Book review: A Dissection of Murder
BOOK: A Dissection of Murder
AUTHOR: Felicity Young
PUBLISHER: HarperCollins Publishers
RRP $24.99
AUTHOR Felicity Young has drawn on the memoir of her own grandmother, a graduate of Trinity College, Dublin in the early part of last century, to deliver a fascinating story about a new kind of heroine trying to succeed in a man's world.
Dody McCleland is England's first female autopsy surgeon at the turn of last century, when women were fighting for the vote.
In A Dissection of Murder, the start of a new series combining forensic investigation with the world of Downton Abbey, an innocent suffragette is found murdered after a violent rally.
Dody gathers clues, which is easier than trying to handle chief detective Inspector Matthew Pike, a man who finds it hard to trust anyone, especially a woman doctor.
As the case turns personal, not only is Dody's ability as a surgeon being carefully scrutinised she is also painfully aware that her job could be on the line if she finds police brutality was the cause of death.
A Dissection of Murder was an enjoyable read, set in a fascinating period.
This is excellent historical crime.
