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petra_reads's review against another edition
4.0
Nikki Exner, a young medical student, is found hanging and theatrically mutilated in a pathology museum attached to St. Benjamin's, a high-status British medical school.
John Eisenmenger, current head of the museum and former forensic pathologist, is asked by Helena Flemming, a solicitor, to carry out a second autopsy. Flemming has an axe to grind; there is some history between her and the Detective Inspector in charge of the case, Beverly Wharton. Wharton is an ambitious and manipulating career woman who likes to get results no matter how. One of her "victims" is another detective who joins Eisenmenger and Flemming in their independent investigation into the horrific murder.
This is the first book in the Eisenmenger-Flemming Forensic Mysteries series. The prose is very dense and distinct and coupled with the large number of characters that were being introduced, it took me a little while to get into this. But once I got used to the style and the array of characters, I thoroughly enjoyed it and really started to appreciate the witty observations. The plot is really complex and the characters are truly multi-faceted. Most of them carry around a heap of emotional baggage, have secrets and personal problems galore. The term bat-shit crazy comes to mind for some of them. There were some rather gory details, which I didn't mind, though.
I listened to the audio narrated by Sean Barrett, which was simply perfect. He did a fantastic job giving the characters distinct British voices using different accents and making each character unique. I have the second in the series, [b:The Silent Sleep of the Dying (|28283688|The Silent Sleep of the Dying ((Eisenmenger-Flemming Forensic Mysteries #2)|Keith McCarthy|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1450910646s/28283688.jpg|3251421], as an eBook provided by NetGalley but can't actually imagine reading this now without listening to Sean Barrett's voice. He was that good.
If you like British crime fiction with adroit use of language and enjoy forensic mysteries, I would recommend this.
John Eisenmenger, current head of the museum and former forensic pathologist, is asked by Helena Flemming, a solicitor, to carry out a second autopsy. Flemming has an axe to grind; there is some history between her and the Detective Inspector in charge of the case, Beverly Wharton. Wharton is an ambitious and manipulating career woman who likes to get results no matter how. One of her "victims" is another detective who joins Eisenmenger and Flemming in their independent investigation into the horrific murder.
This is the first book in the Eisenmenger-Flemming Forensic Mysteries series. The prose is very dense and distinct and coupled with the large number of characters that were being introduced, it took me a little while to get into this. But once I got used to the style and the array of characters, I thoroughly enjoyed it and really started to appreciate the witty observations. The plot is really complex and the characters are truly multi-faceted. Most of them carry around a heap of emotional baggage, have secrets and personal problems galore. The term bat-shit crazy comes to mind for some of them. There were some rather gory details, which I didn't mind, though.
I listened to the audio narrated by Sean Barrett, which was simply perfect. He did a fantastic job giving the characters distinct British voices using different accents and making each character unique. I have the second in the series, [b:The Silent Sleep of the Dying (|28283688|The Silent Sleep of the Dying ((Eisenmenger-Flemming Forensic Mysteries #2)|Keith McCarthy|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1450910646s/28283688.jpg|3251421], as an eBook provided by NetGalley but can't actually imagine reading this now without listening to Sean Barrett's voice. He was that good.
If you like British crime fiction with adroit use of language and enjoy forensic mysteries, I would recommend this.
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