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E. S. Thomson
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Beloved Poison: A Novel (Jem Flockhart Mysteries) Paperback – November 14, 2017

by E. S. Thomson (Author)
4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 1,041 ratings
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Set in a crumbling 1850s London infirmary, a richly atmospheric Victorian crime novel where murder is the price to be paid for secrets kept.

Ramshackle and crumbling, trapped in the past and resisting the future, St. Saviour’s Infirmary awaits demolition. Within its stinking wards and cramped corridors, the doctors bicker and backstab. Ambition, jealousy, and loathing seethe beneath the veneer of professional courtesy. Always an outsider, and with a secret of her own to hide, apothecary Jem Flockhart observes everything but says nothing.

And then six tiny coffins are uncovered, inside each a handful of dried flowers and a bundle of mouldering rags. When Jem comes across these strange relics hidden inside the infirmary’s old chapel, her quest to understand their meaning prises open a long-forgotten past―with fatal consequences.

In a trail that leads from the bloody world of the operating room and the dissecting table to the notorious squalor of Newgate Prison and the gallows, Jem’s adversary proves to be both powerful and ruthless. As St. Saviour’s destruction draws near, the dead are unearthed from their graves while the living are forced to make impossible choices. And murder is the price to be paid for the secrets to be kept.
Previous page
  1. Book 1 of 5
    Jem Flockhart
  2. Print length
    400 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Publisher
    Pegasus Books
  5. Publication date
    November 14, 2017
  6. Dimensions
    5.7 x 1.2 x 8.8 inches
  7. ISBN-10
    1681775387
  8. ISBN-13
    978-1681775388
  9. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“After a while the Grand Guignol effects start to get under your skin―unless that’s just the ­leeches crawling out of their jar.”
- Marilyn Stasio, New York Times Book Review

“Rich atmospherics and a Dickensian portrayal of the underbelly of Victorian London elevate Thomson’s superb whodunit above most other historical debuts. Thomson excels in evoking the claustrophobic feel of the back alleys Jem must tread in search of the truth.”
- Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“A debut mystery chock full of mysterious doings, riveting historical detail, and so many horrifying anecdotes about the state of medicine in the mid-1800s that you can almost feel the evil miasma rising from the pages.”
- Kirkus Reviews

“This outstanding debut historical enthralls with its meticulously researched details of 19th-century hospitals; the result is a dismal portrait of unrelenting bleakness that will make readers grateful to be living in the 21st century. This is Showtime’s Penny Dreadful, brought to life!”
- Library Journal (starred)

“A beautifully dark portrait of Victorian London that Charles Dickens would feel right at home in. With macabre portrayals of anatomy, science, and death, this Dickensian crime novel is not to be missed, especially if you’re missing Showtime’s Penny Dreadful and are looking to fill the loss.”
- Criminal Element

“E. S. Thomson mixes the perfect potion for a dark and mysterious read.”
- Daily Record (UK)

“Beloved Poison vividly portrays the sad state of mid-nineteenth-century medicine. Jem makes a sympathetic narrator, and the mystery is puzzling enough to keep readers entertained.”
- HistoricalNovels.info

“Thomson’s sure-handed first novel, set in 1850s London, displays a graphic descriptive style and dark humor similar to D. E. Meredith’s The Devil’s Ribbon, and injects a fascinating abundance of unusual period details about medical practice, as in Lawrence Goldstone’s The Anatomy of Deception.”
- Booklist

“The narrative is excellent and the story utterly enthralling – quite simply a page-turner!”
- Historical Novels Review

“Beloved Poison introduces a major talent. An absorbing read on many levels, sure to enthrall readers and leave them anxious for her next book.”
- New York Journal of Books

About the Author

E. S. Thomson has a Ph.D. in the history of medicine and works as a university lecturer in Edinburgh. Her work has been shortlisted for the Saltire First Novel Award and the Scottish Arts Council First Book Award. Beloved Poison was shortlisted for the Scottish Crime Novel of the Year Award, and Dark Asylum was longlisted for the Crime Writers' Association Historical Dagger Award. Elaine lives in Edinburgh with her two sons.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Pegasus Books; Reprint edition (November 14, 2017)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 400 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1681775387
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1681775388
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 14.1 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.7 x 1.2 x 8.8 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 1,041 ratings

About the author

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E. S. Thomson

E. S. Thomson

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E. S. Thomson was born in Ormskirk, Lancashire. She has a PhD in the history of medicine and tries to fit as much history of medicine into her novels as possible. Her work has been shortlisted for the Saltire First Book Award, the Scottish Arts Council First Book Award, the William McIlvanney Award, and long listed for the CWA Endeavour Historical Dagger Award. Elaine divides her time between Edinburgh and Gateshead. She writes by night, works as a university lecturer by day, and brings up her two sons by herself. She is mostly really tired as a result.

Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
4.2 out of 5
1,041 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

lisaleo (Lisa Yount)
5.0 out of 5 stars good mystery, excellent characters, intense (er) atmosphere
Reviewed in the United States on November 29, 2016
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This mystery, set in and near a hospital in a poor district of London in the 1850s, is a good story and has excellent characters. The main one is Jem Flockhart, a woman who must live disguised as a man in order to be able to eventually inherit her father’s job as the hospital’s apothecary; she is an expert on both healing herbs and plant poisons. Her first challenge—but by no means her last—is that the aging hospital is about to be torn down and the adjoining churchyard, full of the city’s dead, dug up to make room for a new railway line, and the young man in charge of that project, Will Quartermain, has been assigned to share her room. Jem, Will, the doctors on the hospital staff and their families, as well as some of the lesser staff members such as outspoken matron Mrs. Speedicut, are well developed, as are their conflicts, which are both professional and personal, the latter at times reaching soap opera proportions.

The book’s greatest strength, however, is not in any of these features but in the atmosphere that surrounds the story and characters: the sights, sounds, and smells of the hospital and its surroundings… especially the smells. I don’t think I have ever read a book in which smell played as great a part. And be warned, most of the smells (and sights and sounds) are highly unpleasant: If you have a vivid imagination, I recommend keeping a bunch of flowers or something nearby to offer you a literal breather. Readers are also given a harsh (but accurate) look at medicine in the days before either anesthetics or germ theory (though one forward-looking hospital doctor seems to have run into, or independently thought of, some of Lister’s ideas). The intense, dark mood that pervades the book, along with details such as a vividly described amputation, may be too much for some readers, but I found them fascinating. There is no indication that this book is the start of a series, but I hope the author will write more mystery fiction; the level of detail provided is outstanding.
6 people found this helpful
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Spencer Landsman
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Beginning to an Interesting Mystery Series
Reviewed in the United States on October 17, 2019
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Stumbled on this series in the third volume and found it compelling and different. It was great to finally hear what had happened to Jem earlier as it was alluded to frequently in books 3 and 4. Love stories with strong female Victorian protagonists who buck the norms and mores of the times which Jem certainly does. The author is a medical historian and the novels brim with versimilitude and the grittiness of early Industrial Age London and the beginnings of the field of medicine. Check this series out!
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Elspeth G. Perkin
3.0 out of 5 stars Beloved Poison: A Novel
Reviewed in the United States on October 30, 2016
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Beloved Poison was a compulsive autumn day read that I honestly couldn’t put down in parts when it came to the creepy suspense and imagery of all the gloom and ghastly details that thrill, repulse and strangely fascinate. Much of the writing easily reminded me of The Woman in White, The Crimson Petal and the White and even The Dresslodger and I cannot deny this was probably one of the finest original murder mysteries I have come across in quite some time. For that and the impressive polished shared history and absorbing subjects throughout I applaud this unusual debut but unlike the aforementioned classic and favorite novels, I sadly found the characters in Beloved Poison gravely lacking something vital and the injection of certain secrets too predictably modern. There were sudden segments that also seemed forced into the story and even though I remained until the final reveal; I don’t think I will be following this series. That all aside, I will not discourage other readers from disinterring the mysteries that lay at the heart of this bizarre tale of malice, intrigue and of course beloved poison- those twisted sections are sure to bring an evil secret little smile to certain readers.
2 people found this helpful
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Jennifer Cameron-Smith
4.0 out of 5 stars ‘I stood on the threshold of my room, my hand on the door knob.’
Reviewed in the United States on March 23, 2016
St Saviour’s Infirmary is a crumbling, cramped, noisome old building awaiting demolition. The building is to make way for a railway bridge, and its graveyard is to be emptied in preparation. St Saviour’s staff represent both the best and worst of nineteenth century medical practice: some doctors attempt to introduce hygienic practices while others continue scorn change. Jem Flockhart is an apothecary at St Saviour’s Infirmary, an observant outsider with a secret or two to hide. William Quartermain, a junior architect, has been sent to St Saviour’s to oversee the emptying of the graveyard. William Quartermain is to share Jem Flockart’s room, much to Jem’s disgust.

Jem comes across six tiny coffins inside the infirmary’s old chapel, and is intent on discovering where they came from and what their significance is. But Jem has stumbled across something which others wish to remain secret, and for which they’ll commit murder.

Jem’s search encompasses the grisly, bloody world of the surgeons, from the operating theatre to the dissecting table, as well as the squalor of Newgate. Jem has a dangerous adversary, and a number of different mysteries to try to solve. In the meantime, St Saviour’s end draws nearer. A doctor is murdered. The dead are exhumed from the graves and the living try to make sense of some awful choices. In some ways, this novel reminded me of ‘Pure’ by Andrew Miller: both share the horrors of exhuming mass graves, of the impact of change on those least able to embrace it. But the stories, and the secrets, are very different. In ‘Beloved Poison’ Jem Flockart’s quest is driven by a sense of loss (past, present and future). The exhumation of mass graves is an important peripheral event, whereas in ‘Pure’ it is a central defining event.

Ms Thompson has created an unforgettable story: I can almost smell St Saviour’s, feel the dirt in Newgate and envisage the death on the gallows. It’s also a difficult book to put down: what will happen to Jem next? What is the truth behind the tiny coffins? The various doctors become clear (and differently flawed) characters, while William Quartermain tries to make sense of a very different world. There are many different forms of poison in this novel, many ways of encountering harm in a world which I’m sure that William Hogarth would have recognised.

Note: My thanks to NetGalley and Hachette Australia for providing me with a free electronic copy of this novel for review purposes.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith
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Ann
5.0 out of 5 stars Couldn't put it down
Reviewed in the United States on September 25, 2018
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Loved this book and second installment. Atmosphere and characters are incredible. Loved it! And can't wait for more from this author
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T R Briggs
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on January 30, 2017
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Great book. Very well researched band week written
One person found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Georgia
5.0 out of 5 stars Unnerving and compelling
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 24, 2023
Verified Purchase
I had to put this down to a while as it began giving me nightmares. But it haunted me as the past haunts these characters. And so I returned to finish this gruesome tale. Highly recommended
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John Kames
1.0 out of 5 stars Not recommenable
Reviewed in Germany on February 18, 2019
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Blood thirsty book for which you need a doctors title to understand what's going on. Put it away after 45 pages.
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Amanda
4.0 out of 5 stars Good grisly fun
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 24, 2024
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Victorian gothic at it's best with none of the faux tongue in cheek which tends to spoil the genre in my opinion. This has a fascinating and complex main character, a truly ghastly backdrop of a filthy hospital complete with an overflowing graveyard, giving the medical students plenty of cadavers to practice on.
Great fun and I have bought the other books in the series as I'm intrigued to see what happens to Jem next.
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New Reader
5.0 out of 5 stars Historical based mystery.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 7, 2024
Verified Purchase
I found the plot of this story very intriguing. Lots of twists - never what you expect. I have always enjoyed learning about social history and this is cleverly entwined around the true horrors that existed within medical history. I will look forward to meeting characters from this story again in the next book.
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Neil
3.0 out of 5 stars Really interesting story. However, over-written.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 6, 2019
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I wanted to like this book more. It had a reasonably good plot and it was clearly well researched, however I felt that it was over-written at times. Thorough explanations for everything; sometimes these could’ve been cut. Not sure I will read the second book.
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