I felt obligated to read this book since I have read all of the others – although, to be honest, I just skimmed the previous one. This is the latest and, I think, last book in the Dr. Silkstone series, I am happy to report. I wrote a really positive review of The Lazarus Curse, the fourth book in the series, but these last two were just not up to scratch. I wasn’t as enchanted with the third book in the series, either, but it still made me turn its pages.
In this novel, Lydia’s guardian has been murdered, and Dr. Silkstone is called to do the autopsy. He follows a trail of grisly murders through London and uncovers a plot surrounding lost diamonds from India. Once again, Lady Lydia’s past comes back to haunt her as her late husband and his two comrades were involved up to the neck in the illegal trade.
I believe this to be the last book in the Dr. Silkstone mysteries, but if it’s not, I don’t think I will read the next one. I saw these characters through to the last book because I wanted a resolution, but I just didn’t enjoy them like I had the first few. Harris’ writing is really good; she’s well-worded and assembles the story so that it generates mystery. However, I’ve become totally disenchanted with Lydia and even Dr. Silkstone.
Dr. Silkstone started out as a curious anatomist who was licensed by the coroner’s office to perform autopsies. Therefore, he performed the autopsy on Lord Crick in the first book and came to know Lydia. He also got fairly roped in to helping solve the mystery of Lord Crick’s death, as he found new evidence through his work. All in all, it was as you’d expect him to behave, both professionally and romantically. The second and third novels were also interesting, as he deepened his relationship with Lydia but was working on cases that were unrelated and intriguing.
It was with the fourth book that I started to go off the series. I did give it a good review because the plot and mystery were so unexpected and well-written. However, Thomas and Lydia’s relationship greatly seeped into this novel, causing a lot of unnecessary drama. The fifth and sixth books even more greatly involved their relationship, with Lydia’s guardian exercising everything in his power to keep them apart. Now, here’s the real question: WHY? Harris has clearly proven with the first three books that she can write a totally satisfactory and enjoyable mystery.
I don’t think we needed a bunch of complications with Lydia and Thomas’s relationship because, quite frankly, they are not a romantic couple. Their characters are not written deeply enough for readers to care whether they’re apart or together. They say some words to each other and they smile in each other’s presence, but, beyond that, there was no chemistry of note between them. Dr. Silkstone ended up seeming like a sap for pining after Lydia, and Lydia…well, she seems like she needs someone to tell her what to do, and Silkstone isn’t that kind of man.
We also get into – majorly – Lydia’s guardian preventing her and Silkstone from marrying. The question is, again: WHY? I don’t feel that the depth of his animosity was ever truly explained. It might have made sense had he experienced horror from a band of colonials or some sort of trauma, but the lengths that he went to to both destroy Lydia and prevent her relationship with Thomas were so fantastical that an explanation was definitely warranted.
I feel disappointed that I’ve grown to dislike this series – usually it’s the other way around – but, I think the best reason why is that it’s much like a TV show that has gone on too long. When Dr. Silkstone was solving other peoples’ mysteries, he was a great investigator and practitioner, but when the books centered around his love life, they started falling flat. Lydia’s troubles seemed too great to be real, and the drama of Silkstone helping her to get out of those troubles just didn’t really work. It made the mysteries (the best parts of the stories!) a side note to the “romance,” instead of the other way round. It just worked better when Dr. Silkstone’s love life wasn’t at the center of the story.
I am interested to see what else Harris puts out, although I am not sad to say goodbye to Dr. Silkstone and Lady Lydia.