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A review by erica_o
The Anatomist's Apprentice by Tessa Harris
3.0
This amused and entertained me throughout several workdays.
Good Ol' King George is on the throne and we get to follow Dr. Thomas Silkstone, Philadelphia transplant, as he traipses about England, doctoring and solving mysteries.
The story starts with a murder because what good, old-fashioned mystery doesn't? This particular victim winds up being murdered by pretty much everyone in the book, himself (the dead guy) included. I'm still not actually sure how he died; I think it was an amalgamation of attempts on his life along with some help from STDs. But that doesn't actually matter. What matters is that one death was caused by another death and begets another and then another and yet another and most-lovely but personality-bereft Lydia is at the heart of it all. She's the one whom all the men want. She's got good milkshakes, I suppose. And yet, there's not much to her; she's mostly demure, she is easily distracted, she is somewhat vapid and mostly, she's boring. But she's really good at getting Death to come knockin' at her door!
You know, now that I think of it, I didn't like any of the characters in the story. What I liked was the melodrama of it all. It's old-fashioned in that you just nod your head and let all the people do their preposterous things and everything winds up tidily put away in the end. It reminded me a bit of an old Agatha Christie novel (you know, as opposed to those new ones...) but without the cleverness.
I think this is what's known as a cozy mystery, though if you're offended by pre-marital sex - and let's face it, Lydia's a wanton hussy, really - or people constantly dying via one violent fashion or another, this may not be the book for you.
Good Ol' King George is on the throne and we get to follow Dr. Thomas Silkstone, Philadelphia transplant, as he traipses about England, doctoring and solving mysteries.
The story starts with a murder because what good, old-fashioned mystery doesn't? This particular victim winds up being murdered by pretty much everyone in the book, himself (the dead guy) included. I'm still not actually sure how he died; I think it was an amalgamation of attempts on his life along with some help from STDs. But that doesn't actually matter. What matters is that one death was caused by another death and begets another and then another and yet another and most-lovely but personality-bereft Lydia is at the heart of it all. She's the one whom all the men want. She's got good milkshakes, I suppose. And yet, there's not much to her; she's mostly demure, she is easily distracted, she is somewhat vapid and mostly, she's boring. But she's really good at getting Death to come knockin' at her door!
You know, now that I think of it, I didn't like any of the characters in the story. What I liked was the melodrama of it all. It's old-fashioned in that you just nod your head and let all the people do their preposterous things and everything winds up tidily put away in the end. It reminded me a bit of an old Agatha Christie novel (you know, as opposed to those new ones...) but without the cleverness.
I think this is what's known as a cozy mystery, though if you're offended by pre-marital sex - and let's face it, Lydia's a wanton hussy, really - or people constantly dying via one violent fashion or another, this may not be the book for you.