The Blood

October 1, 2018
The death of a prostitute in Victorian London has personal relevance for a secretive sleuth.Apothecary Jem Flockhart disguises herself as a man so she can practice her profession. Not even her apprentice, Gabriel, is aware of her deception. A cryptic letter from fellow apothecary John Aberlady prompts Jem and her occasional sidekick, Will Quartermain, to visit the Seaman's Floating Hospital, known locally as "The Blood," where Aberlady works. But Aberlady is absent, having left the ship in an agitated state. Jem, who's long suspected Aberlady of being an opium eater, worries that his disappearance is connected to this addiction. A short time later, Jem and Will are walking along the waterfront when Jem spots a body in the shallow water. Pulled out, the corpse is identified as that of street girl Mary Mercer, who promptly interrupts Jem's first-person narrative with her own posthumous account of her route to prostitution and ruin. Another similar report comes from Jenny Quickly, whom Jem has already met as Aberlady's apprentice aboard The Blood. Yet another chilling narrative thread woven throughout explores the perspective of the killer, who throws out self-identifying hints even as Jem and Will intensify their search. Jem takes Jenny under her wing, both for her protection and to help understand the disappearance of Aberlady. The key to unraveling the mystery seems to lie at "Siren House, the premises of the League for Female Redemption," where both Mary and Jenny live. Clearly, Jem must tread carefully.Thomson's third Jem Flockhart mystery (Dark Asylum, 2017, etc.) is grim but compelling, with a righteous heroine you can't help but root for.

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Starred review from October 8, 2018
London apothecary Jem Flockhart tackles two cases in Thomson’s standout third Victorian mystery (after 2017’s Dark Asylum). Jem receives a message from her friend John Aberlady, who works at the Seaman’s Floating Hospital, a decommissioned naval frigate colloquially known as the Blood and Fleas, imploring her to come quickly. The ominous final sentence reads: “Come now, Jem, but come ready to face the Devil.” When Jem boards the Blood, which is anchored in the Thames, she learns that Aberlady has been missing for a week. In the course of her search for him, Jem finds the body of prostitute Mary Mercer in the water near the Blood. Soon she is also seeking Mary’s killer. The discovery validates Jem’s father’s grim dictum that “the corpses of men find their way into the river by accident. Women’s arrive there by design.” While the puzzle element of the plot is first-rate, what really distinguishes Thomson’s work is her depiction of London’s poor, whose precarious river-based livelihoods depend “on the direction of the wind.” Readers will eagerly await Jem’s next outing. Agent: Jenny Brown, Jenny Brown Assoc. (U.K.).

December 1, 2018

The third in the "Jem Flockhart" mysteries (following Dark Asylum) is a total immersion in the world of 1852 London near the docks, complete with fog, opium dens, brothels, and nightmarish medical practices. An urgent summons from her friend John Aberlady, the apothecary aboard hospital ship The Blood, brings Jem and partner Will Quartermain into the midst of a maelstrom of murder, medical experimentation, and dastardly deeds. Jem and Will pull the first murdered woman from the murky waters of Deadman's Basin. As more bodies of young women appear, they discover the victims were all once inhabitants of Siren House, a home for former prostitutes, who worked on The Blood. What connection do the murders have to Siren House, the hospital ship, and a secret society? Utilizing Jem's medical knowledge, Jem and Will ferret out the truth at great personal risk. Thomson's well-researched details of Victorian medicine and London life are the foundation for her skilled atmospheric writing; you can virtually smell the fetid stench and hear the slap of the water on the hull of The Blood. VERDICT Fans of Victorian mysteries will be unable to resist this novel.--Barbara Clark-Greene, Westerly, RI

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Starred review from November 1, 2018
The Blood, a scrofulous -flanked, floating seamen's hospital, moored on the Thames, provides the atmospheric setting for this third in Thomson's Jem Flockhart Victorian-era series (following Dark Asylum, 2017). Jem, the Blood's new apothecary, and his companion, Will Quartermain, are aboard ship investigating the death of the previous apothecary, snake-keeping Mr. Aberlady. Their discovery of several gruesome corpses in and near Deadman's Basin leads them to a disturbing connection with a cabal of the Blood's doctors. From the tiniest details (a rat's tail disappearing in a corner, collections of preserved human organs) to the characters' names (Mrs. Roseplucker, the madam; Dr. Proudlove and his sister Gethsemane; and Mrs. Speedicut), to the can't-miss imagery (decks of ailing men progressively worsening; a body submerged in ooze; opium dens, brothels, and secret-society tattoos) create a miasmic, unnerving portrait of hell on earth. And the avenging angels: Jem, secretly a woman but disguised as a man, and her prone-to-faint friend Will face down a callous medical system that disrespects and abuses the lowest layers of humanity. Not for the fainthearted, this riveting mystery is similar in theme to Lawrence Goldstone's Anatomy of Deception (2008) and Ambrose Parry's The Way of All Flesh (2018).(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)