The Anatomist's Wife

Anna Lee Huber

Nov 2012 · A Lady Darby Mystery Book 1 · Sold by Penguin

About this ebook

THE FIRST LADY DARBY MYSTERY

“A riveting debut…an original premise, an enigmatic heroine, and a compelling Highland setting…a book you won’t want to put down.”—New York Times bestselling author Deanna Raybourn

Scotland, 1830. Following the death of her husband, Lady Darby has taken refuge at her sister’s estate, finding solace in her passion for painting. But when her hosts throw a house party for the cream of London society, Kiera is unable to hide from the ire of those who believe her to be as unnatural as her husband, an anatomist who used her artistic talents to suit his own macabre purposes.

Kiera wants to put her past aside, but when one of the house guests is murdered, her brother-in-law asks her to utilize her knowledge of human anatomy to aid the insufferable Sebastian Gage—a fellow guest with some experience as an inquiry agent. While Gage is clearly more competent than she first assumed, Kiera isn’t about to let her guard down as accusations and rumors swirl.

When Kiera and Gage’s search leads them to even more gruesome discoveries, a series of disturbing notes urges Lady Darby to give up the inquiry. But Kiera is determined to both protect her family and prove her innocence, even as she risks becoming the next victim…

Ratings and reviews

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.

Great period piece, wonderful characters, can't wait to read the next one.

About the author

Anna Lee Huber is the Daphne award–winning author of the national bestselling Lady Darby Mysteries, including An Artless Demise, A Brush with Shadows, As Death Draws Near, A Study in Death, A Grave Matter, Mortal Arts, and The Anatomist’s Wife, and the Verity Kent Mysteries. She is a summa cum laude graduate of Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee, where she majored in music and minored in psychology. She currently resides with her family and is hard at work on her next novel.