Publisher's Weekly Review
A female physician becomes an amateur sleuth in internist Mukerji's impressive debut. In 1875 Philadelphia, Dr. Lydia Weston teaches at the Woman's Medical College and sees patients at a low-cost clinic she helped found to serve the city's working class. One of her patients is Anna Ward, a chambermaid in the home of wealthy couple Edward and Beatrice Curtis. During an appointment with Lydia, Anna is visibly troubled by something she won't explain; she then misses her next appointment and seems to vanish entirely. Soon after the police are notified of Anna's disappearance, they find a young woman's body in the Schuylkill River. Though the corpse is too bloated to identify, Anna's journal is found nearby. Lydia helps her mentor, police consultant Dr. Harlan Stanley, perform the autopsy, which identifies blunt force trauma as the cause of death. Given her intimate knowledge of Anna's life, the detectives assigned to the case let Lydia assist in the investigation. She learns that Anna was involved in "a love affair gone awry," and that both the Curtises and their servants had reasons to harm her. Things take a more complicated turn, however, when Lydia realizes that the body she and her cohorts have recovered may not be Anna's after all. Mukerji's taut plotting and vivid depiction of the era's medical practices and social customs will leave readers eager for a second installment. Agent: Nicki Richesin, Dunow, Carlson & Lerner Literary. (Oct.)
Kirkus Review
Debut novelist Mukerji, who is also a practicing physician, applies her knowledge of medicine to a gripping tale set in 1875 Philadelphia. Dr. Lydia Weston serves working-class patients at the city's Spruce Street Clinic and teaches future female doctors at the Woman's Medical College. Her accomplishments are often dismissed by men who believe women are prone to hysteria and not capable of being good doctors. When the body of a woman believed to be one of Lydia's patients is discovered in the Schuylkill River, Lydia is invited into the police investigation. Anna Ward worked as a housemaid for a wealthy family whose haughty members are far from willing to cooperate with the search for her killer. Their sense of privilege opens the door for Mukerji to morph her crime novel into a social novel that deftly examines the deprivation suffered by people in service and the struggles of women like Lydia and Anna who want to choose their own paths. Mukerji, like Patricia Cornwell and Kathy Reichs, pulls the reader into fascinating and richly detailed forensic autopsies and blesses Weston with the instincts and determination to carry out a murder investigation as effectively as--or even better than--the police. This well-constructed narrative will also be appealing to literature lovers as Lydia finds solace in reading Tennyson, Browning, and Wordsworth. Mukerji writes with the assurance of a more seasoned novelist, and armchair sleuths can hope this is the beginning of a substantive new series. Like Jacqueline Winspear's Maisie Dobbs, Lydia is a strong and indomitable woman who transcends her circumstances to become her true self and a crusader for social justice. This atmospheric novel heralds the arrival of a talented new writer and an unforgettable heroine. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Dr. Lydia Weston, a physician and professor at the Women's Medical College in Philadelphia in 1875, must battle sexism daily. She teaches and cares for patients, maintaining a busy schedule and working to educate the poor women that she sees. When Anna Ward, a young woman she has been treating and mentoring, fails to appear for her regular appointments, Lydia becomes concerned. Anna is a maid working for a wealthy family while caring for a disabled younger brother. When the body of a young woman turns up in the Schuylkill River, the police assume that it is a suicide, but Lydia and her supportive male colleague, Harlan Stanley, perform an autopsy that proves murder. A diary with cryptic poetry passages found with the body suggests problems in the victim's life. Lydia assist police officers Volcker and Davies with their investigation, discovering unsavory events in some of Philadelphia's wealthy families. Lydia herself is in danger as a result. This well-researched, historical-mystery debut by a practicing physician will appeal to readers who enjoy strong female characters and graphic clinical details.
Library Journal Review
DEBUT In 1875, Dr. Lydia Weston is a professor at Woman's Medical College in Philadelphia. She first met Anna Ward, a chambermaid working for the wealthy Curtis family, at a clinic. Although Lydia encouraged the young woman to further her education, she hasn't seen her in three weeks. When Anna's body is fished from the river, a suspected suicide, Lydia can't believe it. Inspector Thomas Volcker doesn't believe it either. Despite police reluctance to work with a woman, Lydia insists on helping with Anna's autopsy and the case of her murder. Anna's diary entries show a woman trying to better herself, but in the last weeks of her life those entries take a disturbing turn. As a woman who fights daily against male attitudes of superiority and who herself struggled to improve her conditions, Lydia is determined to find answers for Anna. VERDICT On the surface, this debut by Mukerji, herself a medical doctor, appears to be a mystery about the death of a working-class servant, but it's much more, as it examines women's rights, social conditions, and medicine in Philadelphia just a decade after the Civil War. Fans of Maddie Day's "Quaker Midwife" series will appreciate this detailed historical mystery.--Lesa Holstine
