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The Death of Shame

Raven, Fisher, and Simpson, Book 5

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The Death of Shame

By: Ambrose Parry
Narrated by: Bryan Dick, Cathleen McCarron
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About this listen

 1854, Edinburgh.
Respectable faces hide private sins.

Apprentice Sarah Fisher is helping to fund Dr Will Raven’s emerging medical practice in exchange for being secretly trained as a medic, should the rules barring women ever change. Sarah needs no instruction in the inequalities that beset her gender, but even she has her eyes opened to a darker reality when a relative seeks her help in searching for her missing daughter. Annabel Banks was promised a situation in a prestigious household, but there has been no word from her since she left home, and the agency that arranged her position says she never appeared.

Sarah’s inquiries lead her to reforming campaigners trying to publicise the plight of the hundreds of girls ensnared in Edinburgh’s houses of assignation. Sarah learns how young women are lured, deceived, trafficked and raped, leaving them ruined in the eyes of a society obsessed with moral purity, and where virginity is prized as a lucrative commodity.

Drawing upon real historical events, The Death of Shame takes Raven and Sarah into a treacherous labyrinth of exploitation, corruption, and immorality.©2025 Ambrose Parry (P)2025 Canongate Books Historical Mystery Thriller & Suspense

Critic reviews

'Praise for the series: Parry's Victorian Edinburgh comes vividly alive - and it's a world of pain' (VAL McDERMID)

'Brilliantly conceived, fiendishly plotted and immaculately realised, these thrillers pull off the most difficult double-whammy of all: beneath blood and butchery so real they almost stain the pages lie both heart and soul . . . Wherever Parry takes them, I'll follow' (MICK HERRON)

'A rip-roaring tale of murder amid the medical experiments of 19th-century Edinburgh. The book brings both city and period to colourful life and is a joy to read' (IAN RANKIN)

'Menacing, witty and ingeniously plotted, Ambrose Parry's debut draws you into the dark heart of nineteenth-century Edinburgh and won't let you go until the final page' (S.J. PARRIS)

'The dark and dangerous past is brought thrillingly to life. I can't wait to read more of Raven and Sarah' (MARK BILLINGHAM)
All stars
Most relevant
Audible Books allowed me to romp through this wonderful book.
This book deserves to sit on the top shelf of historical fiction.
So many characters skilfully led me through a compelling story of Edinburgh and the underbelly of the terrible practices of those days not really that long ago.
I could not pull my ear-buds from my ears: I just had to keep listening.
Highly recommended
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

It's a fact - this is great fiction

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Very enjoyable. And the actors reading it are very good too.
I look forward to the next in the series.

Excellent book

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I have read and listened to many books and found that this series of books to be one of the best. From start to finish I was utterly absorbed in the characters and medical history of Edinburgh. I cannot recommend them enough. Absolutely brilliant. The narration is one of the best I have heard.

Fantastic culmination of the series

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Love this pairing, the history and setting- I live in Edinburgh so love picturing it in the 1850s. Did find I had predicted some of the ending….. and very sad that it will the last book.

Another great Ambrose Parry book

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Really enjoyed this book, another great one in this series. It did have some repetitive bits, but nothing to distract from another interesting and well written story. The narrators are just perfect, bringing the characters to life so vividly. Can’t wait for another book!

Another excellent book

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