A Dark Anatomy
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
The year is 1740. George II is on the throne, but England’s remoter provinces remain largely a law unto themselves. In Lancashire a grim discovery has been made: a squire’s wife, Dolores Brockletower, lies in the woods above her home at Garlick Hall, her throat brutally slashed.
Called to the scene, Coroner Titus Cragg finds the Brockletower household awash with rumour and suspicion. He enlists the help of his astute young friend, doctor Luke Fidelis, to throw light on the case. But this is a world in which forensic science is in its infancy, and policing hardly exists. Embarking on their first gripping investigation, Cragg and Fidelis are faced with the superstition of witnesses, obstruction by local officials and denunciations from the squire himself. A Dark Anatomy marks the arrival of a remarkable new voice in mystery and a pair of detectives both cunning and complex.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
British author Blake (Fat Man's Shadow) makes his mystery debut with an impressive whodunit, set in Lancashire and introducing coroner Titus Cragg and Dr. Luke Fidelis. On the morning of March 18, 1740, Cragg receives word that Dolores Brockletower, a squire's lady and prominent horsewoman, has been found dead in a nearby forest. Rumors suggest that the devil himself was responsible for her death, based on evidence that Brockletower "dove down from the sky." The real cause of death a slashed throat is more prosaic. The absence of a weapon rules out suicide, and leads Cragg to call in unofficial assistance from his medical friend, Fidelis. The doctor helps Cragg interpret clues at the crime scene, enabling the inquiry to advance over the opposition of the squire, an MP and magistrate. Blake turns phrases well (e.g., "I find that puzzles are either canine or feline"), and provides an inventive solution to the murder.
