Constitutional scholar writes powerful novel

It isn't often that you read a powerful novel, "The Anatomy of Deception," that is written by a constitutional scholar with a doctorate in history.

Yet those are the qualifications of Lawrence Goldstone, a gifted writer with a strong side interest in science and medicine.

He and his equally talented wife, Nancy, co-authored two scientific histories, but they have given up their literary partnership because their interests have diverged.

"We fight less now," Goldstone said jokingly during a phone interview from his home in Westport, Conn. "Because we fought over sentence structure instead of money and in-laws."

In his medical research, Goldstone was struck by the contributions and personalities of Dr. William Osler, whom he called "arguably the greatest American surgeon." He also labeled William Halsted "America's greatest surgeon."

Both emerged in their fields of expertise in the late 1880s, when medicine was in its infancy, yet medical students still study both, especially the writings of Osler.

Goldstone writes that Osler "personally epitomized the very peak of medical ethics and was a man of exceptionally high moral fiber." And Halsted pioneered ways to minimize blood loss and achieve sterile conditions during surgery.

"They are both revered by physicians today," Goldstone said. Yet Halsted experimented on himself with cocaine as an anesthetic, and he never overcame that addiction. Osler, whose diary was studied for the first time in 1969, covered up that addiction because Halsted was his mentor. The author also discovered another instance in which Osler "turned a blind eye to the malfeasance of a fellow physician."

Goldstone maintained that he "tried to be fair to Osler," even though the two men's flaws helped him develop a believable crime story around them. In his new historical novel, Goldstone created the fictional protagonist, Ephraim Carroll, who allegedly went to Philadelphia to study with Osler.

Autopsies were performed at the infamous Blockley Dead House, the morgue in early Philadelphia, and in the book, an Osler decision not to perform one on a young, attractive woman transforms Carroll into a medical detective. Another young doctor, called Turk, is revealed to have performed medically dangerous abortions," at least one of which leads to double murder.