Rest without peace

by Elizabeth Byrd

Edinburgh, 1828 - after they sell their first corpse to Dr. Knox with no questions asked, death brings a new way of life to Burke and Hare. Roaming the rat-infested, stench-filled squalor of the Old Town, they and their bawdy common-law wives lure harlots, drunks and tramps into Hare's lodging house and suffocate them, so that trainee surgeons can practice their skills.Burke had the nightmares, Hare the melancholies, but a dram helped and the dead could not come back - if the candle burnt all night ....

Genres: Crime, Scotland, Historical Fiction

235 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1974

About the author

Family:
Born Sarah Elizabeth Evelyn Byrd on December 8, 1912, in St. Louis, MO; died May 11, 1989, in Tucson, AZ; daughter of Joseph Hunter Byrd (an entrepreneur and mining promoter) and Emma (Howard) Byrd; married Don Phares. Education: Attended New York University, 1932-33.
Elizabeth is the elder sister of composer Joseph Byrd (December 19, 1937) and physician Dr. Ruddell Byrd.

CAREER:
Columbia Broadcasting System, radio news writer, 1939-45; Station WMCA, script writer and actress on "What's News," 1942-43; associate editor for New York literary agencies, 1944-50; Betty Byrd Associates (literary agency), owner and operator, 1951-53; A. L. Fierst Literary Agency, critic, 1952-53; Julian Messner, Inc., writer of jacket copy, 1952-60; freelance writer.

In addition to her 9 novels, she wrote a non-fiction book "A Strange and Seeking Time", and two short stories for Argosy in 1969- 1970:

* Gay Street Ghost, Argosy (UK) Jun 1969
* Try a Little Tenderness, Argosy (UK) Mar 1970

Contributor of articles and stories to Venture, Reader's Digest, McCall's, and Scottish Field.

Reviews

[Margaret · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Rest Without Peace" is a novel of the horrific crimes of Burke and Hare. In 1828 body snatching was the crime of the time with fresh corpses needed for dissection at the teaching hospitals. After selling the body of one of his lodgers to recover owed rent, William Hare, along with his neighbour and friend, William Burke, realize that there is quite a bit of money to be made in selling corpses. It doesn't take them long to come to the conclusion that the best and quickest way to have a steady supply of the product is to create their own.

Originally published in 1974, "Rest Without Peace" stands the test of time. Well researched and well written, the characters just flow off the page. The dialects used by the characters reads smoothly and adds a sense of realism to the characters.

The characters are vibrant and the story fairly races along. I didn't so much read the book as devour it. A rare 5 stars from me.

[GhostofMyrtle]

A fictional account of the nefarious activities of William Burke and William Hare in 1828 Edinburgh. In this time professors at universities had had trouble finding cadavers for their classes. Body snatchers (people digging up graves for bodies to sell) became a big problem. People resorted to watching over their families graves for several days after burial until the body would no longer warrant stealing.

Enter Burke and Hare. Steal bodies? Sounds too much like hard work. How about inviting down and out people who no one would miss around for a feed and a few drinks...and then knocking them off. The professors asked no questions and the bodies were fresher than others that had been provided.

Byrd spends time researching her subjects, which shows in the book. It is well written and quite entertaining. A word of warning: there is a scene involving necrophilia which I must admit, I did not see coming.

I generally prefer reading historical events as non fiction but as far as fictional acounts go, this is quite well done.

Elizabeth Byrd was an American writer but spent a lot of time in Scotland, where nine of her 13 novels were published. She specialised in historical fiction, her most successful novel being Immortal Queen, an historical novel about Mary, Queen of Scots.

[Branislav Ruzicic · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy reading