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  • The Devil's Breath

  • Dr. Thomas Silkstone, Book 3
  • Written by: Tessa Harris
  • Narrated by: Simon Vance
  • Length: 9 hrs and 59 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (32 ratings)

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The Devil's Breath cover art

The Devil's Breath

Written by: Tessa Harris
Narrated by: Simon Vance
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Publisher's Summary

Eighteenth-century anatomist Dr. Thomas Silkstone travels to the English countryside to unravel a tangled web of mystery, medicine, and murder in this captivating new novel from Tessa Harris.

A man staggers out of his cottage into the streets of Oxfordshire, shattering an otherwise peaceful evening with the terrible sight of his body shaking and heaving, eyes wild with horror. Many of the villagers believe the devil himself has entered Joseph Makepeace, the latest victim of a "great fog" that darkens the skies over England like a biblical plague. When Joseph's son and daughter are found murdered - their heads bashed in by a shovel - the town's worst suspicions are confirmed: Evil is abroad, and needs to be banished.

A brilliant man of science, Dr. Thomas Silkstone is not one to heed superstition. But when he arrives at the estate of the lovely widow Lady Lydia Farrell, he finds that it's not just her grain and livestock at risk. A shroud of mystery surrounds Lydia's lost child, who may still be alive in a workhouse. A natural disaster fills the skies with smoke and ash, clogging the lungs of all who breathe it in. And the grisly details of a father's crime compel Dr. Silkstone to look for answers beyond his medical books - between the devil and the deep blue sea.
©2013 Tessa Harris (P)2013 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Traditional Detectives Historical
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Profile Image for Langer MD

Unique Setting For A Historical Drama

Tessa Harris clearly takes the deadly December 1956 London Smog as inspiration for her setting: 4,000-15,000 died in 5 days during that environmental disaster.. likely the combination of industrial pollution and a freak atmospheric inversion. Harris's version isn't a carbon-heavy rash of asphyxiation deaths among people with lung disease, but death via volcano-sourced sulfuric acid inhalation in animals, vulnerable young people, and peasants forced to work outdoors.
The majority of the book revolves around the search for and repatriation of Lady Lydia Farrell's long-lost once-thought-dead son and the efforts of a cabal of English Aristocrats (including recurring villain 'Sir Montagu Malthus') to get rid of "That Colonist" who could conceivably become master of Boughton Hall if he marries Lady Lydia. The crimes that Dr. Silkstone must solve (a series of murders committed during the fog-induced panic) are handled adequately.. but are peripheral compared to the setting and the character development effort of the novel.

Fortuitously, Simon Vance's performance is excellent.. easily the best aspect of this product. It features much improved voice-acting compared to previous books in the 'Thomas Silkstone' series. Choose this iteration if given the choice between audiobook and text.

Altogether, 'The Devil's Breath' rates 6.5 stars out of 10. It's an enjoyable distraction for a couple of quiet afternoons - if more of a plot-arc period drama than a mystery. Fans of Dr. Thomas Silkstone should *absolutely* give it a listen - we learn much more about some fascinating characters - but people just looking for some entertainment could spend their time (+/- Credit) better elsewhere. Unless you are enamored with 18th century soap-opera-quality stories (or love Harris's characters).. don't bother.

[Incidentally: The threshold to commit suicide is weirdly low in Harris's reality. Feel guilty about something? Kill yourself. Falsely accused of a Crime? Kill yourself. Lose part of an inheritance? Kill yourself. Marry someone you didn't want to? Kill y.. you get the idea]

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