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The Edinburgh Dead

3.37 of 5 stars 3.37 · rating details · 257 ratings · 63 reviews

Edinburgh: 1828

In the starkly-lit operating theaters of the city, grisly experiments are being carried out on corpses in the name of medical science. But elsewhere, there are those experimenting with more sinister forces.

Amongst the crowded, sprawling tenements of the labyrinthine Old Town, a body is found, its neck torn to pieces. Charged with investigating the murder is...more

Paperback, 342 pages

Published August 17th 2011 by Orbit (first published August 1st 2011)

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The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark

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Feb 17, 2012 ☆Jessie☆ (Ageless Pages Reviews) rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: steampunk, netgalley-arc, fantasy, horror-zombies-gore, 2011-reads, 2012-reviews, arc, reviewed

Read This Review & More Like It On My Blog!

Having read and been none-too-impressed by Ruckley's first series, a high/epic fantasy set called The Godless World, I wasn't sure what I was in for here, with this interesting mix of genres. From horror to historical fiction, The Edinburgh Dead is strange, odd and a hell of a lot more lively than anything the author has produced to date. Though I've tagged this as a steampunk novel, it takes a backseat to the horror elements as well as being more p...more

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Nov 20, 2010 Bettie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Recommended to Bettie by: Spotted on Penelope's profile

Shelves: published-2011, britain-scotland, fantasy

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Sep 12, 2011 Sue added it

The Edinburgh Dead is a well-written period piece, atmospheric, with realistic and involving characters (including the town of Edinburgh) and a thoroughly engrossing story. Sergeant Adam Quire of the Edinburgh police finds himself caught in a disturbing mystery which starts with the discovery of a body in the street - a body which has been mauled in a disturbing fashion. As Quire digs deeper, he makes an enemy of the devious and powerful John Ruthven, and his cohorts. Graverobbing is only the be...more

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Sep 11, 2012 Elizabeth rated it 3 of 5 stars

It's the year 1828 and Edinburgh is buzzing with scientific fervor as many scientists experiment on corpses. Other, more nefarious experiments are also being conducted on the dead, unbeknownst to the public until ravaged bodies turn up in the streets. Officer Adam Quire heads the murder investigation and is determined to solving the case even though the victim is of low class. Everyone else in the newly-formed Edinburgh police force is satisfied to chalk it up as an unsolved case and not waste a...more It's the year 1828 and Edinburgh is buzzing with scientific fervor as many scientists experiment on corpses. Other, more nefarious experiments are also being conducted on the dead, unbeknownst to the public until ravaged bodies turn up in the streets. Officer Adam Quire heads the murder investigation and is determined to solving the case even though the victim is of low class. Everyone else in the newly-formed Edinburgh police force is satisfied to chalk it up as an unsolved case and not waste any more time on it. Adam wants justice done no matter the class of the victim and decides to investigate further anyway, which leads him through the lowest class to one of the highest castes in Scotland.

I liked The Edinburgh Dead as a mystery, a period piece, and a thriller. The writing style is easy to read, but more formal than usual, reflecting a slightly modernized version of the writing style of the era. I really liked the main character, Adam Quire. He had a rich back story and experienced the senselessness of war during his time serving in the Napoleonic Wars. The flashbacks to that time in his life were powerful and really captured the unpredictability and horror of war. He saw the poor and unprivileged fighting and dying for the rich and their sovereign. Because of his history, he had no tolerance for the poor being graverobbed in the name of science and constantly dismissed by the majority as unimportant. I also liked Adam's straight-forward attitude and manner. He did what needed to be done and didn't agonize or mope when things went wrong in the pursuit of doing what he believed in and what was right. He proved to be a great contrast to the villains and higher class people who only cared about status, power, money, and upward mobility.

Unfortunately, the zombie element in the novel is relatively small in the greater scheme of things. The main villain's evil sidekick manservant is a zombie, but really some sort of evil spirit possessing a dead guy. He could move from dead body to dead body for the rest of time if he wanted, making him pretty scary, but not too zombie-like. The only zombie beings were dogs that did the villain's bidding and got rid of people who proved to be a problem. They were scary, but didn't have the same effect as people turned into zombies.

The Edinburgh Dead was an enjoyable horror and mystery that incorporated a lot of disparate aspects and manages to make them all work fairly well. The change of locale to Scotland served the story well and gave the story a whole different feel than other books I have read. My only complaint was that there weren't more zombies and they did not play as big of a role in the story as I expected based on the title and the . If you are interested in a period novel about class warfare and magic, then this is for you.(less)

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Feb 05, 2012 Marlene rated it 3 of 5 stars

The Edinburgh Dead, by Brian Ruckley, is an extremely creepy, extremely gritty book mixing very black magic, Frankenstein's monster, true crime body snatchers and the dark beginnings of Edinburgh's police force. The Frankenstein element made this less of a historic urban fantasy and closer to horror than I expected.

The police sergeant investigating the case is Adam Quire, a member of the relatively new Edinburgh Police Department. Quire was a soldier under Wellington in the late Napoleonic Wars,...more The Edinburgh Dead, by Brian Ruckley, is an extremely creepy, extremely gritty book mixing very black magic, Frankenstein's monster, true crime body snatchers and the dark beginnings of Edinburgh's police force. The Frankenstein element made this less of a historic urban fantasy and closer to horror than I expected.

The police sergeant investigating the case is Adam Quire, a member of the relatively new Edinburgh Police Department. Quire was a soldier under Wellington in the late Napoleonic Wars, and soldiering and policing are the only two things he's ever been much good at, even if as a policeman he only seems to follow orders when it suits him.

In 1828, Quire is called to to a corpse in the Old Town section of Edinburgh. The corpse has been savaged by dogs, to the point that Quire hasn't seen anyone this badly damaged outside of a battlefield. Napoleon having been finally defeated at Waterloo in 1815, Quire had hoped never to see a body this completely destroyed ever again.

The savagely deceased is eventually identified as Edward Carlyle, formerly in the employ of one John Ruthven. And it is in Quire's questioning of Ruthven that the story really begins. Or perhaps descends into the pit.

Ruthven appears to be a wealthy man who can wreck Quire's career with a few well-placed social calls. Ruthven makes his threats, and carries them out. But Quire knows from the beginning that Ruthven is lying about something, and Quire can't let it go, even when his life is threatened. Quire knows that too much about the case is not what it appears to be.

And Quire is absolutely right. Ruthven's whole life is a sham. He has been mixing black sorcery with an attempt at the same types of scientific experiments that Dr. Frankenstein performed in Mary Shelley's literary masterpiece Frankenstein (published in 1818). Ruthven has more than succeeded--something dark and malevolent has come to inhabit his "monster"--it is not just alive, it is self-aware and very, very self-willed.

But Ruthven's experiments must continue. He must do even better. And into this fictional horror there is added real horror. Ruthven needed more bodies for his experiments, so he contracted with William Burke and William Hare, real serial killers who were operating in Edinburgh in the 1820's. Burke and Hare were providing fresh corpses to Dr. Robert Knox, an anatomy lecturer at the Edinburgh Medical College by murdering their victims and presenting Dr. Knox with fresh subjects for his lectures. Burke, Hare and Knox were real, and were caught in 1828. Presumably the ending was not quite as it occurs in Edinburgh Dead, although the case is gruesome enough.

Escape Rating C: There were a tremendous number of story elements. The early history of Edinburgh's police department, the Burke and Hare serial murders, the medical education establishment in Edinburgh in the early 1800's, the black sorcery, the Frankenstein's monster. Juggling all of those elements, along with the character development required to maintain interest in Quire himself, took a lot of doing. It made following the plot more than a bit tangled at times.

Also, I wasn't expecting it to be quite as heavy on the horror elements as it was. That's a case of one's mileage may vary.(less)

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Jan 12, 2012 Jeannie Mancini rated it 4 of 5 stars

With an aura of Edgar Allen Poe, a Dickensian style, and the creativity of Mary Shelley, Brian Ruckley pens his tale of The Edinburgh Dead with an incredible Victorian flourish. Steeped in historic atmosphere, this story takes place in the early 1800s amidst an Edinburgh Scotland still locked in the days of horse-drawn carriages, cobblestone streets, and lamplighters that nightly climb to the top of gas lit light posts so that one can see their way through the darkened alleyways and descending f...more

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Dec 26, 2011 Ross Hamilton rated it 3 of 5 stars

When writing an historical novel, even one delving into a bit of gothic horror as this does, the danger is always that of making sure you have your history spot-on. That has been a significant reason why I tend to steer away from it myself, because the moment you do get it wrong, nitpickers come flooding out of the woodwork to have a gripe. Like me.

From the interesting interview with the author located in the rear of the book, Ruckley describes his basic idea stemming from the thought that what...more When writing an historical novel, even one delving into a bit of gothic horror as this does, the danger is always that of making sure you have your history spot-on. That has been a significant reason why I tend to steer away from it myself, because the moment you do get it wrong, nitpickers come flooding out of the woodwork to have a gripe. Like me.

From the interesting interview with the author located in the rear of the book, Ruckley describes his basic idea stemming from the thought that what if the infamous body snatchers who turned to murder to supplement their supply of corpses, Burke and Hare, were dealing with more than supplying medical schools? The novel only touches on Burke and Hare but does relate a particular ending to Hare which unfortunately overlooks the fact that there were supposedly confirmed sightings of him in England at a later date. That was my little historical nitpick.

From discussions with a friend of mine who knows Edinburgh very well, the descriptions of the New and Old Towns rang quite true, as did the policing of the time.

It is unfortunate that I have only not long finished reading and reviewing another historical novel also with a backdrop of body snatching, albeit in London. That protagonist and Ruckley’s protagonist have a number of similarities as does aspects of the plot. Please note that I am not suggesting plagiarism or anything of the sort, but merely that once you enter a historical setting like that with a protagonist who is a veteran of the Napoleonic wars, and there were plenty of those, the chances are that more than one writer is going to have similar ideas. But not all readers are going to have also so recently read a similar book.

The pace of the story drew me along pretty well until the closing stages which fell a little flat with me. There were also a few points within the story that puzzled me a little as to what they were intended to be doing. For example, an obviously darkly magical charm is placed in Quire’s room but we never really find out exactly who put it there or what it was intended to mean other than something dark and nasty was probably in Quire’s future.

If you like the mixture of history and gothic, then this is worth a read although it will not be making it into my final list of favourite books of the year. But then I can be a picky bugger.
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Jul 13, 2012 K. Bird rated it 5 of 5 stars

I had never heard of Brian Ruckley before I picked up Edinburgh Dead on impulse at the library.

Lucky impulse.

This book is very, very cool. A thriller set in 1828 Edinburgh; it follows the investigation of Sergeant (and ex-soldier) Adam Quire as he follows the trail of a mysterious murder to the home of a member of the nobility with ties to the arcane and criminals involved in stealing dead bodies.

The language is dense and descriptive. I sometimes found myself getting a bit lost in it (sometimes...more I had never heard of Brian Ruckley before I picked up Edinburgh Dead on impulse at the library.

Lucky impulse.

This book is very, very cool. A thriller set in 1828 Edinburgh; it follows the investigation of Sergeant (and ex-soldier) Adam Quire as he follows the trail of a mysterious murder to the home of a member of the nobility with ties to the arcane and criminals involved in stealing dead bodies.

The language is dense and descriptive. I sometimes found myself getting a bit lost in it (sometimes in a good way, once or twice in a overly-sodden way)

This passage is when Quire looks back at Edinburgh from a walk:
"The setting sun lit the western sky with a rosy wash. Sprawled between that vast, glowing canvas and the looming crags of Arthur's Seat, the city looked small, almost humble: a dark encrustation upon the land, studded with spires and a forest of chimneys."

If you're not fond of this type of prose, you will find the book's pace slow, as the author does not limit himself to descriptive pose only in the openings of scenes.

What I liked about it was the wholly believable picture of Edinburgh and that time period it painted. Quire is a moody, crusty old ex-soldier who doggedly pursues the murderer to his own peril.

The story line walks the edge of believability in terms of the arcane/magic situations Quire finds himself in, lending a nice tension.

Near the end, when Quire seemingly takes care of the bad guys in a too-swift, anti-climactic way, I was saying to myself, "what, that's it?" I was tempted to give the book only 3 or 4 stars. But Ruckley tricked me. Not only do we find out about a betrayal I hadn't realized at all, but also a much more satisfying hand-to-hand combat against the main bad guy wherein Quire completes a journey from the stolid-policeman he was at the beginning of the book to the soldier-conversant-with violence he was in the past on a Scottish moor covered in heather. Many threads tied up together (soldiering, his skills with a gun, the disappearance of corpses, the bad guy) at the end bumped this from a 4 star to a 5 star.

This Book's Snack Rating: Like sour cream and chive kettle chips for the solid heft of Edinburgh and the sour bite of human evil and violence.

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Jan 18, 2013 Rob rated it 4 of 5 stars

Quite different from his earlier gritty fantasy series, Ruckley has delivered a wonderful piece of historical fiction with this novel.

I was a little standoffish with the whole dead thing, thinking it might turn out to be just another heavy-handed zombie tale, but surprisingly there was really no actual mention of zombies. The majority of the book deals with one policeman's investigation (both official and unofficial) into recent murders that appear to be tied to grave robbing and supplying the l...more

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Oct 08, 2011 Kate Forsyth rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-mystery, historical-fantasy

I really bought this book because its set in Edinburgh, one of my all-time favourite cities in the world and a perfect setting for a Victorian mystery novel. And perhaps it was because I had just finished reading Anne Perry’s book, Sins of the Wolf, which was also set in Edinburgh, and had enjoyed it so much. The Edinburgh Dead is a quite different book altogether, having a large dose of supernatural terror to it, but I absolutely loved it. The tagline should probably have prepared me; it reads:...more

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Mar 15, 2012 Wesley rated it 3 of 5 stars

An alternate history fantasy set in Edinburgh in 1828 at the height of the city's intellectual enlightenment. However it also a dark period in the city's history with the anatomists' requirements for bodies for public dissection and lectures being supplied by grave robbers. But in the age of the publication of Frankenstein what if someone was using the bodies for darker studies?

I have lived, and still work, in Edinburgh so I am familiar with the city and some of its history so I was looking forw...more

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Apr 04, 2012 Broos Campbell rated it 5 of 5 stars

I loved the slow, creepy pace of this alternative-history police story. I've read quite a bit of historical fiction, and what I most admire about Ruckley's approach is that he never hits you in the face with his research. His protagonist, an Edinburgh policeman named Quire, goes about his daily business no more impressed with the mundane world around him than we would be with ours.

We get the details obliquely as we watch him go about the horrid business of tracking down his quarry. Our man is o...more

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Jan 27, 2012 Kat rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery, paranormal

Edinburgh Dead is set in 1828 and is basically a mystery involving the prolific body-snatching industry. Some of the premise is borrowed from Frankenstein, but with a different take on the concept. I've never really looked into it, but would imagine those types of experiments were not that uncommon. It does have paranormal aspects but the emphasis is on the mystery and the evolution of the protagonist, a former soldier turned police sergeant. There is also strong emphasis on the anatomy of Edinb...more

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Sep 16, 2011 Rachel Pollock rated it 4 of 5 stars

This wasn't a piece of literary genius, but it doesn't purport to be. I found it a fairly entertaining supernatural murder mystery, but the really fun part about it was the Edinburgh setting, after having spent a month there this past summer. It was cool to read such specific place names and watch for Edinburgh historical figures to pop up, and be able to envision the actual places where the action takes place. One beef: the book purports to take place in the late 1820s, yet one female character...more

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Sep 28, 2012 Ruth rated it 4 of 5 stars

For me-i really enjoyed the descriptions of the murkier side Of Edinburgh and having visited the city,could visualise the old town.
Also.got me thinking about it's darker side,the impact of body snatching on history and whether the loss of lives was worth the advancement of medical science.
I liked the strength and morals of the main character especially since this is set at a time when Edinburgh was a dark place.
Today-it is in many ways still a city of two halves-darkness and light.
An interesting...more

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Dec 10, 2012 Kristen rated it 1 of 5 stars

I found this book a disappointment. It made all kinds of promises in set up, that didn't at all live up to the expecations they set.

Without giving spoilers, Edinburgh police officer Adam Quire inadvertently becomes aware of, and involved in, some extremely dark and disturbing matters. His sense of duty and belief in justice compels him to follow through on trying to bring the guilty parties to justice, even though this brings a world of hurt down on Adam's own head, due to the power those guilty...more

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Apr 20, 2012 Trudi Hauxwell rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Fans of gothic horror, crime fiction and alternative history.

Recommended to Trudi by: Amazon

Shelves: crime-fiction, steampunk-urban-fantasy

Adam Quire is one of the best creations I've come across in historical / AU crime fiction. He's a man with a violent past and more than likely a violent future but he's not by any means 2 dimensional. His doomed love affair with a local prostitute is tender and affectionate. The crime that he's tasked with solving is also dark and tinged with a dash of gothic horror. If you enjoy horror and detective fiction in the vein of Shelley, Stoker and Conan Doyle you'll get a huge kick out of reading The...more

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Jul 19, 2012 Mallory Anne-Marie Forbes rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: july-12-genre-challenge, july-2012-reads, lpsummerreadchallenge, summer-reading-challenge-jun1-aug31, armchair-scotland

Urban fantasy meets historical accuracy in this engaging and riveting novel of early 19th century Edinburgh, Scotland-a city priding itself as a bastion of Reason and Enlightenment, a city ruled by anatomists and medical school professors; a city where resurrectionists were a class by themselves, supplying cadavers to meet the Universities’ demands for anatomy lesson examples. Remember Burke & Hare, that famous body-snatching pair? Well, not only they, but many others, ruled the “underworld”...more

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Mar 14, 2012 Jade Eby rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: netgalley, own-and-need-to-read

Originally published at my blog Chasing Empty Pavements

I'm so sad right now because I had SUCH high hopes for this novel! The gothic, creepy feel the blurb gave me goosebumps and some of the reviews said it was gritty and in your face. I however thought it was lackluster and sadly disappointing.

The Good: The beginning, in my opinion is the best part of the novel. It DID hook me right away and I immediately wanted to know more. I like that we get a sense of how the Edinburgh Police is developed...more

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Dec 01, 2011 Silver Thistle rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011, historical, scotland, zombie, edinburgh

Wow! 2011 is drawing to a close and I think I just found my favourite read of the year. Edinburgh Dead by Brian Ruckley! Totally brilliant! It's rare that I can use the term 'unputdownable', but I definitely can say it about this one. Read it in less than 48 hours, which for me is pretty much unheard of. Could NOT put it down.

I'm fond of Historical fiction (albeit usually romantic) but to say I'm not usually a crime/mystery reader is an understatement, not a single murder mystery comes to mind t...more
Wow! 2011 is drawing to a close and I think I just found my favourite read of the year. Edinburgh Dead by Brian Ruckley! Totally brilliant! It's rare that I can use the term 'unputdownable', but I definitely can say it about this one. Read it in less than 48 hours, which for me is pretty much unheard of. Could NOT put it down.

I'm fond of Historical fiction (albeit usually romantic) but to say I'm not usually a crime/mystery reader is an understatement, not a single murder mystery comes to mind that I've read but the lure of the area around where I live used as a backdrop, coupled with zombie dogs just sucked me right in. There are zombie humans too but I mostly wanted to see the zom-dogs loose on Edinburgh's streets and closes.

I really, really loved that I knew all the places mentioned in the book. I'm in Edinburgh about once or twice a fortnight and all of the places and building's are familiar to me. Loved that. The people of the story are familiar 'faces' too...even the non-famous one's. Go to certain parts of Edinburgh on any given day and chances are you'll rub shoulders with just the sort of people mentioned in the pages. There's maybe 200 years seperating them but their banter hasn't changed that much. As for the famous 'faces' well, in particular Burke and Hare the infamous body snatchers or 'Ressurectionists' as they were also know are common knowledge for anyone who spends any time in or around Edinburgh and I loved reading about them. Fictionalised in parts but great fun to read nonetheless.

And zombie's. Let's not forget the zombies. They're the reason that I wanted to read this so bad in the first place, although I did wonder how a person could fit the undead into an Historical murder/crime/mystery. The whole book has a dark, gritty feel to it and the air of supernatural 'going's on' didn't seem out of place or contrived at all. In fact, as unlikely as it all sounds Mr Ruckley writes in such a way as to have me think it was all quite plausible. It's very well done.

I loved all of the characters and really felt like I got to know them. Some of them I'd like to know even better and REALLY want there to be more cases for Adam Quire to solve... I'd read any and all stories if this were made into an ongoing series.

There's a bit of a twist in the tale at the end and being as unfamiliar with crime mystery as I am, I'm not sure if that's usual but whether it is or it isn't, the twist at the end just sealed the deal for me. It was a brilliant end to a brilliant story and I just hope I can find more stories like it.

I can't say enough good things about this, I'm all over the place but I just really, really liked this one. I only finished it half an hour ago so it's all still running through my mind. I'll probably think of a dozen things to say after I hit 'publish', but for now I'll just close by saying again....

Really liked it! A lot!(less)

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Oct 15, 2011 Kara-karina rated it 3 of 5 stars

2.5/5
Egalley thanks to Hachette Books Group

The thing is, I'd been chasing this book for awhile until I got to read it, and I really really wanted to like it...

But I didn't.

Perhaps the problem is that I've expected some sort of steampunkish version of Peter Grant from Ben Aaronovitch's books with plenty of action, magic, gadgets and a little bit of humour.

Instead there was historical fiction, dark, heavily written and quite slow.

The merits of this book are well researched historical period and E...more

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May 23, 2012 Wilfred Berkhof rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy

A bit of a mixed bag for me.

I'm not a big fan of detective type 'mysteries', they usually have very little in the way of suspense and sadly that is also the case with The Edinburgh Dead. From the very start it is clear what the story will be about (actually the blurb on the back gives it away) and with only one real main character there is no real threat to the main character, as after all he's needed to finish the book. :) The only suspenseful scene is when a secondary character gets attacked,...more

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Jul 21, 2011 Kristin (MyBookishWays Reviews) rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, steampunk

You may also read my review here: http://www.mybookishways.com/2011/07/...

1828 Edinburgh is a fascinating place. New medical discoveries are being made every day, and art and science are held in high esteem. It’s a time of change and enlightenment, but there are also dark forces at work. Adam Quire struggles with his own darkness, as a veteran of the Napoleanic wars, and a survivor or countless battlefields. He’s seen plenty of death, but when he finds a body that looks like it’s been attacked b...more You may also read my review here: http://www.mybookishways.com/2011/07/...

1828 Edinburgh is a fascinating place. New medical discoveries are being made every day, and art and science are held in high esteem. It’s a time of change and enlightenment, but there are also dark forces at work. Adam Quire struggles with his own darkness, as a veteran of the Napoleanic wars, and a survivor or countless battlefields. He’s seen plenty of death, but when he finds a body that looks like it’s been attacked by some sort of dog, his throat torn and ripped, Quire is pulled into an underworld of death and depravity that he never knew existed.

I enjoyed The Edinburgh Dead, although I don’t feel it was quite what it could have been. Adam Quire is certainly my kind of protagonist; a bit tortured, but strong of will and determined to see things right. I enjoyed accompanying him through the murky streets of Edinburgh as he followed the twisting trail of a group of killers involved in otherworldly evil. Quire soon finds out that some of the perpetrators of these crimes are members of elite society, and he knows that getting to the bottom of things may cost him his job. It also doesn’t help that his heart belongs to a prostitute, and he’s been known to enjoy more than a drink or two in his past. The Edinburgh Dead is atmospheric and full of dread, and when you add zombie hounds and reanimated corpses to the mix, it makes for quite a heady brew. I think maybe I would have liked to get into more detail with the villians and find out more about their motivations and the source of the evil that they’re using for their nefarious means. However, this was my only quibble, and I found the history of the Resurrectionists (body snatchers) and their methods of providing bodies for medical study fascinating. The author is a master at creating dread, and manages to ratchet up the tension with a sure hand. If you enjoy your historicals with plenty of suspense and a liberal dose of the supernatural, you’ll surely enjoy The Edinburgh Dead!
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Jul 15, 2012 Richard Wright rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012

This action packed historical horror novel uses Edinburgh to its full potential, winding mysteries through its gloomy streets. Adam Quire is a superbly drawn protagonist, a man desperate to escape the brutalities he became accustomed to during the Napoleonic Wars, but who finds his nature harder to flee than he hoped. As he stalks and is stalked by conspiracies far beyond his situation, the novel builds to a satisfying conclusion, and I wouldn't at all mind a sequel at some point down the line.

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Oct 22, 2011 Becky rated it 3 of 5 stars

Edinburgh, 1828: Body thieves and strange experiments going on under the guise of scientific achievement. Adam Quire, one of Edinburgh's finest, is determined to unravel the truth, but opposition from higher ups and from well-to-do society folks make his job much more difficult.

A historical mystery/horror -- it's a cross-genre novel that's a bit hard to describe but an entertaining and original read.

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Nov 04, 2011 emily rated it 1 of 5 stars

I always do this to myself.

I don't even know about the one-star rating. One, because it's just not GOOD. We have a main character with no inner life who will, periodically, say "piss" to shock us, we have a creepy bad guy who, at the end, we learn is, well, something creepy, but no one really cares what, and we have a plot that winds up with "the end . . . or is it????"

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Mar 25, 2012 Tasha rated it 3 of 5 stars

It took me a little while to get into the book before it grabbed me. The story is an interesting combination of 19th century Edinburgh & dark magic. Touching on the subject of the medical schools purchasing dead bodies from snatchers and the corruption of the police force at the time makes a colourful background.

The pace was consistent throughout and only really got going in the last chapter.

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Sep 02, 2011 arjuna rated it 3 of 5 stars

Lovely little grotesque "what if" story blending vast historical (urban) detail, gruesome historical events, old soldiers and the reanimate. Comes across as a bit of a romp, but rises above that with its characterisation, attention to geography, and prose style. Great fun. I particularly liked the thoroughly flawed and violent hero, Quire - combat-hardened world-weary police, how could I not - and his adjustment to the new occult world he strays into; I wouldn't mind seeing him in a follow-up at...more

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Oct 19, 2011 Sans rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical, mystery-suspence, scottish, wtfery, ghosts-gothic-horror, zombies, magic-mages-witches-druids, the-writing-it-burns, character-i-want-to-bitch-slap, wake-me-up-when-its-over

I have to add a zombie shelf now. Awesome. ~_~

This was quite a struggle for me to get through, not only because of the subject matter (not a zombie or horror fan on the whole), but mostly because of the writing style. The endless expositions, the constant re-wording of exactly the same plot points/ideas/conversations/descriptions, speeches from characters that didn't fit with what was going on in the book *coughKnoxcough*, random and repeated bitch-slapping the reader with "ZOMG, look you guys,...more

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Mar 28, 2013 Damian Trasler rated it 3 of 5 stars

A good historical drama - well, I guess "alternative historical" that takes in social aspects of Edinburgh and the pre-eminence of the city in medicine and medical research. This, of course, leads into grave robbing, but the story also comprises a mystical element.
I enjoyed the story very much, almost as much for the central character who is vaguely "Sharpe-like", as for the tense plot and satisfactory conclusion.

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About Brian Ruckley

I was born and brought up in Edinburgh. After studying at Edinburgh and Stirling Universities, and after a good deal of displacement activity (varying from spending three months in the rainforests of Borneo trying to record the dawn chorus of gibbons to briefly working in a tea warehouse / factory), I moved to England to enter the world of full-time employment.

As much by luck as judgement, I had a...more

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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9737151-the-edinburgh-dead?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1291654323l/9737151.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9737151-the-edinburgh-dead?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]The Edinburgh Dead by Brian Ruckley[/url]

The Edinburgh Dead

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