The Edinburgh Dead
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3.3 • 3 Ratings
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- £1.99
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- £1.99
Publisher Description
Edinburgh 1827. In the starkly-lit operating theatres of the city, grisly experiments are being carried out on corpses in the name of medical science. But elsewhere, there are those experimenting with more sinister forces.
Amongst the crowded, sprawling tenements of the labyrinthine Old Town, a body is found, its neck torn to pieces. Charged with investigating the murder is Adam Quire, Officer of the Edinburgh Police. The trail will lead him into the deepest reaches of the city's criminal underclass, and to the highest echelons of the filthy rich.
Soon Quire will discover that a darkness is crawling through this city of enlightenment - and no one is safe from its corruption.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Scottish fantasy author Ruckley (the Godless World trilogy) ventures successfully into the gothic with this horrific thriller set in 1828. When an unidentified man is savaged to death, apparently by a wild beast, in Old Town, an impoverished Edinburgh neighborhood, the location of the crime makes it a low priority for Sgt. Adam Quire's colleagues in the force. Even his mentor, Supt. James Robinson, who helped Quire, emotionally and physically scarred from his army service in the Napoleonic wars, to pull himself together, is skeptical that the case is worth much effort, but Quire persists. A silver snuff box found on the victim leads to its owner, John Ruthven, an affluent man whose scientific experiments may have a link to the killing. Atmospheric descriptions ("A multitude of gloomy and overshadowed alleyways projected, like ribs, from the great street running down the spine of the ridge") help sustain the menacing mood.
Customer Reviews
Hits the Mark !
This book will appeal to a potentially huge audience across multiple genres - whether your interest is in well researched historical novels, a police procedural, a "whydunnit" (as we know early on who the villians are), or simply the sinister elements of dark, gothic mystery, this is a compelling blend that keeps the reader hooked and the pages turning.
Elegently interwoven are real people and places associated with Edinburgh's darkest secrets alongside Ruckleys characters so unless you have a good familiarity with Scottish history, the joins are virtually seamless and gives the narrative a life of its own. ( Not unlike some of the corpses the title refers to !!)
In summary, a massively entertaining read and shines a spotlight on Edinburghs dark underbelly.