Wishlist Wednesday: A Madness So Discreet

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Title: A Madness So Discreet
Author: Mindy McGinnis
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Synopsis: Grace Mae knows madness.

She keeps it locked away, along with her voice, trapped deep inside a brilliant mind that cannot forget horrific family secrets. Those secrets, along with the bulge in her belly, land her in a Boston insane asylum.

When her voice returns in a burst of violence, Grace is banished to the dark cellars, where her mind is discovered by a visiting doctor who dabbles in the new study of criminal psychology. With her keen eyes and sharp memory, Grace will make the perfect assistant at crime scenes. Escaping from Boston to the safety of an ethical Ohio asylum, Grace finds friendship and hope, hints of a life she should have had. But gruesome nights bring Grace and the doctor into the circle of a killer who stalks young women. Grace, continuing to operate under the cloak of madness, must hunt a murderer while she confronts the demons in her own past.

Why I want to read it:

I was first made aware of this book's existence by several excellent reviews of it around the blogosphere (Bookmarklit/Next Page Please/Girl in the Pages/Perpetual Page Turner). While their good words added to my interest, I knew right away I wanted to read this based on the synopsis above. The combination of historical fiction and mystery is right up my alley. I don't necessarily have the stomach for gruesome details -- I'm addicted to Castle but will never go near Criminal Minds, if that gives you an idea of my taste in the crime genre -- but I love a good whodunnit.

In addition to that, one of the classes I took in university was a class on the history of psychiatry. One of the things we learned was how the asylum came to be and was transformed over time, and I found it incredibly fascinating. So I'm really interested to see how the asylum will be depicted in this novel.

Also, look at that cover! I'd thought it was chilling before I noticed the hand on the girl's ankle. Without the hand, I'd thought she was falling, or trapped, but now I realised she is being pulled under. Either way, it has intrigued me even more.