The Death of Shame
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Canongate Books
Published:5th Jun '25
Should be back in stock very soon
1854, Edinburgh.
Respectable faces hide private sins.
Apprentice Sarah Fisher is helping fund Dr Will Raven's emerging medical practice in exchange for being secretly trained as a doctor. Sarah needs no instruction in the inequalities that beset her gender, but even she has her eyes opened when her help is sought in the search for a missing woman. Annabel Banks was promised a job in a prestigious household, but she never appeared at her employer's house, and there has been no word from her since.
Sarah's inquiries lead her to discover the plight of hundreds of girls ensnared in Edinburgh's many brothels: lured, abused and left ruined in the eyes of a society obsessed with moral purity. Meanwhile, when a prominent society figure throws himself from the Scott Monument, Raven is asked to establish whether the death was indeed suicide and, if so, what might have driven this highly successful man to take his own life.
Drawing upon real historical events, The Death of Shame takes Raven and Sarah into a treacherous labyrinth of exploitation, corruption and high-level complicity. In a world where people are the prisoners of their secrets, the death of shame is the only path to liberty.
The husband and wife duo of Chris Brookmyre and Marisa Haetzman writing as Ambrose Parry is a creative match made in historical crime fiction heaven . . . Riveting * * Sunday Post * *
So well devised and plotted that it rattles along compellingly. It is full of horrors, yet at the same time the characterization and the authors' mastery of pace means that you are likely to read it very happily at the gallop. I found it thoroughly enjoyable, a fine piece of craftsmanship -- ALAN MASSIE * * Scotsman * *
Victorian virtues turn out to be anything but in this gripping story which takes in photography, pornography and people trafficking * * Herald * *
Praise for the series: Parry's Victorian Edinburgh comes vividly alive - and it's a world of pain -- VAL McDERMID
Brilliantly conceived, fiendishly plotted and immaculately realised, these thrillers pull off the most difficult double-whammy of all: beneath blood and butchery so real they almost stain the pages lie both heart and soul . . . Wherever Parry takes them, I'll follow -- MICK HERRON
A rip-roaring tale of murder amid the medical experiments of 19th-century Edinburgh. The book brings both city and period to colourful life and is a joy to read -- IAN RANKIN
Menacing, witty and ingeniously plotted, Ambrose Parry's debut draws you into the dark heart of nineteenth-century Edinburgh and won't let you go until the final page -- S.J. PARRIS
The dark and dangerous past is brought thrillingly to life. I can't wait to read more of Raven and Sarah -- MARK BILLINGHAM
Utterly compelling, this tale of Old Edinburgh is so full of characters and startling incident that I never wanted it to end -- DENISE MINA
A thoroughly entertaining tale of murder and misadventure * * Sunday Times * *
- Long-listed for The McIlvanney Prize 2025 (UK)
ISBN: 9781837263431
Dimensions: 240mm x 159mm x 41mm
Weight: 657g
432 pages
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