When 6 hospital patients die mysteriously from Rapidly Progressive Dementia, Harry Grouch is hired to investigate the cause. Is it a biological accident involving a new and mysterious pathogen, or is it murder using a unique murder weapon, a nanobe: a tiny organism that may or may not be alive but, if living, would be the smallest form of life, 1/10 the size of the smallest known bacteria?
"You can't kill something that isn't alive!" That shocking discovery is the key to this compelling whodunit. A mysterious pathogen is infecting neurosurgical patients at Bard Memorial Hospital. Dementia and rapid death follow. The microorganism causing this disease is surviving all known sterilization techniques. Why isn't the disinfection process used by the Operating Rooms destroying this astonishing bug?
Bard Memorial Hospital, it's Administrator, Abner Fabian, it's Laboratory Director, Mickey Barrie, and other key doctors on the staff, will be familiar to readers of my earlier work, "The Medical Director's Divorce, and Other Stories." In "Nanobe," these characters are further developed as important players in helping Harry Grouch to unravel the mystery of the neurosurgical patient deaths.
Things look bleak for the hospital. The County Medical Examiner is accusing the hospital of a malpractice cover-up, while the doctors argue furiously over the many theories about what is happening. The Police Chief suspects foul play. The media and public have condemned the hospital and doctors.
Harry Grouch and Judy Pacas rush to the rescue. They tour the laboratories, monitor surgery, stroll the patient units at 2 am, and befriend hospital staff to dig up the facts. It's up to them to figure out why patients are dying. Is it a mini-epidemic that, once understood, can be scientifically explained and controlled? Or is a creative killer using this newly discovered biological entity, this nanobe, as a murder weapon. And if it's murder, what's the motive, how is it being accomplished, and who are the suspects?
All of this leads to a juicy, hospital-based detective thriller unlike any other on most library and bookstore crime shelves.
