Crimewriting couple Ambrose Parry – Chris Brookmyre and Marisa Haetzman – have been awarded a rare joint honorary doctorate by the University of Edinburgh in celebration of their historical novels set in the capital.
The couple, who collaborate under the pseudonym, were presented with scrolls “in recognition of their contributions to literature and historical scholarship”.
They were inspired to write historical crime thrillers after former consultant anaesthetist Dr Haetzman discovered gory details while studying for a History of Medicine degree.
They have now written five critically-acclaimed books set in Victorian Edinburgh during the lifetime of pioneering real life physician Dr James Young Simpson, who discovered the anaesthetic properties of chloroform.
From the outset, the couple hoped to draw greater attention to Dr Simpson and his pioneering work, through fiction.
The award comes in the 300th anniversary year of the founding of the University’s Medical School.
Brookmyre, who has also sold millions of award-winning crime novels in his own name, said: “When we set out to write the Ambrose Parry novels we both shared this fascination with the drama and the achievements and the history of medicine in Edinburgh.
“We share a frustration that when people talk about medicine in Edinburgh they talk about (murderers) Burke and Hare, but Edinburgh was the medical education capital of the world at one point.
“We did set out to improve an awareness, within popular culture, of Edinburgh medicine. That’s why this honorary doctorate from the University – on the 300th anniversary of the founding of the Medical School – just felt appropriate beyond our wildest dreams.
“It means a lot to be honoured for writing but even more to be honoured by the medical faculty of such a prestigious university and for it to be acknowledged that our work has helped shed light on the history of their field.”
The couple published their debut, The Way Of All Flesh, in 2018, based on real historical figures and set in the medical world of Edinburgh in 1847.
The book introduced readers to medical student Will Raven, apprentice to Dr Simpson, on the cusp of his most famous discovery. The fictional plot propelled Raven and Sarah Fisher, Dr Simpson’s housemaid, into the capital’s murky underworld for the first time.
Follow ups have included The Art of Dying; A Corruption of Blood; Voices of the Dead; and The Death of Shame.
Dr Haetzman, who left her role in the NHS after 20 years to study the History of Medicine, said it was her research into Simpson and early anaesthesia that provided the initial material for the series and convinced her to write.
She added: “We always hoped that people would value the books for their historical contribution, but we didn’t imagine it would be taken so seriously by the Medical School.
“It’s important for people to understand that Edinburgh was so pivotal in one of the greatest medical discoveries of the 19th century.
“I was always a fan of historical fiction because you can be reading for fun but learning at the same time, so I’m delighted that we’ve managed to achieve that ourselves. It’s fantastic to get that recognition from the University.”
Professor Lorna Marson, College Dean of Clinical Medicine, the University of Edinburgh, said: “Chris and Marisa have brought Edinburgh’s extraordinary medical history to life for readers around the world through a unique partnership that combines historical scholarship with exceptional storytelling.
“It is therefore especially fitting that the University recognises their shared achievement with a joint honorary degree.”
Remarkably, Simpson discovered the anaesthetic potential of chloroform in 1847 during an experiment with his assistants Dr George Keith and James Matthews Duncan.
Together, they would sit in Simpson’s dining room at 52 Queen Street, Edinburgh, each evening and test the anaesthetic effects of different substances on themselves. On inhaling chloroform, they each collapsed unconscious around the table — an event dramatised in The Way Of All Flesh.
The “eureka moment” involved an element of luck, however, as a larger dose might have proved fatal while a lesser inhalation might not have put them to sleep — in either instance chloroform would likely have been discarded.
In The Art of Dying, Raven and Fisher determine to clear Simpson’s name after their esteemed patron is blamed for the death of a patient — an accusation also based on real life events.
Haetzman said at the time: “I developed a huge sense, like a hero worship, of Simpson the more I read about him. The fact that we can have him as a central figure in these novels and maybe get people interested in who he was and his contribution to medicine, I think is wonderful.
“It makes me very happy to think that people who didn’t know him before, know him now.”
