The Unquiet Heart

December 15, 2018
In 19th-century Scotland, an aspiring doctor turns sleuth to save her fiance from a false charge of murder.Edinburgh, 1893. As if medical school isn't hard enough, dedicated student Sarah Gilchrist must face the daily misogyny of both fellow students and instructors. Sarah's also saddled with Miles Greene, a deadly dull fiance she's anxious to bid farewell. An interminable dinner with his family is interrupted by a bloodcurdling scream, then an announcement that the corpse of maid Clara Wilson, her head bashed in, has been found on the street just outside the house. The screams summon the police, who begin an investigation. To the family's dismay and Sarah's delight, her medical school professor, Dr. Gregory Merchiston, asks her to help with the autopsy. The arrival of Sarah's prickly, high-maintenance mother makes a tense situation even more awkward. When Miles' father, blustery Col. Greene, unexpectedly dies, Miles becomes the head of the family, a position for which he seems clearly unequipped. The surprising news that the colonel was poisoned sends the entire household into an uproar. The surprise is redoubled when Miles is arrested for his father's murder. Even as she struggles to break off her engagement to him, Sarah ironically feels compelled to ferret out the killer and save his life.Welsh depicts Victorian Edinburgh and 19th-century medicine with impressive authority. If the mystery often takes a back seat to Sarah's personal story--there's even an unforeseen marriage proposal--that mix should bind the target audience even closer to the determined heroine (The Wages of Sin, 2017).

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Starred review from March 15, 2019
In this captivating sequel to the The Wages of Sin (2017), Sarah Gilchrist is still attending medical school in Victorian Edinburgh, but her studies are jeopardized by a forced engagement. Her marriage prospects were nearly ruined after her parents institutionalized her for refusing to act like nothing happened when she was sexually assaulted by one of London's most eligible bachelors. It seems there's a Scottish second son whose family business is being kept afloat by Sarah's aunt and uncle, and his family is willing to overlook Sarah's past. But before Sarah has time to wriggle out of the relationship, a maid in her fianc�'s house is murdered. Then her fianc�'s father dies under mysterious circumstances, and Sarah is afforded a front-row seat at the autopsies of both the maid and her would-be father-in-law. The procedures are performed by medical-school professor Gregory Merchiston, who just happens to be the perfect Victorian hero?brooding, tortured, and the only man in the UK smart enough to see that Sarah's intellect is not something to be hidden away but, rather, something to be admired and loved. This excellent mix of historical mystery and romance should be recommended to fans of Deanna Raybourn's Lady Julia Grey's Victorian mysteries.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)