Review: The Anatomist's Wife

The Anatomist's Wife by Anna Lee Huber
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Well this book literally starts with a murder! Lady Godwin is found in the maze at the Earl of Cromarty's Scottish estate, Gairloch Castle, with her throat slit. Suspicion immediately falls on the Earl's sister-in-law, Lady Keira Darby, the widow of the notorious surgeon and anatomist Sir Anthony Darby who was writing a textbook on the human anatomy and forced Keira to draw the body parts for him. In the era of Burke and Hare the bodysnatchers (who murdered 16 people to sell their bodies to Robert Knox for dissection in his anatomy lectures back in the late 1820s), people were terrified of anatomists and many rumours had been spread that Keira had willingly participated in the dissections and, some people claimed that she lured young men to their deaths to satisfy her own perversions. After her husband's death and all the lies being spread about her in London society Keira has retreated to live with her sister Alana and brother-in-law in Scotland where she paints and helps look after her nephews and niece.

The Earl of Cromarty calls upon one of the other guests, Mr Gage, whose father is an investigator in Edinburgh, to look into Lady Godwin's murder until the Procurate Fiscal can be summoned from Inverness to make the official investigation. Keira's brother-in-law suggests that Keira could assist Mr Gage with her extensive knowledge of anatomy. Thus begins an uneasy alliance, Keira thinks Mr Gage is a rake, a scoundrel, and far too good looking for his own good. Mr Gage does not trust Keira, especially since so many of the other guests think she must be responsible. However, when Keira correctly diagnoses something from Lady Godwin's corpse Mr Gage begins to respect her opinions.

I love a good country house murder mystery (or even a Scottish castle murder mystery). Other reviewers have commented on the anachronistic language in the book, there were a couple of things which jarred for me but the erroneous reference to raccoons appears to have been removed. Overall, I found the mystery to be thoroughly engrossing, I had my own theories about the murderer (and other things) which turned out to be wrong which is always a bonus, especially because it turns out that this was an attempt by the murderer to shift the blame onto an innocent party.

I am a firm favourite of Anna Lee Huber's Verity Kent series, which is set in the post-WW1 era, so I am pleased that this earlier series also looks to be great fun - I reserve judgement on whether the anachronistic use of language will become an issue.

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