Review: THE INSANITY OF DEATH, Felicity Young

• publication date 1 August 2015
• e-ARC from publishers HarperCollins Australia via NetGalley
• #4 in the Dody McClelland series
• see author website for two chapters
• Available for Amazon pre-order

Synopsis (author website)

To Doctor Dody McCleland, the gruesome job of dealing with the results of an explosion at the Necropolis Railway Station is testing enough. But when her suffragette sister Florence is implicated in the crime, matters worsen and Dody finds her loyalty cruelly divided. Can she choose between love for her sister and her secret love for Chief Inspector Matthew Pike, the investigating officer on the case?

Dody and Pike's investigations lead them to a women's rest home where patients are not encouraged to read or think and where clandestine treatments and operations are conducted in an unethical and inhumane manner. Together Dody and Pike must uncover such foul play before their secret liaisons become public knowledge - and before Florence becomes the rest home's next victim.  

My Take

Australian writer Felicity Young has certainly grown as a crime fiction author and this latest offering in the Dody McCleland series brims with confidence and authenticity. I have somehow missed reading #3 and feel that is an omission I must rectify.

Dody McCleland works as an assistant to Dr Bernard Spilsbury and is right at the centre of the suffragist world. If she is not present, then her lover Inspector Pike is, and between them they are a formidable pair. Besides being a murder mystery, the novel does a good job of presenting the injustices of a world where women lack equality and where males can deal with unwanted females in the most radical manner.  

If you like authentic history in your crime fiction then give this series a go.

My rating: 4.6 

I've also read
A CERTAIN MALICE
HARUM SCARUM
TAKE OUT
4.7, A DISSECTION OF MURDER
4.5, ANTIDOTE TO MURDER 

About the author
Felicity Young was born in Germany, educated in the UK and settled in WA. She lives on a small farm with her family, has trained as a nurse, studied music, reared orphan kangaroos and is a volunteer firefighter. The world of the Dr Dody McCleland mysteries is based on her grandmother's old memoirs. 

Her books

Stevie Hooper
1. An Easeful Death (2007)
2. Harum Scarum (2008)
3. Take Out (2010)

Also stand-alone title: A Certain Malice (2005) being reprinted as FLASHPOINT later in 2015 with a sequel promised in 2016.

Doctor Dody McCleland
1. The Anatomy of Death (2012)
     aka A Dissection of Murder
2. Antidote to Murder (2013)
3. The Scent of Murder (2014)
4. The Insanity of Murder (2015)
The next Dody McCleland book, A Donation of Murder, is set for release on May 1st 2016. 

Review: ANTIDOTE TO MURDER, Felicity Young

• first published by Harper Collins 2013
  
• ISBN 978-0-7322-9369-7
• 325 pages
• #2 in the Dody McLeland series
• source: my local library

Synopsis (publisher)

Set in Edwardian London, this fantastic mystery series features Britain's first female autopsy surgeon.

When an act of compassion misfires, autopsy surgeon Dr Dody McCleland must fight not only for her career, but also for her life. The body of a scullery maid is discovered in her room. When it emerges that she had recently begged Dody to terminate an unwanted pregnancy, the coroner recommends Dody be tried for criminal abortion causing death. Meanwhile, the one man who might be able to help her, Chief Inspector Matthew Pike, is nowhere to be found.

After another woman's body is discovered bearing all the hallmarks of the same crime, Dody suspects that a rogue doctor is on the loose. Amid the turbulence of Edwardian London with its mix of strikes, suffragettes, German spies, exotic dancers and an illicit drug trade, Dody must unmask the killer before more girls are butchered and her own life ends on the gallows. 

My take

Australian crime fiction author Felicity Young does a good job with a historical setting, giving her novel a feeling of authenticity, at the same time presenting the problems which women faced in the medical profession in the early 20th century.

Set in London in 1911, when conducting an abortion is a criminal offence, and encouraging women to practice birth control is also illegal, Dody assists the famous Sir Bernard Spilsbury in autopsies. But even with the great man's patronage, she treads a very thin line as she advises women towards better contol of their child bearing.

Dody faces not only public opposition to women like her breaking into the professions, but also opposition among males already working there. And treachery comes from an unexpected place, almost resulting in her death.

My rating: 4.5

I've also reviewed
A CERTAIN MALICE
HARUM SCARUM
TAKE OUT
4.7, A DISSECTION OF MURDER -#1 in the Dody McLeland series

Review: A DISSECTION OF MURDER, Felicity Young

Australian/US cover

• published 2012
• e-book supplied to me by publishers Harper Collins Australia through NetGalley.com

Synopsis (author website)

At the turn of the twentieth century, London's political climate is in turmoil, as women fight for the right to vote. Dody McCleland has her own battles to fight. As England's first female autopsy surgeon, she must prove herself as she proves that murder treats everyone equally.

After a heated women's rights rally turns violent, an innocent suffragette is found murdered. When she examines the body, Dody McCleland is shocked to realize that the victim was a friend of her sister - fuelling her determination to uncover the cause of the protestor's suspicious death.

For Dody, gathering clues from a body is often easier than handling the living - especially Chief Detective Inspector Pike. Pike is looking to get to the bottom of this case but has a hard time trusting anyone-including Dody. Determined to earn Pike's trust and to find the killer, Dody will have to sort through real and imagined secrets. But if she's not careful, she may end up on her own examination table.

My Take

US/ UK? cover June 2012

The first of the Doctor Dody McCleland series, A DISSECTION OF MURDER (aka THE ANATOMY OF DEATH - US) was published in March (Australia/NZ) and will be published June (US with UK distribution) 2012. It will be available in all good bookshops as well as Amazon and Kindle.

For Felicity Young this novel is a successful departure from her Australia-based police procedurals into the world of historical crime fiction. Felicity confesses that she has blended fictional characters with historical ones. I think she has done an excellent job of populating authentic settings with interesting and believable characters. She has captured the essence of the suffragette era that preceded the First World War, a world that was about to change forever. I certainly hope A DISSECTION OF MURDER is just the first in a long series.

My rating: 4.7

Another review on Fair Dinkum Crime.

Other Felicity Young titles reviewed in MiP

• A CERTAIN MALICE
• HARUM SCARUM
• TAKE OUT 

Crime Fiction Alphabet: Y is for Australian author Felicity Young

If you are looking for an Australian crime fiction author to read why not give Felicity Young a try?

Felicity is the author of 4 crime fiction books set in Western Australia.
The first A CERTAIN MALICE (2005) featured Senior Sergeant Cam Fraser who was looking to start a new life for himself and his daughter in rural WA.
Felicity followed that up with a new protagonist, Stevie Hooper, in AN EASEFUL DEATH (2007), HARUM SCARUM (2008) and TAKE OUT (2010) 


Young does an excellent job with her Australian setting and I have enjoyed all books.

The good news for overseas readers is that all Felicity's titles are available not only from the Fremantle Press but also through Amazon.com, both in paperback and Kindle format.

Another bit of good news that I found on Felicity's website today:

Felicity is excited to announce the pending publication of her new historical mystery series featuring Dr Dody McCleland, Britain's first female autopsy surgeon. HarperCollins (Australia) will be publishing the first book, A DISSECTION OF MURDER in March 2012 and the second, THE FIRST OF CRIMINALS in March 2013. The books will also be published by the Penguin Group (USA) at about the same time, with titles as yet unknown. 

Check what others are contributing for the Letter Y

Crime Fiction Alphabet - Y is for Felicity Young

Felicity Young has certainly made her mark on Australian crime fiction, and is an author you should look for. She is my pick this week for the crime fiction alphabet for the letter Y.

I have recently reviewed Felicity's latest novel TAKE OUT

Felicity has written 4 novels
Look for A CERTAIN MALICE, AN EASEFUL DEATH, and HARUM SCARUM, TAKE OUT.

Reviews of Felicity Young's books on my blog:
A CERTAIN MALICE (4.8)
HARUM SCARUM (4.5)

My mini-review of AN EASEFUL DEATH - my rating 4.6
Somebody is killing young women in Perth, Western Australia, and then, post-mortem, posing their painted bodies carefully in relatively public places. The first body is painted bronze, the second silver ... you get the picture. False clues are left stuck to the bodies, and each has AN EASEFUL DEATH written down one leg.

This is the second novel by Felicity Young. It features D.S. Stevie Hooper newly seconded to the Serious Crime Squad in Perth. She is young, un-married with a young daughter, keen to do well, and working with a boss who is also a good friend. In this case Stevie is the liaison with the eminent profiler who is helping the squad with the case.

Quotes from publications by the profiler appear as tag lines in each of the chapters (but I must confess, didn't always seem significant to me). The action of the book mainly seems to happen over a one week period and comes thick and fast. There are plenty of candidates offered for the serial killer and I must confess I punted for the wrong one!

What I like about Felicity's novels is that her detectives seem to live in my world, a 21st century one that has the technology I use, and she accompanies that with a recognition of the dangers that technology brings for its users.

Review: TAKE OUT, Felicity Young

Fremantle Press, 2010, ISBN 9-781921-361838, 314 pages
#3 in the Stevie Hooper series
Many thanks to Fremantle Press for supplying the review copy.
My abject apologies for taking 4 months to read and review it.

Skye Williams is a district nurse and Stevie Hooper's friend. Skye is visiting a stroke patient Lilly Hardegan who has become worried because her neighbours have disappeared. Stevie belongs to Perth's Central Crime Squad and really shouldn't be entering the house, but Skye has already tried unsuccessfully to get the local cops to take an interest. There are clear signs of what seems to have been a hasty departure - an unfinished meal, an overflowing mail box, and the stove is still on and contains the charred remains of apple pies. And then they make a discovery they had not expected.

Mrs Hardegan lives next door with her son who is also absent. Her speech has been severely affected by a stroke, which makes communication difficult, particularly as she seems to be prone to make up her own words.

Stevie feels that the local cops are not taking the case seriously enough and continues to take an interest even though she knows she should walk away. She has more than enough on her own plate - her husband Monty is due to have heart surgery any day now - but when Skye Williams is killed there is no way she can disconnect.

I liked the way TAKE OUT is constructed. There are some threats that raise the level of tension in the book very effectively. There is Monty's impending surgery, threats to Stevie herself and to her daughter Izzy, and a plot that involves a trade in bringing Thai girls into Australia illegally.  There is an interesting device which gives Mrs Hardegan "a voice" that reveals her role in her neighbours' disappearance.
I'm not sure I understand what the title means and Young has to resort to a heightened level of coincidences to bring the plot strands together. Nevertheless TAKE OUT provided a satisfying read.

My rating: 4.6

I've counted this in my Aussie Author challenge.

Other reviews you might enjoy:

• Boomerang Books
• Karen from Aust Crime

Review: A CERTAIN MALICE, Felicity Young

Creme de la Crime, 2005, ISBN 0-9547634-4-0, 278 pages

As one of my friends is won't to say, life is really too short to spend precious time re-reading books. I originally read A CERTAIN MALICE back in 2006, soon after its publication.

So why have I just re-read it? Well, it is our discussion book over on oz_mystery_readers for the next few days starting tomorrow, and my memory just isn't what it used to be. And I'm glad I took the time to do it!

Back in 2006 I wrote
"Felicity Young, new West Australian author, hits the spot with her debut book. Senior Sergeant Cam Fraser accepts an appointment to run the police station in a small country town in West Australia to get away from the trauma that he and his 15 year old daughter have experienced in the last 3 years. He was brought up in this town, but his expectations of a quiet life are shattered with the discovery of a charred body after a bushfire in the grounds of a local school. To complicate matters the police at the station are mainly young and inexperienced, apart from Vince against whom there have been many complaints by locals. And what are the school principal and her husband hiding? The story moves at a good pace and the plot is well woven. Young makes good use of the uniqueness of her Australian setting." and I rated it at 4.5

I don't think I need to tell you more about the plot here, except to say that my rating has gone up to 4.8. After this re-reading what I want to tell you about is Felicity Young's considerable air of assurance in this her debut novel. If you are looking for an Australian author to start reading, then here is certainly one for you.

Felicity currently has 3 published books, and one on the way. Her website is at http://www.felicityyoung.com

If you are in Australia Booktopia has all 3 Felicity Young titles available.
So do Felicity's publishers Fremantle Press.
Look for A CERTAIN MALICE, AN EASEFUL DEATH, and HARUM SCARUM.
If you are outside Australia try the Book Depository: A CERTAIN MALICE, and HARUM SCARUM are both in stock, although the latter is a bit expensive.

My mini-review of AN EASEFUL DEATH - my rating 4.6
Somebody is killing young women in Perth, Western Australia, and then, post-mortem, posing their painted bodies carefully in relatively public places. The first body is painted bronze, the second silver ... you get the picture. False clues are left stuck to the bodies, and each has AN EASEFUL DEATH written down one leg. This is the second novel by Felicity Young. It features D.S. Stevie Hooper newly seconded to the Serious Crime Squad in Perth. She is young, un-married with a young daughter, keen to do well, and working with a boss who is also a good friend. In this case Stevie is the liaison with the eminent profiler who is helping the squad with the case. Quotes from publications by the profiler appear as tag lines in each of the chapters (but I must confess, didn't always seem significant to me). The action of the book mainly seems to happen over a one week period and comes thick and fast. There are plenty of candidates offered for the serial killer and I must confess I punted for the wrong one!

Check my review of HARUM SCARUM.

Felicity Young, West Australian author

I reviewed Felicity Young's latest book HARUM SCARUM a little while back.

This week over on oz_mystery_readers group, Felicity is our guest on Quiz an Author, a quarterly activity where we put an Australian author in the spotlight. Guests so far have been Brian Kavanagh, Adrian Hyland, Gabrielle Lord, and PD Martin. In September it will be Michael Robotham's turn.

Felicity is one of a group of recent Australian writers who delight in giving their crime fiction an Australian setting. Her 3 published novels are all clearly located in Western Australia.

Here are some quick "reviews"

A CERTAIN MALICE (2005), my rating: 4.5
Senior Sergeant Cam Fraser accepts an appointment to run the police station in a small country town in West Australia to get away from the trauma that he and his 15 year old daughter have experienced in the last 3 years. He was brought up in this town, but his expectations of a quiet life are shattered with the discovery of a charred body after a bushfire in the grounds of a local school. To complicate matters the police at the station are mainly young and inexperienced, apart from Vince against whom there have been many complaints by locals. And what are the school principal and her husband hiding? The story moves at a good pace and the plot is well woven. Young makes good use of the uniqueness of her Australian setting.

AN EASEFUL DEATH (2006), my rating: 4.6
Somebody is killing young women in Perth, Western Australia, and then, post-mortem, posing their painted bodies carefully in relatively public places. The first body is painted bronze, the second silver ... you get the picture. False clues are left stuck to the bodies, and each has AN EASEFUL DEATH written down one leg. This is the second novel by Felicity Young. It features D.S. Stevie Hooper newly seconded to the Serious Crime Squad in Perth. She is young, un-married with a young daughter, keen to do well, and working with a boss who is also a good friend. In this case Stevie is the liaison with the eminent profiler who is helping the squad with the case. Quotes from publications by the profiler appear as tag lines in each of the chapters (but I must confess, didn't always seem significant to me). The action of the book mainly seems to happen over a one week period and comes thick and fast. There are plenty of candidates offered for the serial killer and I must confess I punted for the wrong one!

HARUM SCARUM (2008), my rating: 4.5
The body of the floater in the Swan River doesn't have a lot to identify it - the face is mutilated, the fingertips gone - but Monty McGuire, head of Perth's Serious Crime Squad is pretty sure his team is well on the way to identifying it.
D.S. Stevie Hooper and lifelong friend Tash are now both members of the Cyber Predator Team, charged with tracking down paedophiles who stalk children in internet chat rooms. Part of their job also is to visit schools talking to children about cyber safety. Stevie heads the team but there are times when she finds Tash, an impulsive risk taker, hard to manage.
The disappearance of an 11 year old girl, and the eventual finding of her body in a dumpster, brings Monty and Stevie, already lovers and parents of six year old Izzy, together into a joint operation directed by Monty.
There's a lot to like about this book apart from the fact that it is well crafted and Felicity Young is a more than accomplished writer. It explores themes that are issues for many parents in the western world - the way children use internet chat rooms and cyber technology in general; the threat to children from paedophiles; and effects of a society in which most parents work, on the way their children are growing up and the risks they are exposed to.

HARUM SCARUM, Felicity Young

HARUM SCARUM, by Felicity Young, Fremantle Press, April 2008, 284 pp

The body of the floater in the Swan River doesn't have a lot to identify it- ­ the face is mutilated, the fingertips gone - ­ but Monty McGuire, head of Perth's Serious Crime Squad is pretty sure his team is well on the way to identifying it.

D.S. Stevie Hooper and lifelong friend Tash are now both members of the Cyber Predator Team, charged with tracking down paedophiles who stalk children in internet chat rooms. Part of their job also is to visit schools talking to children about cyber safety. Stevie heads the team but there are times when she finds Tash, an impulsive risk taker, hard to manage.

The disappearance of an 11 year old girl, and the eventual finding of her body in a dumpster, brings Monty and Stevie, already lovers and parents of six year old Izzy, together into a joint operation directed by Monty.

There's a lot to like about this book apart from the fact that it is well crafted and Felicity Young is a more than accomplished writer. It explores themes that are issues for many parents in the western world ­ the way children use internet chat rooms and cyber technology in general; the threat to children from paedophiles; and effects of a society in which most parents work, on the way their children are growing up and the risks they are exposed to.

HARUM SCARUM further develops the relationship between Monty and Stevie, following on from AN EASEFUL DEATH, the first in the Stevie Hooper series. As with both her earlier novels Young clearly locates her story within a West Australian landscape.

I found HARUM SCARUM an enjoyable read with considerable credibility. The glossary of internet slang provided at the beginning was useful in interpreting the chat room conversations. Perhaps some of the threads of the novel finally converged a little too coincidentally, some problems were resolved a little too easily, but this is fiction, and you can do things here that may not happen in real life. The book seems to close a chapter in Stevie's life and I'm ready for the next to open.

HARUM SCARUM is Felicity Young's third published novel in 4 years and the second Stevie Hooper novel. AN EASEFUL DEATH, the first Stevie Hooper novel, was published in 2007. Young’s website is at http://www.felicityyoung.com/.

HARUM SCARUM is available through Fremantle Press: http://www.fremantlepress.com.au/

My rating: 4.5

Australian Crime Fiction Snapshots - Batch 3

The third batch of these interviews, the result of a collaboration between Karen Chisholm (of the Aust Crime Fiction weblog), Damien Gay (of Crime DownUnder) and Perry Middlemiss (of Matilda).

• Felicity Young - on Aust Crime Fiction
• Sydney Bauer - on Crime Down Under
• Kerry Greenwood - on Matilda
• Jackie Tritt - on Aust Crime Fiction
• Peter Klein - on Aust Crime Fiction
• David A. Rollins - on Crime Down Under
  

Previously listed

• Katherine Howell - on Crime Down Under
• Kirsty Brooks - on Matilda
• Leah Giarratano - on Aust Crime Fiction
• Geoff McGeachin - on Crime Down Under
• Jason Nahrung - on Aust Crime Fiction
  
• Peter Temple - on Crime Down Under
• Goldie Alexander - on Aust Crime Fiction
• Matthew Freeman - on Aust Crime Fiction
• Lucy Sussex - on Matilda
• P. D. Martin - on Aust Crime Fiction
• Adrian Hyland - on Crime Down Under
• Marshall Browne - on Matilda

Set in Australia

Just thought I'd bring some books set in Australia to your attention.

There is of course Adrian Hyland's DIAMOND DOVE, currently raising a storm in the US under the title of MOONLIGHT DOWNS.

Western Australian author Felicity Young has had two books published so far

A CERTAIN MALICE
Senior Sergeant Cam Fraser accepts an appointment to run the police station in a small country town in West Australia to get away from the trauma that he and his 15 year old daughter have experienced in the last 3 years. He was brought up in this town, but his expectations of a quiet life are shattered with the discovery of a charred body after a bushfire in the grounds of a local school. To complicate matters the police at the station are mainly young and inexperienced, apart from Vince against whom there have been many complaints by locals. And what are the school principal and her husband hiding? The story moves at a good pace and the plot is well woven. Young makes good use of the uniqueness of her Australian setting.
My rating 4.5

AN EASEFUL DEATH
Somebody is killing young women in Perth, Western Australia, and then, post-mortem, posing their painted bodies carefully in relatively public places. The first body is painted bronze, the second silver ... you get the picture. False clues are left stuck to the bodies, and each has AN EASEFUL DEATH written down one leg. This is the second novel by Felicity Young. It features D.S. Stevie Hooper newly seconded to the Serious Crime Squad in Perth. She is young, un-married with a young daughter, keen to do well, and working with a boss who is also a good friend. In this case Stevie is the liaison with the eminent profiler who is helping the squad with the case. Quotes from publications by the profiler appear as tag lines in each of the chapters (but I must confess, didn't always seem significant to me). The action of the book mainly seems to happen over a one week period and comes thick and fast. There are plenty of candidates offered for the serial killer and I must confess I punted for the wrong one! Felicity says her third book, HARUM SCARUM, also featuring Stevie Hooper, will be published in March 2008
My rating 4.6

One I really enjoyed was THE WHISPERING WALL by Patricia Carlon
60 year old Sarah Oatland has had a stroke and is laid out in her bed 'like a fish on a slab' having lost the ability to speak or move. And then the walls begin to talk. Sarah hears occupants of the house plan a murder and there is nothing she can do to tell anybody about it or to warn the victim. Or is there?… This is an ingenious story, an Australian classic that has weathered the test of time very well. The style is cosy, but there is also nail-biting tension.
My rating 4.8
Patricia carlon wrote her most popular books in the 1960s
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/c/patricia-carlon/

Another you could look for is MALICIOUS INTENT by Kathryn Fox
Dr. Anya Crichton has recently struck out to work on her own as a freelance forensic pathologist. Work is a bit hard to find but she is gaining a reputation as a credible courtroom authority. She is not without friendsin the police, the New South Wales State Forensic Institute, and among the criminal barristers. Something about the apparent suicide of Clare Matthews doesn't sit quite right: the fact that, a nun, she disappeared shortly before she was due to take her vows, that she suicided by jumping off the Gap, that she was 6 weeks pregnant, and that she had strange fibres in her lungs. And now another case with similarities crops up: Fatima Deab overdoses on heroine after being missing for some days and her lungs contain the same fibres. Debut publication by Australian author. It is obvious to the reader that Kathryn Fox has a lot to say, lots of issues that she wants to make us aware of, and sometimes this novel takes on a bit of a didactic tone. But the plotting is so good, the tension so well built that by the end I could forgive her anything!
My rating 4.7
Kathryn Fox has 2 more books out now.
WITHOUT CONSENT
SKIN AND BONE
Her website is at http://www.kathrynfox.com/