It’s 1948 Edinburgh, and it’s Helen Downie’s first day in her job as almoner for the brand new National Health Service. Her bosses are young Dr. Strasser and Dr. Deuchar—previously the partner of Dr. Strasser’s father—who share a house and a practice. Although Dr. Deuchar is friendly and humorous, Dr. Strasser is abrupt and sometimes rude. However, Dr. Strasser unexpectedly gives Helen and her husband Sandy a place to live—a flat in a house that was used as a fever hospital during the war. That’s good, because just that morning Helen’s quarrelsome mother threw them out.
Helen completes her first busy day and is delighted with the upstairs flat, which is clean, bright, and has an inside bathroom. When she and Sandy are trying to pull together a few odds and ends to make the flat minimally habitable, Helen finds the body of a young woman out back in the Anderson shelter. She thinks the woman is Fiona Sinclair, the daughter of her benefactor, Mrs. Sinclair.
After she alerts the police, Dr. Deuchar says the woman died from poisoning herself. He and Helen go to notify Mrs. Sinclair, but Fiona is okay. Then Helen thinks the body might be her other daughter, Caroline. She and Dr. Deuchar try to find the misidentified body but are told it was sent to Glasgow because it was the body of a notorious Glasgow criminal. However, on a second visit to the morgue, Helen learns that the girl was hanged, not poisoned, and a famous criminal by the name she was given is unknown in Glasgow.
Persistent Helen begins to uncover widespread corruption involving leading citizens in the city. Something is going on very close to home.
It wasn’t clear to me whether this book marks the start to another series by McPherson, but it has hallmarks of it. Helen is a feisty and likable heroine, and although I thought she was blind to the identity of the killer, what was actually going on in the city was harder to figure out. If this is a series, I’m looking forward to seeing more of Helen.
What? Me Read? 
I’ve yet to try Catriona McPherson despite always thinking her books sound tempting. Maybe the start of a new series would be a good place to jump in!
She has two historical mystery series, if this one is the first of a series, a contemporary mystery series, and a bunch of stand-alone thrillers. I like the thrillers best, because they’re sort of cozy thrillers, and I like the contemporary mystery series least. Those are the ones with Scot in the title, and they’re set in California, It just doesn’t seem right. All the rest of her novels are set in Scotland except one that is set in Northern England.
Hmm, maybe I’ll try one of her standalones first then – cozy thrillers usually work for me too.
My favorite is Quiet Neighbors.
Thanks – I’ll stick that one on my wishlist then!
I hope you like it.
I love the angle of the newly formed NGS.
Yes, that part was really interesting, what her job consisted of, that is.
Thanks for sharing your review with the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge
It’s nice of you to comment on my blog.