The Lazarus Curse – Tessa Harris

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I’ve just put down The Lazarus Curse by Tessa Harris; it’s the fourth book in the Dr. Thomas Silkstone mysteries. Although a bit dark – even darker than Sebastian St. Cyr, at times – this was a gripping read that I wanted to follow through until the end. 

Dr. Thomas Silkstone, quasi-betrothed to Lady Lydia Crick, finds himself honored to be asked to catalog the specimens collected from a government-funded research expedition to Jamaica. The two doctors on board the expedition came down with yellow fever and passed away, so it is down to Silkstone to investigate what they discovered, with the help of the expedition’s artist. However, Dr. Silkstone gets but a glimpse of the man before he disappears without a trace. Meanwhile, he has his usual duties to attend to: pulling parasites out of people, helping to heal slaves, searching for the missing artist, investigating a plant that raises people from the dead…all very routine. 

Lady Lydia has been spending time with her newfound son, Richard. They are working on establishing a mother/son relationship, and are finding a routine – soon to be disrupted by her new estate manager, who forms a strong bond with Richard, and maybe Lydia herself. 

Even with all that mystery and intrigue (and I didn’t even tell you the juicy bits!), there are some points that I’d like to address from this book, the first being slavery. 

Interestingly enough, slavery was actually illegal in England during this time, but virtually no effort was made to enforce that, and, as a result, blacks were either still enslaved or starving and freezing on the streets. Harris does an incredible job of depicting what the plight might have been like for slaves, and it was barbaric. She is so good at setting the attitude of the time that it almost made me want to put the book down because my moral compass was spinning out of control. It was disheartening to read, and it should be. Some of these parts were really hard to stomach. If you feel at all uncomfortable when reading this book – good. 

The second point I’d like to talk about is Lady Lydia herself. I don’t like her much as I don’t think she’s very bright and can’t seem to manage without a man’s hand leading her around. However, we have to take ourselves back to the first book and wonder if her husband had anything to do with that. Anyways, she cries a lot and screams for seemingly no reason – for example, in this book, she screamed because Richard fell down. Well, he’s six, and six-year-olds fall. 

Despite my dislike of her (Dr. Silkstone could do better, if you ask me), she’s a completely believable character for the time period as a woman who doesn’t know how to run an estate, be independent, keep her emotions in check, etc. Women were mostly expected to produce children and maintain the household, and were treated very delicately. It’s absolutely no surprise that Lydia is written as such, and I think it’s a good thing, too. Dr. Silkstone doesn’t find her too weepy, emotional, or boring – he accepts her as normal because she is. It’s characters like Lady Emily (Tasha Alexander’s series), Lady Darby (Anna Lee Huber’s series), and Miss Hero Jarvis (C.S. Harris’ series) that are abnormal because they are strong, confident women who ask and question. They are 21st-century women in 19th-century stories, whereas Lydia is a 19th-century woman in her time period. 

Due to the ending of this story, and the disquiet it has left me with, I may not start the next novel for a little while I process what’s happened. I think this is Harris’s best novel in this series so far, and I’m a little scared to see where she goes next!

Published by SamIAmReading

I am an avid reader and lover of historical mysteries and romances, but happy to take review requests and expand my horizons! All opinions in this blog are my own and have been given freely.

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