The Secret Dead:

The Secret Dead by: S.J. Parris
Fiction: Mystery, history, E-book
E-Book Count:14
Book Count: 67

A monk in Naples, who is only a monk to get away from a scandal and because it is the best way from someone of his class to learn the sciences, is allowed to help with a secret autopsy.  He was told that the body was a prostitute that was most likely strangled due to their lifestyle, and so the authorities would only throw the body in a common grave outside of town.   By cutting it up, at least it would be useful in helping him and his mentor monk to learn more about the human body.  However, when he sneaks out to the bar afterwards to get a drink to help him get over his ill feelings at seeing a dead body cut open, he learns that what he was told was a lie.