Murder by Degrees introduces Dr. Lydia Weston, a professor and clinician at the Women’s Medical College in Philadelphia, 1875. Her patient/mentee, Anna Ward, has disappeared. It is out of character because she has a disabled brother and an adult sister who depend on the money she earns in service. When her body is pulled from the Schuykill River, an apparent suicide, Lydia gets involved with the initial autopsy and what turns into a police investigation. This takes us to the Curtis home where Anna worked, to a charity where Anna sometimes worked on her employer’s behalf, helping poor women to get education and training. We learn about the Curtis foundry that had a serious fire in 1863, during the war. The Curtis’s have a number of employees in service who were affected by the fire either directly or indirectly. We learn about Ida Thornton who established the charity with her great wealth. We find out about the other doctors at the medical school and the students. We follow the doings of the Curtis household.
I love Mukerji’s use of verse from famous poets of the era. It is never too many lines and not too often and it’s a pleasure to take a moment and read some lovely poetry that got woven into the storyline. I like Lydia a lot. The concept of a working woman in a professional field is still not okay with a lot of men in 1875, but the Quaker community influenced the founding of the medical college, now 25 years old. So there’s also enough time that there’s some acceptance. You can tell this was a period when medicine began to be more modernized and Lydia is well equipped to be on the “cutting edge.” I like very much how Philadelphia forms the backdrop. I’m familiar enough with the city to recognize much of it in the book and it’s used wonderfully. Mukerji is a pleasing writer as well.
The plot and twists were good but a few clues were obvious because they were not sneaked in adequately. For awhile I thought these clues were red herrings. Mukerji needs to be a bit more artful in placing the evidence without giving things away too early/obviously. Also, having given a clue, one ended up standing out because how a particular person behaved never jibed with the clue enough. So it seemed planted intentionally and detracted from otherwise good writing. There were also a couple of scenes that weren’t as well and smoothly executed. It was like the writer was thinking, I have to pull this part together and it ended up being less believable scene than the largely believable plot/storyline. This is a very strong debut. I will read this series. The characters from the school and the police who will likely be working together in future books make good partners. I just hope it gets a bit more subtle and believable in how clues are placed and how some necessary connections are made. Highly recommend.
They Called me Bookworm 