The Anatomy of Deception » (Abridged)

Lawrence Goldstone, with his wife, Nancy, is the author of two critically acclaimed narrative histories of medicine and anatomy. He has written for the Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, and Miami Herald. He lives in Westport, Connecticut.

A mesmerizing forensic thriller that thrusts the reader into the operating rooms, drawing rooms, and back alleys of 1889 Philadelphia, as a young doctor grapples with the principles of scientific process to track a daring killer.

In the morgue of a Philadelphia hospital, a group of physicians open a coffin and uncover the corpse of a beautiful young woman. What they see takes their breath away. Within days, one of them strongly suspects that he knows the woman s identity and the horrifying events that led to her death. But in this richly atmospheric novel an ingenious blend of history, suspense and early forensic science the most compelling chapter is yet to come, as young Ephraim Carroll is plunged into a maze of murder, secrets and unimaginable crimes....

Dr. Ephraim Carroll came to Philadelphia to study with a leading professor, the brilliant William Osler, believing that he would gain the power to save countless lives. As America hurtles toward a new century, medicine is...

Publishers Weekly

Goldstone, an acclaimed popular historian (Out of the Flames; The Friar and the Cipher), marks out new terrain with his compelling fiction debut, a medical thriller set in 1889 Philadelphia. The narrator, Ephraim Carroll, a young, idealistic and somewhat naïve doctor, works alongside the real-life William Osler, often described as the father of modern medicine. Carroll is troubled when Osler, the head of clinical medicine at the University of Pennsylvania medical school, forgoes an autopsy of a woman without explanation. Carroll's curiosity is further piqued after George Turk, a colleague who also seemed unsettled by Osler's actions, dies, apparently of cholera. When Turk's autopsy reveals trace amounts of arsenic, Carroll's suspicions of foul play are confirmed. Goldstone artfully integrates a manuscript the actual Dr. Osler wrote and ordered sealed for half a century after his death. With this top-notch historical page-turner and his proven versatility in nonfiction, Goldstone can expect to win over many new fans. (Feb.)