Dickens, Austen & Conan Doyle??

Instruments of Darkness by Imogen Robertson

Gabriel Crowther is described as a reclusive anatomist, sort of a cross between Sherlock Holmes and Quincy, medical examiner, from the old TV series.  His partner in crime is a Harriet Westerman, a head strong mistress of a Sussex Manor, who finds a dead body on the edges of her estate, and solicits the aid of Crowther to help identify the victim and the killer.  This mismatched pair of 18th century sleuths both have razor sharp minds, an eye for crime scene details and a nose for mystery.  And there are plenty of mysteries to go around in this debut novel by Robertson.

First there is the identification of the dead body, and who the murderer might be.  The body may have connections with the mysterious neighboring estate, Thornleigh Manor, and its missing heir, Alexander, or the younger brother, Hugh Thornfield, who has his own mysterious past, while serving in the British Army during the American Revolution.  To top off the list of mysteries, even the protaganist, Gabriel Crowther, has his own mysterious past.  Crowther may not be his real name.

To start unraveling this first in a series of Westerman and Crowther mysteries, you might want to pick up Instruments of Darkness to determine if this is a crime novel series you want to follow.  While I enjoyed the story and the two main characters, I did not find it as riveting as some of the reviews at the Barnes and Noble website indicate.  But I will try the second novel in Robertson's series, Anatomy of Murder, to see if the potential of these two characters, pans out.