Simpson is an advocate for single mothers, who are too often condemned to turn to prostitution to feed their children and then treated as pariahs threatening the common good. He let go of Raven, his eyes bulging as he clutched between his legs, a crippling, uncomprehending agony on his face. I would recommend reading this book because of the wonderful writing, characters and atmospheric tone. Fortunately, at 40% the story did gain some momentum and it took the death of the horrible and powerful Sir Ainsley Douglas to get things going.

Brookmyre has said that the inspiration for Jack Parlabane was Ford Prefect from Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series; he said "I always adored the idea of a character who cheerfully wanders into enormously dangerous situations and effortlessly makes them much worse. Eugenie hopes that Will can prove that her close acquaintance Gideon, son and heir to his father’s fortune, is innocent of his slaying and time is of the essence as he has already been charged and sentenced to hang for the crime. Several months after the events of The Art of Dying, Will Raven is still living at Professor Simpson’s house and happily working as his associate, while Sarah Fisher has embarked on a journey to meet Elizabeth Blackwell, famous as the first woman to obtain an official medical degree, in the hope of emulating her career.Maybe here she can find greater opportunities are open for women as the medical profession is closed to her. There are some excellent and extremely atmospheric descriptions of Edinburgh and you can virtually smell Auld Reekie in its less salubrious quarters. In fact, I can detect the hand of Chris Brookmyre in the nature of the subject that arises during the latest case in Voices of the Dead.

Raven battles against the dark side of his very own nature and Sarah is working to expand her medical knowledge far beyond what society deems appropriate for a woman during this time. She yearns to be a doctor, but medical schools in Britain are not yet admitting women, although she is planning to seek advice from Dr Elizabeth Blackwell, the first woman to attend medical school in America. The child had been placed with a "baby farmer" and the maid had been struggling to pay for the child's upkeep—until the day the baby farmer disappeared and the maid lost all contact with her child.

And indeed it proves to be the case, the plotting perfectly balanced with revelations dropped with precision at the right places and times.