After her husband died, Kiera was accused
of unthinkable unladylike behavior for assisting her anatomist husband in his
dissections. To avoid these unwanted and upsetting attentions, she secluded herself
at Gairloch Castle with her sister Alana, her brother-in-law Philip, the Earl
of Cromarty, and their children. This worked well until the pregnant and
unmarried Lady Godwin’s throat was slit and her child cut from her womb. Keira
was the first suspect. Set in the early 19th century in Scotland,
this tale is as much a romance as a murder mystery.
Mr. Gage was given the responsibility to
identify the murderer, but Alana and Philip assured that Kiera was appointed as
his assistant. The first suspect was Kiera herself. Her drive to avoid another
round of accusations like those following her husband’s death motivated her to
find the culprit. She feared that Mr. Gage might finger her as a convenient
scapegoat. Eventually, he follows the
evidence, mostly found by Kiera, and identifies a suspect. While everyone
celebrates his brilliance, Kiera and the reader suspect otherwise.
While the reveal is no surprise, the
full complexity of the situation is interesting. The closing chapters, maybe a
tenth of the book, act as an epilogue following the reveal to unravel the old
and new evidence. Thus, the mystery involved understanding everyone’s behavior
more than identifying the murderer.
Beyond the mystery is the one-sided
romance between Kiera and Mr. Gage. Every time she sees him, she is distracted.
Early on she thinks, “The sight of the two women clinging by [Mr. Gage] stirred
a strange feeling in my chest.” By the end, “Gage had come to mean a great deal
more to me than I could have ever expected.”
Kiera alternates between solving the
murder and admiring Mr. Gage’s physique. If this combination appeals to you, The Anatomist’s Wife by Anna Lee Huber is your historical murder romance.
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