“Doctor Death” by Lene Kaaberbol – A Pathologist's Start

Detectives today are blessed with a myriad of various tools that help them draw their investigations to successful and doubtless conclusions... science has indeed progressed by leaps and bounds in the past century.

As much fun as it may be to watch them work today, there are plenty of arguments in favor of the older detectives being more entertaining.

From a literature enthusiast's point of view, finding the smallest of clues and drawing between them a logical chain that eventually leads to the whole mystery unwrapping is one of the most satisfying experiences imaginable. That is pretty much what we get in Lene Kaaberbol's Doctor Death.

The story takes place in 1894 and follows Madeleine Karno, a young and ambitious woman who aspires to become a pathologist like her father, a profession that was still heavily frowned-upon back in those days. As a matter of fact, it is where her father's nickname, Doctor Death, came to be from. One day, the body of a young girl, Cecile Montaine, is found in the snowy streets of Varbourg, and being a product of their time, the family refuses to consent to a full autopsy.

And so Madeleine and her father succeed in recovering a single clue from the victim's nostrils: a type of parasite found mostly in dogs. Not long after that, the poor priest standing vigil over the girl's body succumbs to a bloody murder himself.

As the bodies begin to pile up one at a time, Madeleine finds herself frantically racing from one place to the next in search of answers, of the threads that connect those events and point to the real culprit of this heinous act.

Though I am going to admit that the translation for Doctor Death could use a little work, at least in English, it still remains a high level of proficiency in technical terms, setting an enjoyable pace sprinkled with beautiful descriptions here and there, truly contributing to putting together an immersive atmosphere that will suck you right into the middle of this mystery.

The main storyline, that of the murders, actually turns out to be a rather decent entertainer, keeping you intrigued and guessing as to the connection between all the events. Some of the more experienced murder mystery readers out there won't have too much trouble putting the pieces of the puzzle together, but it is still one of those experiences that remains enjoyable despite having a foregone conclusion; it really is a case of the chase being better than the catch.

On top of being a murder mystery, Doctor Death also happens to be a review of life at the turn of the century, the morals and values shared by the people (at least in Varbourg), and perhaps above all, a coming-of-age story.

Madeleine is struggling to find the right direction for her life, being at odds with virtually everything and everyone around her (or so it seems at least), being forced to build her own path and make it through the ordeal by the power of her own will.

It is touching in its way and most certainly has its moments, despite not bringing any new or exciting elements to it, unfortunately.

With everything being said and done, Doctor Death is a great novel that is only held back by its translation and overall tendency towards the more mundane.

Still, it remains a very enjoyable experience, one that will most likely suck you into that old, seemingly magical world, make you plough through the pages, give you a satisfying conclusion, and then slowly slip away from your memory. I'd recommend it to those who like their murder mysteries a bit more primitive.

---

Lene Kaaberbol Lene Kaaberbol is a Danish author hailing from Copenhagen whose work mostly revolves around children's fantasy stories and adult crime fiction. In 2004 she was awarded the Nordic Children's Book Prize, with some of her better-known works being The Shamer Chronicles and the W.I.T.C.H. Series.