"Hyde" is my first book by author Craig Russell. It's based in the 1800 Victorian Edinburgh, it follows Capt Edward Hyde, Edinburgh's Superintendent of Detectives, who is tasked with investigating a brutal murder with the signs of being a ritual killing.
Capt Edward is suffering from a crippling affliction, he is suffering from a sort of epilepsy that makes his brain lose memories and the passage of time which could be from minutes to hours.
He keeps this strange illness hidden from his superiors but confides in Dr Porteous who prescribes some medicine that Hyde thinks isn't working as his condition is getting worse and every time he mentions this Porteous modifies the ingredients which aren't doing anything. Hyde is suspicious and stops taking the medicine, which coincidentally is making Hyde not have frequent bouts of epilepsy.
We come across Dr Cally Burr who is a pathologist and being a female doctor in the 19th century she isn't treated as an equal in a (male) dominated profession. Post-mortem science is in its infancy, blood testing is being investigated as is stomach contents, but highly mistrusted. Early days yet!!
We're also introduced to Miss Elspeth Lockwood, the heir to the Lockwood empire, she's missing, even kidnapped, her disappearance isn't related to Hyde's case, or is it?.
The author introduces elements of Celtic rituals & sites, which is a huge part of the story.
I greatly enjoyed "Hyde". It ticks all the boxes, love Victorian Gothic Mysteries, the way the author describes the places, situations, especially the language.
Highly recommended and will be checking out his other works.
Award-winning author Craig Russell's novels have been translated into twenty-five languages worldwide. Film rights to his forthcoming novel, THE DEVIL ASPECT, have been acquired by Sony Pictures/Columbia Pictures. The LENNOX series has been acquired by BAFTA award-winning Synchronicity Films for adaptation into a returning TV series. The first television adaptation in Germany, by Tivoli Films, of a Jan Fabel novel attracted an audience of six million viewers. Four further novels have been made into films (in one of which Craig Russell makes a cameo appearance as a German detective). He is the first person in the history of the award to win the McIlvanney Prize twice.
Craig Russell:
• won the 2021 Crime Book of the Year (McIlvanney Prize) for 'Hyde'
• won the 2015 Crime Book of the Year (McIlvanney Prize) for 'The Ghosts of Altona'
• won the 2008 CWA Dagger in the Library for the Fabel series
• is the only non-German to be awarded the highly prestigious Polizeistern by the Polizei
Hamburg
• was a finalist for the 2019 Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Award
• was a finalist for the 2017 McIlvanney Prize for 'The Quiet Death of Thomas Quaid', the latest in the Lennox series
• was a finalist for the 2012 inaugural Bloody Scotland Crime Book of the year
• was a finalist for the 2013 Ellis Peters Historical Dagger
• was a finalist for the 2012 Crime Book of the Year (McIlvanney Prize)
• was a finalist for the 2007 CWA Duncan Lawrie Golden Dagger
• was a finalist for the 2007 SNCF Prix Polar in France
If you would like to buy it, go to the link on your left at no additional cost to you & I receive a percentage.
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