The Drummer Was the First to Die

The severe cholera epidemic that terrorized London in the summer of 1854 provides the atmospheric background for Taylor's nicely written first novel, and a real-life figure, Dr. John Snow, is its protagonist. Noted physician Snow sets out to prove that contaminated water causes the disease, but corrupt water-company officials hire thugs to deter his investigation, and the medical establishment rejects his theory. Romance enters in the form of Lillian Aynsworth, raised in India, who sails for England after her father dies of cholera. She falls in love with the doctor and helps with the maps on which he is trying to correlate cholera deaths with contaminated water sites. The busy plot abounds with Victorian skullduggery and dark secrets, including one from Lillian's past that threatens to separate the lovers. In an afterword, immunologist Taylor tells us that, although Snow's conclusions were not accepted in his lifetime, ``since then, he has been fully credited as the discoverer of the cause of cholera.'' She keeps her narrative--about one-third historical fact and two-thirds old-fashioned romance--moving briskly with a wide variety of villains, a chase through the London sewers and a well-drawn overview of urban life in the 1850s. ( July )