Abused wife Helen is relieved when her husband dies before he can kill her. She takes up with an itinterant Irishman called William Burke and they move to Edinburgh. Life is good until William joins forces with a former colleague, William Hare. Susan is duped into a 'marriage' with eminent anatomist Robert Knox, she is locked away in a country cottage, treated almost like a prisoner and suffers through childbirth. Helen discovers that William and his friend are selling bodies to the anatomists, but discovers that they are murdering first too late.
This is a fictionalised account of Burke and Hare through the voices of two women known to be involved. Helen is more fleshed out as she was accused alongside Burke by Hare giving evidence. Susan is less known as the 'wife' of a doctor but Kidd fleshes her out in a great way allowing one victim some agency. As a piece of fiction it is engrossing and that is only enhanced by the facts around the case.

I was excited to get the opportunity to read The Specimens; my knowledge of Burke and Hare, the notorious Victorian murderers, and the anatomist Robert Knox, was sketchy, to say the least and I was intrigued to find out more. Unfortunately, the novel didn't quite meet my expectations.

The story unfolds from the perspectives of two women, Nelly and Susan. While I like the idea of presenting the story from the perspectives of minor characters in the [true] events, and I was interested in some of the quite vivid domestic details, I think this strategy introduced too many tangents to the main story and only obscured the facts rather than providing any enlightenment. I realised while reading that I really did want to know more about the three men, and the events they were involved in, not about the minutiae of their wives' lives. Yes, it's fiction, but I would have rather had more insights (albeit fictional) into the minds and actions of the protagonists. I found myself drifting to Wikipedia to satisy my curiosity....

So while I appreciate what the author wanted to do, and many readers might enjoy this approach, for me it didn't quite work. That said, it is well written and I liked the narrative style, if not the structure.

Thanks to the author, publisher @bwpublishing and Netgalley for the ARC. All my reviews are 100% honest and unbiased, regardless of how I acquire the book.

A historical novel based on Scotland's notorious body snatchers Burke and Hare. A reasonable read but one which needs more content - 'filling out' - and not a thriller.
My thanks to NetGalley and Pen & Sword for this arc in exchange for an unbiased and honest review.

"The Specimens" by Mairi Kidd is a fresh look at the Burke and Hare story, the body snatchers of Scotland in the 19th Century. Bodies for anatomy studies were short and they fulfilled the demand, sometimes to order. This book is told from a female perspective of 2 women linked to Burke and Hare. It provides insight, beyond the gore, into what was happening. On the whole, a great historical novel, which educated me. However there was one chapter towards the end that was completely baffling. This was the court proceedings and I felt it had been lifted from an account. It was hard going and I had no idea what was going on. The rest of the book made up for this though.

Well, I am sorry, but no. This is not the story of those grim events, told for the first time through the eyes of Susan and Helen. If you’re going to say something like that, then I expect a front row seat to proceedings. However, for about three quarters of the story, I was waiting for the two women to get “caught up in those horrific matters”, as mentioned in the book description.

For those, like me, who knew nothing about Hare and Burke going into this story, ‘The Specimens‘ shines very little light on this gruesome part of Scottish history. I might as well just have googled them and discovered plenty more information that way. Yes, I am aware this is fiction. But it is also inspired by true crime events, and there doesn’t seem to be much of it in this story.

Let’s start with Susan. She’s married to Doctor Knox, who’s an anatomist. And that’s all Susan knows. She’s tucked away in a cottage somewhere, and has no clue about anything or anyone. This results in the reader getting an entire chapter dedicated to the restoration of a doll’s house. Fascinating as this may be to some, that’s not what I signed up for. Susan’s chapters bring very little to the tale, aside from a hint or two if you read between the lines. And again, for someone like me who was clueless about all these events, it took me ages to realise what Knox’s connection was.

For the most part, Mary is also completely on the outside, although not as much as Susan is. At least, Mary is in the city, where all the action is. At least she hears about grave robbers and the like, and isn’t entirely oblivious. But she’s also never really right there in the thick of things, until it’s too late.

Honestly, most of ‘The Specimens‘ just reads like a regular historical fiction story about women trying to survive. Mary’s life, especially, is a hard one. Her children have been taken from her. She is poor, trying to make money from laundering, or selling bits and bobs. Constantly wandering the city streets in order to earn enough coin to buy a meal or two.

One or two of the victims get a little background story, and other names are mentioned as well. This was a nice touch. Just like with other (serial) killers, the focus should remain on the victims and not the ones that were responsible for ending their lives.

All in all, ‘The Specimens‘ just wasn’t for me. It wasn’t what I had expected at all and I couldn’t help but feel disappointed.

The Specimens by Mairi Kidd takes readers to 19th-century Edinburgh, where medical research prospered at a terrible cost. This historical thriller follows Susan and Helen (Nelly), two ladies caught up in body-snatching and the Burke and Hare murders.

Kidd's writing is vivid and haunting, capturing the grim reality of women's lives and the brutality they faced. Rich, evocative details take you to Edinburgh's cobblestones in this riveting novel. The protagonists negotiate a world where death and science combine, creating tension that is unputdownable.

The Specimens will interest historical fiction fans who like mystery and disturbing crime. Morality, survival, and medical progress's evil side are explored in this disturbing film.

This was definitely a unique book for me, the point of view was a massive positive, added a new layer to a story I only knew hearsay / small elements of.

I have a confession to make.
I did not read the whole blurb for this book.
I read "Inside the grand walls of Edinburgh's nineteenth-century scientific institutions, anatomists began to map the secrets of the human body in order to discover new medical innovations." and was sold.

I started reading Helen and Susan's story, trying to piece together how they met... once Hare was mentioned the penny dropped, and it made me all the more interested.
I do like a different look at a well known story, and telling it from the women's point of view was great.
Also, fleshing out the victims and making them real people adds to the horror of what happened.
I really enjoyed this one, and before the end, had more than one shiver going down my spine!

I really enjoyed this wonderfully engrossing piece of historical fiction which was well written and dark with realistic characters and even pacing
Based from true events I really liked things from the womens point of view which can often be left out
This was set in my hometown of Edinburgh which is a great city for gothic and horror writing
I would be interested to read more from this author
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc