Disturbing the Dead, by Kelley Armstrong

And now I really have to wait a full year for the next in the series–gaaaaaaahhhhh!!!!!.

Beware: racism; xenophobia; domestic violence; misogyny.

Disturbing the Dead, by Kelley Armstrong

It’s been about six months since Canadian homicide detective Mallory Atkinson was attacked in an Edinburgh alley, after which she woke up, a couple of days later, to find herself still in Edinburgh–only 150 years earlier, and in the body of now-twenty-year-old housemaid Catriona Mitchell.

The story is told in first person, present tense, by Mallory; her modern sensibilities and the period setting make for an engrossing narrative. The narrative strikes a perfect balance between the mystery and the evolving relationships between Mallory and the people around her.

The author lays out the series’ premise and main characters’ established backstories in the first couple of chapters in an economic yet nuanced manner that readers new to the series can follow easily, while not boring returning fans with tiresome repetition.

Here’s how the publisher sets the story up:

Victorian Scotland is becoming less strange to modern-day homicide detective Mallory Atkinson. Though inhabiting someone else’s body will always be unsettling, even if her employers know that she’s not actually housemaid Catriona Mitchell, ever since the night both of them were attacked in the same dark alley 150 years apart. Mallory likes her job as assistant to undertaker/medical examiner Dr. Duncan Gray, and is developing true friends—and feelings—in this century.

So, understanding the Victorian fascination with death, Mallory isn’t that surprised when she and her friends are invited to a mummy unwrapping at the home of Sir Alastair Christie. When their host is missing when it comes time to unwrap the mummy, Gray and Mallory are asked to step in. And upon closer inspection, it’s not a mummy they’ve unwrapped, but a much more modern body.

This is the third novel in the Rip Through Time series, and quite a bit has changed for Mallory and her employers, doctor Duncan Gray and Mrs Isla Ballantyne, since the events in the first novel; including the latter’s reconciliation with their oldest sister, Annis, after their last major investigation into a poisoning.

“We’re in the middle of a brutal game of cards. Sure, I suspect “cards” and “brutal” should never be used in the same sentence, but this is Annis, who could turn Go Fish into a blood sport.” (Chapter 1)

One of the consequences of this reconciliation is that the now-widowed Lady Leslie feels no compunction about dropping in on the household without warning, or in inviting them all–Mallory and Detective Hugh McCreadie included–to social functions heretofore reserved for the highest of Edinburgh’s high society. Mostly, because what’s the point of being infamous if you can’t provoke a stir. But also, because Annis knows that Isla enjoys parties and has few occasions to attend one.,

Isla, Hugh, Mallory and Duncan could do without the desecration of human remains as party entertainment, but things being what they are, they all go. While Hugh and Isla entertain themselves with some party food, and Annis enjoys scandalizing other guests by her very presence, Duncan and Mallory make the most of the occasion by checking out some of the other Egyptian artifacts their host brought back from his latest expedition.

Mallory is intrigued by the history between Sir Alastair and Duncan, and by the former’s family dynamics; the second Lady Christie, who was close friends with the first lady Christie, is Egyptian by birth, and her son from her first marriage is clearly half-white. Her younger brother, Selim Awad, works with her current husband on their archaeological excavations, and was expected to arrive in Edinburgh in time for the party.

When neither Selim nor Sir Alasdair turn up in time to prevent a rather ugly scene at the party, Mallory and Duncan are prevailed upon to do the honors, given the former’s medical education.

And that’s when they realize that the “badly wrapped” mummy everyone is there to see unwrapped is actually Sir Alastair himself.

We so often hear that old phrase about repeating the past; I am deeply appreciative of authors who managed to show this simply by incorporating historic fact into their fiction–even fiction with such a fantastic element as time travel–in ways that show exactly what that means.

“Someone can support equal rights for one group while denying it for others” (Chapter 20)

I find the breadth and depth of the Victorian Edinburgh we see in these stories fascinating, and never more so than in this entry in the series.

The investigation into the murder involves the Edinburgh Seven (see footnote ¹), and the breathtaking misogyny of the period; the Victorian fascination with all things Egypt, with the attendant imperialist belief on British superiority and their right to everything they could get their paws on; and the enduring public fascination with “true crime”, through the proliferation of broadsheets carrying lurid fabrications around any unusual or scandalous crimes.

There’s the (literally) underground market where items as disparate as a Hand of Glory and mummia (see footnote ²) can be found and traded for; there’s the University of Edinburgh, and the politics and monetary considerations of research and higher education; there are the growing societal tensions over workers and women’s rights; the increased literacy of the poor, and the growing spread of scientific discovery–including forensic science–and so much more, all interwoven seamlessly into a cohesive whole.

At the same time, the relationships between the characters continue to evolve; from the first book in the series there’s been a growing thread of romantic interest between Mallory and Duncan, and between Isla and Hugh McCreadie; and the deep and longstanding friendship between doctor and detective is an essential part of how the Gray household works. Mallory’s own friendship with McCreadie, and how she establishes her new identity with the people who were already familiar with the manipulative Catriona (personally or by reputation), play an important role in solving Sir Alistair’s murder and other crimes.

Isla has her own moment to shine as she addresses a parallel mystery, though I imagine mystery fans will spot at least part of the solution early on, it’s still a lovely way to continue building the more intimate side of the world of the series, through the involvement of other secondary and minor characters, both recurring and new to the series.

Simultaneously, there’s the matter of Mallory’s life in the present; not so much her job or career, as that itch has been more than scratched by her work with Gray and McCreadie, and her friendship with Isla has filled in a void in her life she wasn’t aware was there. No, Mallory’s inner conflict revolves around her family, and the soul-gnawing uncertainty of her very presence in 1869 Edinburgh: how did she get there, how long will she remain, and what are her parents and dying grandmother going through, with Mallory gone.

Ms Armstrong resolution of this aspect of the story had me sobbing, which I absolutely did not expect; I don’t know that it will have the same effect on other readers, but it works for the characters. It gives them closure and frees them to move forward with their lives, and I look forward to learning what happens next for them all.

Disturbing the Dead gets a 9.00 out of 10

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¹ The first women to matriculate to study at university in Britain; their fight to earn degrees and practice a career changed life for British Victorian women who could afford to study. (Wikipedia link here)

² Some younger readers may assume this was an invention by a certain transphobic author; not so. Here’s the Wikipedia link on the Hand of Glory history and mythos. As for mummia, or pulverized mummies, it was believed for centuries time to have actual medicinal properties–obligatory Wikipedia link here.