Murder by Degrees by Ritu Mukerji

Murder by Degrees
by Ritu Mukerji

ISBN-13: 9781668015063
Hardcover: 304 pages
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Released: October 17, 2023

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description from Goodreads:
Philadelphia, 1875: It is the start of term at Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania. Dr. Lydia Weston, professor and anatomist, is immersed in teaching her students in the lecture hall and hospital. When the body of a patient, Anna Ward, is dredged out of the Schuylkill River, the young chambermaid’s death is deemed a suicide. But Lydia is suspicious and she is soon brought into the police investigation.

Aided by a diary filled with cryptic passages of poetry, Lydia discovers more about the young woman she thought she knew. Through her skill at the autopsy table and her clinical acumen, Lydia draws nearer the truth. Soon a terrible secret, long hidden, will be revealed. But Lydia must act quickly, before she becomes the next target of those who wished to silence Anna.


My Review:
Murder by Degrees is a mystery set in 1875 in Philadelphia. Interesting historical details were woven into the story which brought the time and setting alive in my imagination. Some of those details were about the anatomy tools and how they're used or how an autopsy was performed or the sicknesses that Lydia's patients were suffering from and how she treated them. I wouldn't call the details gory as the focus was more on her actions and were clinical descriptions rather than sensational, but I've also done anatomy on animals so I probably have a high tolerance of such details. Also, Lydia's British maternal grandfather owned and ran a Darjeeling tea plantation in India, and her family lived on the estate for a while; I assumed her a white woman, especially based on how others treated her.

Lydia was intelligent and determined. The detective was initially supportive of her help in asking the women questions since she knew the murdered woman, but he eventually told her to step back from the case. He thought Lydia was finding clues were none existed. She didn't let his opinion discourage her any more than a condescending male doctor that she had to work around (and she wasn't rude, she simply proved them wrong). I really liked her as a person as well as as a sleuth. The mystery was clue-based, but it was complex enough that whodunit wasn't obvious and the final necessary clues came near the end.

There was occasional use of bad language. There were no sex scenes. Overall, I'd recommend this enjoyable historical mystery.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.