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- Mystery - |
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Pharmacology is Murder |
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 Pharmacology is Murder byDirk Wyle Rainbow Books Paperback - 385 pages, 1998 ISBN 156825038X384 Reviewed by Devorah Stone Read our review of Biotechnology Is Murder by Dirk Wyle Read our author interview Dirk Wyle fuses Miami's cosmopolitan setting with academic intrigue, scientific discoveries, romance and murder to create a unique read. If you are fascinated by the technical side of murder, the how and why rather than the who, this book delivers. The writer never talks down or underestimates his reader's intelligence. Wyle explains scientific jargon and theories in clear layman's terms, mixing investigations with in- depth character studies to explore all aspects of the crime. Ben Candidi - a Mensa genius - has spent five years working for the Medical Examiner in Miami. When he wants a change and a challenge, his former boss supplies both. Dr. Westley suspects the murder of the head of the Pharmacology Department at the Miami Medical School. Asked to prove it, Ben Candidi goes back to school as a graduate student to uncover the crime, and to discover how the murderer delivered the lethal poison. Dr.Cooper, a much-reviled chairman of the Pharmacology Department, has died of a massive unexplainable blood clot and high blood potassium. There were no needle marks on the corpse and no traces of digested poisons in the stomach. Candidi speculates the murderer used a `molecular delivery system which hasn't yet been invented.' It does not take the sleuth long to figure out which of the suspected twelve professors was the murderer. All had motives but only one knew the right method to kill without detection. In order to understand the mystery, Candidi studies not only his classroom subjects but also his professor's work and personalities. He uncovers a unique breakthrough method of delivering both medicines, as well as poisons orally. Then without arousing faculty suspicions, he has to search for the evidence of Dr. Cooper’s murder using this method. If you like lots of blood and a mounting body count this book is not for you. There is only one bloodless murder. Instead, of the usual dead bodies the reader gets a chronicle of a young man's journey into maturity, as he learns about his own abilities, limitations, death, life and love. The sleuth enters the treacherous world of academia and discovers all the power plays and petty jealousies and exposes a deadly cover up. Along the way he cycles around Miami, lives on a boat, has tea with Dr. and Mrs. Westley and falls in love with Candidi's bright personality and probing curiosity. |
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