I’m a pathologist. To most people, that means Quincy, or Ducky, or Lainie, forensic pathologists on TV who do only autopsies. Most pathologists do much more; evaluate surgical specimens, review abnormal Pap smears, perform bone marrows, fine-needle aspirations, and run the clinical lab. Most pathologists only do an autopsy once in a while.
I spent 24 years as a solo pathologist in a rural hospital. During that time, I had occasion to do quite a few forensic autopsies for the coroners of several counties here in southern Idaho. Also during that time, I had encounters with certain people whom I would cheerfully have killed had it been legal.
But it isn’t. So I write about them instead.
Below is what various folks have said about Too Much Blood, my second Toni Day mystery.
Author Jane Bennett Munro brings readers back into the life of Dr. Toni Day in her second murder mystery Too Much Blood. In Munro’s novel, a sequel to Murder Under the Microscope, Day once again becomes the center of a complicated web of deception and murder. Underlying themes of questionable investment strategies, financial scams and relationships between medical professionals help to create a novel that is much more than just a murder mystery.
Using her background and experience, Munro hopes to entertain readers while giving an inside look into the nature of her career. “Pathology is not a well-understood medical specialty,” said Munro. “This book offers readers a taste of what most pathologists do on a daily basis and combines that with a story of greed, romance, sex and murder.”
Pathologist Toni Day returns in this gory tale of a sleazy lawyer and his scam involving the doctors at Perrine Memorial Hospital, in which their earnings go directly into his hedge fund via an offshore leasing company, avoiding taxation. That is, until the economy takes its worst dive since 1929, and Jay Braithwaite Burke’s hedge fund is revealed as a Ponzi scheme. The Feds move in. Jay declares bankruptcy and disappears, only to reappear two months later, dead in his car in the middle of the snowy interstate.
At autopsy, Toni discovers that Jay bled to death. Shortly thereafter, Jay’s partner also bleeds to death. Jay’s widow and four children are kept on the move by a series of house fires, and soon everybody ends up at Toni’s house. Toni’s life is already complicated enough; her work schedule is brutal, and she fears that her husband, Hal, is having an affair. Her mother comes to visit. In the meantime, a mysterious illness casts a bloody pall over the Christmas season. Toni must use all her pathological expertise to keep her loved ones from a similar fate, and in so doing nearly comes to a bloody end herself.
Too Much Blood is a gripping book that reveals how one midnight call drastically changes everything in the life of a brilliant and young female pathologist—leading her to a life-threatening situation. Between its covers, you will follow Toni Day as she must use all her expertise to unmask a killer and save herself and her loved ones from a gory death. Follow her as she attempts to uncover the truths of the suspicious circumstances and complex web of events and resolve the conundrum. Riveting and action packed, this book will take you on a mind-blowing journey of a lifetime!
Jane Bennett Munro, M.D., is a hospital based pathologist who has been involved in forensic cases during the course of her thirty-six year career. She also spent 8 years on the Idaho State Board of Medicine and was chairman 1997-1999. Now semi-retired, she lives in Twin Falls, Idaho, where she enjoys music, gardening, scuba diving, and skiing. She is the author of Murder Under the Microscope, winner of an IPPY Award, and Too Much Blood.
Too Much Blood
Author: Jane Bennett Munro
Mass Market Paperback: 389 pages
Publisher: iUniverse (July 19, 2012)
Kindle Edition
ISBN: 9781473929195
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
Amazon Link
Also available at bn.com and as a Nook book.
Greater Treasures
A Dragon Eye Series
by Karina Fabian
Paperback: 130 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (May 1, 2013)
Amazon Link
Kindle Edition
File Size: 209 KB
Print Length: 45 pages
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
Amazon Link
Blurb:
Being a private detective in the border town of the Faerie and Mundane worlds isn’t easy, even for a dragon like Vern. Still, finding the wayward brother of a teary damsel in distress shouldn’t have gotten so dangerous. When his partner, Sister Grace, gets poisoned by a dart meant for him, Vern offers to find an artifact in exchange for a cure. However, this is no ordinary trinket—with a little magic power, it could control all of mankind. Can Vern find the artifact, and will he sacrifice the fate of two worlds for the life of his best friend?Blurb: Being a private detective in the border town of the Faerie and Mundane worlds isn’t easy, even for a dragon like Vern. Still, finding the wayward brother of a teary damsel in distress shouldn’t have gotten so dangerous. When his partner, Sister Grace, gets poisoned by a dart meant for him, Vern offers to find an artifact in exchange for a cure. However, this is no ordinary trinket—with a little magic power, it could control all of mankind. Can Vern find the artifact, and will he sacrifice the fate of two worlds for the life of his best friend?
About the author:
Winner of the 2010 INDIE for best Fantasy (Magic, Mensa and Mayhem), Karina Fabian has imagination that takes quirky twists that keep her--and her fans--amused. Nuns working in space, a down-and-out Faerie dragon working off a geas from St. George, zombie exterminators—there’s always a surprise in Fabian’s worlds. Mrs. Fabian teaches writing and book marketing seminars, but mostly is concerned with supporting her husband, Rob Fabian as he makes the exciting leap from military officer to civilian executive, getting her kids through high school and college, and surviving daily circuit torture…er, circuit training. Read about her adventures at http://fabianspace.com.
Find Karina at:
Website / Blog / Facebook / Twitter / Google +
Red Haze
Kindle Edition
Author: Adrian Lilly
File Size: 446 KB
Print Length: 238 pages
Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
Amazon Link
Note: I received a review copy of this book free from the author, Adrian Lilly. The review posted below is based on my personal thoughts while reading the book.
Ratings: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
My thoughts:
Red Haze is the first book in the Toxic Friendship Series. The book opens with the death of one university student - Wes German. According to school officials and police report, Wes accidentally died when he stumbled drunkenly into a well. Case closed.
Sara Murdock is an article writer for The Thunderbolt, the campus paper. While working on a new article about alcohol consumption on school campus, she discovered something that led her to believe that Wes' might have died on fraternity hazing, before the well accident. With the help of Curt, Wes' brother and her bestfriend, Marne Montgomery, they started investigating the university fraternity. And to make the story more complicated, Marne is dating Brad Rogers, the ringleader of the fraternity.
The plot was pretty good. Impressed with the twists and turns, I thought I 'discovered the truth' after reading the first quarter of the story but it turned out there was something more in Wes' death. I found the investigation and the narration of the action scenes well-written. The characters are all likable, believable. While I enjoyed reading Red Haze, there was one that's bothering me until now. I was confused about who the main character is. Initially, I thought it was Marne as the book opens with Brad and Marne and the author's given a back story of Marne's past and then came chapter 3 or 4, Sara was introduced. She led the investigation and from there I think the main character here should be Sara. I don't know why the author wrote Marne's past but I have a theory that, maybe, Marne will be in book 2 of the Toxic Friendship series.
Overall, it was an enjoyable read. Looking forward to reading more from the author, Adrian Lilly!
About the book:
Something sinister is happening at Grove University...
Some nights the woods on the edge of campus glow with a spectral, shimmering red haze. Marne Montgomery knows—she’s seen it.
She also saw a figure in the haze. He beckoned to her and then vanished.
Marne laughs off the incident until her roommate, Sara Murdock, shows her a picture of a student. The one Marne saw in the woods.
But he’s been dead for more than a year.
Suddenly, Marne and Sara are tangled in a secret that threatens their college careers—and their lives. Their only hope is to find the cause of the red haze…
Before someone else dies.
Red Haze is a haunting psychological thriller that hovers between the spectral and the natural, blurring the lines between remembrance and regret, dedication and obsession, justice and revenge.
About the author:
Adrian Lilly is the author of the novels The Devil You Know and Red Haze: Toxic Friendships Book One. His third novel, The Runes, a werewolf-romance-murder-mystery thriller, will be out later this summer.
He is a fan of Gothic suspense movies and novels, which greatly influence his writing. Adrian's writing focuses on strong character development and the nuances of fear that build toward horror. The mansion in his first novel, The Devil You Know, was inspired by the grand mansions in the Victorian neighborhood where he lives.
Adrian writes novels, short stories, and poetry and has spent many years as a copywriter in the advertising industry. In addition, Adrian has directed two short films and co-directed a feature-length sci-fi comedy.
