th century Edinburgh becomes a character in itself but the absolute highlight is the cast of characters. I absolutely loved it.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC

Ambrose Parry (aka husband and wife team Chris Brookmyre and Dr Marisa Haetzman) is back in 19th Century Edinburgh for a fourth time in their Raven, Fisher and Simpson mystery series in Voices of the Dead. Once again Parry serves up a page-turning and engaging story in a fascinating and well realised milieu.
A few years after the events of A Corruption of Blood, Will Raven is trying to connect with his toddler while his wife is pregnant for a second time. He is still working for Dr Simpson but is under pressure from his wife and her family to establish his own practice. Meanwhile Sarah Fisher is also still working in the practice having found pathways to a formal medical career as a woman blocked. Raven is brought in on the quiet when a dismembered leg is found in the office of a leading surgeon. After the discovery of more remains, the city, stoked by an alarmist newssheet, is on the hunt for a murderous thespian. Meanwhile Fisher has become interested in the art of mesmerism and the potential for it to revolutionise medicine. Throw in a man who claims to speak to the spirit world and a story develops with themes of performance, misdirection, charlatanry and reinvention.
Parry gives readers a real feel for Edinburgh of the late 19th century. While its characters feel modern, they also feel true to their time and its attitudes. The characters themselves continue to grow and develop with every book. Raven, in particular has to deal with some moral and personal issues as he tries to come to terms with being a father and contemplate the need to strike out on his own. While Fisher finds herself drawn in to a new field of treatment that feels like it will allow her to get around the boys club that is medicine.
With characters who readers care about ,living in an interesting time and place, and well-constructed mysteries Voices of the Dead is another great entry in what has become an unmissable historical crime series.

I just reviewed Voices of the Dead by Ambrose Parry. #VoicesoftheDead #NetGalley

I must admit that when I first started reading this series, I was somewhat on the fence about whether I enjoyed it or not. I moved on to book two and have been hooked ever since.

Witnessing the rise and elevation of Raven through his work with Dr Simpson has been a very tenuous but exciting journey.

The author has also thrown in a bit of romance with the “will they / won’t they” between Raven and Sarah.

Very enjoyable and look forward to the next in the series!

Thoroughly enjoyable read. Murderous goings on in Victorian Edinburgh. Slow to start but got better. I'm a fan of Christopher Brookmyer anyway although I didn't know until after I had read it who it was who wrote it. Great characters and I loved Sarah. Hoping there will be more of these! TV show - needs to be done

The appearance of Voices of the Dead is a welcome addition to Ambrose Parry's Edinburgh Victorian period medical crime drama series (now collectively known as the Raven and Fisher mysteries, extending it successfully beyond the first three excellent books. There is no shortage of period crime thriller series, but there is obviously something special about this one in the way that it makes use of historical progress and development in science and medicine around this period that contributes to its unique perspective. All the more so since Edinburgh and Dr. Simpson are at the centre of those important advances; advances that not only benefit the general public - and even Queen Victoria, who helped give legitimacy to the use of chloroform to ease the burden of childbirth - but those advances also contribute to the investigation of crime.
Medicine and crime are a good match, but it also means a good match in the husband and wife team of Christopher Brookmyre and Marisa Haetzman, who as 'Ambrose Party' collectively bring their expertise to the table. In fact, I can detect the hand of Chris Brookmyre in the nature of the subject that arises during the latest case in Voices of the Dead. Brookmyre has written in the past of his scepticism of mediums and spiritualists in his Jack Parlabane series (Attack of the Unsinkable Rubber Ducks), and interest in them happens to be very popular with the public at this period. Raven and Simpson, being of a rational scientific mind, are both keen to seek to debunk these charlatans and fraudulent sciences. Mesmerism or hypnosis too, although Sarah Fisher is more interested in the phenomenon as a potential for medical treatment, since the conventional route into medicine is denied to her as a woman.

There is of course rather more to the criminal aspect of Voices of the Dead than hokum and mere fraudsters, and those elements are typically varied and not obviously connected, involving body snatchers, the discovery of dismembered body parts and the world of the theatre. Inevitably of course they come to relate to the aforementioned complications of fraudsters and charlatans operating in a grey and mysterious area outside the realm of science. Include the fact that the man they are pursuing in relation to the dismembered body is an actor who is adept at disguise," a man of a thousand faces", and you know you are being set up for terrific twists and revelations along the way.

What is also great about the period of this series is the way it highlights the stark divisions in the struggle between good and evil, or just in the divisions that allow evil or suffering to thrive despite the best efforts of good. There are clear divisions between the wealthy and the poor, between men and women, where the benefits of education that are denied to parts of the community. Set against this, medicine is in a way seeking to reduce the distance and free everyone equally from the misery of disease, while other progressive thinkers and benefactors are helping to provide education and help for the benefit of everyone. All of this is there in the background, but provides an accurate depiction of the kind of circumstances in which crime and death can arise.

…And remain hidden. I initially got the impression that Voices of the Dead was quite slow to reveal its purpose and direction, Raven and Sarah's involvement in the criminal investigation a little contrived for an apprentice doctor and a widow with medical ambitions. Both surely would have more on their plates than to do the work of the police for them. It did seem like Brookmyre getting on his high horse again about fraudster spiritualists and mediums without any apparent connection to the crime. As you can imagine, sleight of hand is involved in these targeted pseudo-sciences and you suspect that the author(s) are indulging in a similar game of bait-and-switch. And indeed it proves to be the case, the plotting perfectly balanced with revelations dropped with precision at the right places and times. Impressively so.

There is joy just to see all these elements fall neatly into place, but what makes this more than just a great period crime thriller and account to a large extent for the success of the book is in the choice of characters, Sarah and Raven. A woman and a man (like the authors), both have differing views and experiences in regards to how society treats them and their respective positions. Without taking away from the skill employed in the plotting and historical detail, they are perhaps the real reason you keep reading. You become invested in their characters, the complicated history they have as individuals, as a man and a woman of apparently differing social classes and backgrounds - to say nothing of temperament - and in the relationship that has grown between them which also keeps them apart.

That in a way also sums up basically all the contrasts to be found in this series, the drama arising out of those differences. But in them Ambrose Parry also permits a grey area to emerge from between the differences and divisions, where things are not black and white, where evil and good are not so easily defined, where people have the opportunity to keep an open mind and develop. This is vital not only to keeping the series fresh, but it also allows for a more 'modern' outlook on the period that might be realistically expected. Rather than just presenting a revisionist take that doesn't reflect the historical reality, rather than being merely a way of presenting a more palatable way in for the modern reader, it's actually key to understanding why this period and the progress made here was so important.

Set in mid-19th century Edinburgh the main characters Raven and Sarah are good characters and both medical professionals so this made it distinctive. The story concerns the mystery of body parts being found and a missing actor. There’s also mesmerism and séances. The plot kept me interested as it had several twists towards the end. It reminded me of books by Wilkie Collins. The authors do well in creating the feel of the period. Quite a lot of medical terms which I wasn’t too interested in and I was also less interested in Raven’s home life.
Thanks to Netgalley and publisher Cannongate for an ARC in return for an honest review.

There are a lot of things happening in this fourth book in this excellent series. Will Raven and Sarah Fisher are confronted with a murder (or more than one?) but also with several more or less medical inventions and discoveries. By now, the use of chloroform to ease the pain of childbirth or the horror of having an operation, no matter how small, while having no anaesthesia at all but maybe a lot of alcohol is slowly being accepted. Even Queen Victoria used during the birth of her son. On the other hand, there are people who see a chance to ‘help’ people and make a good deal of money out of it. Will and Sarah meet a medium – could he be a real one? – and also a couple of business people who would like to convince the good people of Edinburgh that ‘mesmerism’ is the new way to treat people. Well, later, much later, it transpired that this mesmerism, under its new name hypnotism, can actually help people, but certainly not the way these businessmen set out to sell.
Will is hardly having any sleep because his son is crying a lot and his wife is due to give birth to their second child. During the day he still works for Dr Simpson but at night he works in a maternity ward. He’s not always taken seriously by other surgeons. And there is his old enemy Flint, who still has a grip on him. And Sarah, poor Sarah, is still not taken seriously at all, although by now she knows a lot more about medicine and seems to have a knack for mesmerism.
Body parts are found all over Edinburgh and before they know it, Will and Sarah have to work together to find who murdered who and above all, why?
An intricate story with lots of facts mixed into the fiction. Likable and interesting characters and a great writing style makes this book a pleasure to read. Looking forward to the next one!

Thanks to NetGalley and Canongate for this review copy.

Voices of the Dead is a gripping and atmospheric historical crime novel that will appeal to readers who enjoy mystery, history, and strong character development. This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and I would read more of their work. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you very much to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

The Ambrose Parry books are reliably a joy to return to; Voices of the Dead is no exception and throws in mesmerism and mediumship into the mix alongside the usual medical mystery. Raven and his friends continue to develop, although I did wonder just how likely it was he’d have been pulled into this particular investigation, and Sarah continues to fight against the patriarchy and carve a unique place for herself.

I did find myself getting ahead of some key story beats - I could see a few revelations that the characters hadn’t yet, but I think broadly using the information given rather than a “this was too obvious” conclusion. As a long term fan of Brookmyre, this may also have been influenced by the unsinkable rubber ducks…

As ever, looking forward to the next in the series (which there has to be, please).

I just love this series of historical novels by Ambrose Parry. The characters grow and develop with each one. In "Voices of the Dead" Dr Will Raven is a family man with another baby on the way. Meanwhile his friend Sarah is still struggling to find her way as so many doors are closed to women in Victorian Scotland.

This story revolves around some rather theatrical people, although we are initially led to believe that some of them have medical knowledge. A key topic is mesmerise and it's difference from the new skill of hypnosis. Whilst the latter is seen as being of potential use in the medical profession, the former is used by showmen.

There are plenty of twists and turns in the plot, some rather gruesome descriptions and plenty of atmosphere. Edinburgh was possibly the most important location for medical learning at this time (mid 19th century) and these books make the most of this. Excellent historical thriller.

Thanks to Net Galley and the publishers for the opportunity to review this book.

Voices of the Dead by Ambrose Parry
This is the fourth outing for Sarah Fisher and Will Raven and although this could be read as a standalone it is improved by having read the previous novels. It is set as always in Edinburgh and the year is now 1854. Will is now married and struggling with the demands of fatherhood. Sarah meanwhile is still attempting to develop her medical knowledge and finds herself becoming involved in the new idea of Mesmerism which is gaining popularity. Then body parts are discovered in the city and Will is engaged to assist the Police Surgeon in discovering to whom the body parts belong and who is the perpetrator of the wicked deed.
The series, written by the husband and wife team of Chris Brookmyre and Marisa Haetzman, is excellent and the characters are developing with each book. It is also fascinating to learn about the medical developments of the time. The way in which the plot to solve the murder develops is extremely well developed and there are unexpected twists and turns throughout the story. I eagerly anticipate Will and Sarah’s next outing and will be recommending this at my various book groups.
I would like to thanks the authors, the publishers and Net Galley for the opportunity to read the book in return for an honest review.

It is always exciting to start a new Ambrose Parry mystery and this 4th book is just as good as the first three in the series. While it is a series they can each be read on their own as enough of the backstory is given as needs for the current story but doesn't spoil it for those who haven't read the earlier ones.

This is historical fiction at its best. Lots of interesting details about medicine and life in 19th century Edinburgh and an excellent mystery with great characters.

I highly recommend this.

An excellent addition to the Ambrose Parry collection. Voices of the Dead works as a stand-alone novel but is even better if you have read the first two books in the series. Set in Edinburgh in the 1850s, there are twists and turns aplenty to keep you hooked with a few red herrings thrown in for added measure. I was gripped right up to the end!