MURDER BY DEGREES

Add Dr. Lydia Weston--who is featured in this well-narrated historical mystery--to your list of strong female protagonists. Gabra Zackman does an excellent job delineating the various characters by using tone, pitch, and accents; she excels, in particular, at the challenging job of depicting both male and female characters. Zackman's versatility allows listeners to become absorbed in the twists and turns of the plot. Set in 1875 at a women's medical college, this debut novel from Ritu Mukerji contains detailed postmortems whose vividness disqualify this as a cozy, but those who enjoy police procedurals and historical medicine will find it engaging and well researched. The well-crafted characters are beautifully voiced by Zackman. C.F. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine [Published: NOVEMBER 2023]