Murder by Degrees

DEBUT In 1875, Dr. Lydia Weston is a professor at Woman’s Medical College in Philadelphia. She first met Anna Ward, a chambermaid working for the wealthy Curtis family, at a clinic. Although Lydia encouraged the young woman to further her education, she hasn’t seen her in three weeks. When Anna’s body is fished from the river, a suspected suicide, Lydia can’t believe it. Inspector Thomas Volcker doesn’t believe it either. Despite police reluctance to work with a woman, Lydia insists on helping with Anna’s autopsy and the case of her murder. Anna’s diary entries show a woman trying to better herself, but in the last weeks of her life those entries take a disturbing turn. As a woman who fights daily against male attitudes of superiority and who herself struggled to improve her conditions, Lydia is determined to find answers for Anna.