The Anatomy of Deception-Lawrence Goldstone

The Anatomy of Deception
Lawrence Goldstone
Delacorte, Feb 2008, $24.00
ISBN: 9780385341349

In 1889 at the University Of Pennsylvania Medical School, chief of clinical medicine Dr. William Osler glances at the corpse of a beautiful woman in the Dead House, but decides no autopsy is necessary. His young students and subordinates are stunned by Osler’s decision.

Not long afterward one of the shocked physicians Dr. George Turk dies from what loks like cholera. Osler sanctions an autopsy that reveals the late doctor’s body had traces of arsenic. Another doctor training under the great Osler, Dr. Ephraim Carroll believes George and the Jane Doe were murdered. Disobeying his superior, Ephraim investigates the deaths and bounces between Philadelphia’s debauched upper crust and the deviant decadent waterfront alienating the medical establishment every step of the way.

This is a terrific medical historical thriller that is anchored by the real persona of Dr. Osler and a document he wrote and had sealed for fifty years. The story line is fast-paced but belongs to the naive hero who believes medicine should use all tools including the only recently legalized autopsy. He is counterbalanced by the experienced pragmatic Osler, who wisely understands that medicine needs to judiciously use new legal techniques to avoid a backlash of indignation leading to losing their authority. The investigation is cleverly handled, but Lawrence Goldstone’s superb thriller belongs to his physician cast.

Harriet Klausner