Chapters (90)
- PROLOGUE
- 1849
- ONE
- TWO
- EDINBURGH
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- TWENTY-SIX
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
- THIRTY
- THIRTY-ONE
- THIRTY-TWO
- THIRTY-THREE
- THIRTY-FOUR
- THIRTY-FIVE
- THIRTY-SIX
- THIRTY-SEVEN
- THIRTY-EIGHT
- THIRTY-NINE
- FORTY
- FORTY-ONE
- FORTY-TWO
- FORTY-THREE
- FORTY-FOUR
- FORTY-FIVE
- FORTY-SIX
- FORTY-SEVEN
- FORTY-EIGHT
- FORTY-NINE
- FIFTY
- FIFTY-ONE
- FIFTY-TWO
- FIFTY-THREE
- FIFTY-FOUR
- FIFTY-FIVE
- FIFTY-SIX
- FIFTY-SEVEN
- FIFTY-EIGHT
- FIFTY-NINE
- SIXTY
- SIXTY-ONE
- SIXTY-TWO
- SIXTY-THREE
- SIXTY-FOUR
- SIXTY-FIVE
- SIXTY-SIX
- SIXTY-SEVEN
- SIXTY-EIGHT
- SIXTY-NINE
- SEVENTY
- SEVENTY-ONE
- SEVENTY-TWO
- SEVENTY-THREE
- SEVENTY-FOUR
- SEVENTY-FIVE
- SEVENTY-SIX
- SEVENTY-SEVEN
- SEVENTY-EIGHT
- SEVENTY-NINE
- EIGHTY
- EIGHTY-ONE
- EPILOGUE
- HISTORICAL NOTE
- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
- Extract from A Corruption of Blood
- 1850
- ONE
‘Will Raven, you’re not the first to have toured the great hospitals and institutions of Europe and come back convinced you know everything. You might have been listening to great minds discussing hypotheticals, but I have been working with Dr Simpson on the practical realities every day. I think I’m in a better position to assess how “cloudy” his judgment is.’
Raven answered quietly, choosing his words with concision and care.
‘No one is infallible, Sarah.’
He could see the outrage building in her eyes.
‘Do you doubt him? Are you saying you believe he might be guilty of what he is accused?’
He answered swiftly to head off her ire.
‘Of course not. I am simply warning you that even Dr Simpson has feet of clay. As for this business, I suspect it is merely an unseemly squabble among rivals that is less about the facts of the case and far more about personal agendas.’
‘Then you’ll help me?’
He looked at her for a moment. There was a time when she could have easily talked him into doing just that, but those days had passed.
He thought about the forces ranged against Simpson, and not merely the ones who had shown their hands here. Raven was trying to build a career, and needed to forge profitable allegiances, not make powerful enemies. He thought about his fragile reputation and how it could quickly be tarnished by association. If he were discovered taking sides in this dispute, he would be mere cannon fodder in a battle between generals.
‘As I already mentioned, it is unprofessional to secretly investigate another doctor’s conduct,’ he said. ‘It would be no more appropriate for me to go snooping about behind Dr Simpson’s back than it is for Miller or Matthews Duncan. I am quite sure that if the professor required my assistance in this matter, he would ask me himself.’
NINETEEN
espite the trouble it was to bring me, I think the killing of Mrs Johnstone remains the one of which I am most proud. It continues to amuse me that her death should have become the centre of so much controversy, the great men of Edinburgh medicine playing out their games of blame and innuendo, speculation and accusation across the journals and the newspapers. What sport they had, what duels they fought, and yet none came close to the truth. Supposedly the greatest medical minds in the city failed to deduce why she should have suddenly deteriorated and would not respond even under the care of the esteemed Dr Simpson, a man whose name is known around the world.
If I had anticipated what this death would precipitate, perhaps I would have savoured it more. But is that not often the way of things: how the most significant moments pass us by, only revealing their value to us after the fact?