In "The Art of Dying," by Ambrose Parry (a pseudonym for the husband and wife team of Chris Brookmyre and Marisa Haetzman), Dr. Will Raven returns to Edinburgh after spending a year abroad, with stops in London, Paris, Vienna, Leipzig, and Berlin. During his travels, Raven learned a great deal from renowned medical practitioners and teachers, enjoyed the company of a beautiful older woman, and had a violent altercation with an armed assailant in a dark alley (Will admits that he has a "perverse appetite for mayhem"). Now a fully licensed physician, Will has been hired to assist his mentor, Dr. James Simpson, a fine diagnostician who specializes in obstetrics and gynecology. The generally well-regarded Simpson pioneered the use of chloroform as an anesthetic. Unfortunately, there are prominent individuals who have been spreading ugly rumors about him in an effort to tarnish his reputation.

This sequel to "The Way of All Flesh" is as evocative, intense, and compelling as its predecessor. Parry demonstrates that there was a huge chasm in Edinburgh between the haves and have-nots. Furthermore, although physicians had made strides in their understanding of anatomy and disease, many patients still died because of infections, botched operations, and "relentless purging, blistering, and bloodletting."

The authors seamlessly combine a variety of engrossing plot elements: a sadistic nurse reveals details of her sordid past and heinous crimes; Raven is desperate to free himself from the clutches of a moneylender whose thugs keep stalking him; much to Will's surprise, the feisty and brilliant Sarah, a former housemaid and close friend, has moved on with her life. Parry also explores such themes as the importance of social status, and the desire of some women to flout convention by seeking to fulfill themselves professionally and personally. This tale has a Dickensian cast of characters and evocative settings that transport us to a bygone era. "The Art of Dying" is an intense and compelling work of historical fiction, as well as a morality tale. Parry implies that, although no one is born evil, under certain circumstances almost everyone is capable of deplorable deeds. "Every true demon was once a child, one that knew fear and suffering." ( )

A nurse's patients are dying - but is she unwittingly spreading disease or is she a serial killer?

A good mystery set in a time when medical practitioners had noticed a better survival rate if they washed their hands between patients but didn't know why. ( )

Will Raven has qualified as a doctor and we find him at the book's opening traveling Europe to broaden his experience (in more ways than one). In a street brawl he protects his friends with his surgical knife. This event echoes through the book (there's a fair amount of portentousness about this that I found hard to engage with). Back in Edinburgh, he takes up a post as Dr SImpson's apprentice and finds that while he has been away Sarah has married a DR Archie Banks. Archie has throat cancer and is dying, Sarah, pregnant with his child. It all leaves Will rather mixed up. Into this comes an accusation against Dr Simpson about the death of a patient, who is the wife of a fellow doctor. This sets Will & Sarah off to investigate, along the way, Will thinks he's on the verge of discovering a new fatal disease, Sarah wonders about some more human agency. It gets complicated and there's a lot of plot lines to try and tie up, some of them rather too neatly.
The most interesting thing,about this, to me, os tha ttitude of the medical profession to their activities. IN a time when to opeate was to risk death by infection, there is a certain reluctance to invade the body space. Will wants to do something, rather than noting, and it is that attitude that represents the more modern view of the medical profession. It also raises the qustion of extending mercy at death, with two different scenarios offered here, one of whih almost ends with Will dangling on the end og the hangman's noose.
The final two chapters clearly set up a third book.
I listened to this and I found that it helped to have different narrators narrate the chapters told from their perspectives. ( )

Dr. Raven has become a boring and tiresome character. Too bad, I enjoyed the first book. ( )

After continuing his education in Europe Will Raven returns to Edinburgh to take up the recently vacated post of assistant to the renowned Dr. James Simpson. Things have changed considerably at his former practice with Sarah now married to another doctor and Simpson has become the _target of the rumour mill concerning a patient that died under his care. It may fall to Will & Sarah to once again don their investigative hats and get to the root of the malicious lies being used to try and destroy their patron.

This is the second novel in the historical crime series by the writing husband and wife team of Chris Brookmyre & Marisa Haetzman. Set in mid-19th century Edinburgh after the recent discovery of chloroform for which Simpson’s reputation has increased. A lot of the incidental events in the book actually happened but the investigation itself along with the two main protagonists are fictional and the crime itself while being based on real events has been moved in both time and location. It’s a bit of a slow build of the mystery but that does mean we get to see and feel what things were like for the time period. This is especially true for the social norms of the times with how genders are treated differently and the class structure very much set in place. Although this is a self-contained story I’d still recommend picking up the first book in the series prior to reading this one as there are character/relationship developments that carry over. ( )