Description (from cover):'In the scorching summer of 1911, London is a hotbed of political activity as women fight for their equality and Germany starts to pose a dangerous threat. But Dody McCleland, England's first female autopsy surgeon, has more immediate concerns--such as finding out who's trying to frame her for murder...
A distraught scullery maid appears at Dody's Women's Clinic begging for an abortion. It turns out she has a case of lead poisoning, which Dody believes was meant to induce a miscarriage. Instead of reporting the girl to the authorities, Dody decides to counsel her and prescribes an antidote. But days later, the maid is found dead from a bungled criminal abortion--and the coroner receives a series of anonymous letters accusing Dody of the crime.
Now, Dody has to find out who has framed her for the maid's murder--or else she'll be embroiled in a criminal trial. Chief Inspector Pike is working undercover on another case, playing the piano for an exotic dancer who may be spying for the Germans, but when he hears Dody's in trouble, he insists on lending a hand. But as Pike and Dody are about to discover, she's not only fighting for her career, but for her life, too...'
My thoughts:
Wow, what a complete turn around this book was compared to its predecessor! This one was really good. I really enjoyed the mystery and returning to the characters. If all the books that are released forthcoming in this series are like this one, then historical mystery lovers are in for a treat. Maybe the writer was in a funk or something while writing the first one, but this one seriously hits the mark. I love the independence and sassy attitudes of Dody and her sister Florence. While the suffragette cause is a background feature in this book, it is limited and lets the mystery become the prime focus of the story.
I think that you should read the first book in this series to get some of the back story with the characters, just don't expect for it to be better than this one. I do encourage readers of the first book to stick with this series as the second book is wonderful. These books can be read without reading the other, but some information carries over to this one and I think it would be beneficial to the reader to have all the facts. Dody has been framed for murdering a woman during a fatal abortion attempt. Someone wants her to pay the price for someone else's bad deeds and she must keep her head and her wits with her or she will be the next corpse found floating in the Thames.
I see a lot of potential with this series. Some areas need work as sometimes the story left me a little confused as to how it was supposed to flow. This book has a lot of different situations going on which keep the story fresh and interesting to the reader. If you love learning about women who were a little different than society wanted to be and a murder mystery packing a little punch than I would suggest you read this book. I like the characters and see the author continuing the series in a good direction, or at least I am hoping, so I will continue this series for a little while longer.
Overall Rating: 4
Title: Antidote to Murder
Author: Felicity Young
Series: Doctor Dody McCleland Mystery #2
Publisher: Berkley Trade
Publication Date: May 7, 2013
Pages: 368
Genre: Historical Mystery
Get It: Amazon; Barnes & Noble
Disclaimer: This book was selected from the library by myself and I reviewed this book without compensation of any kind. All thoughts and opinions are solely mine.
