Supper Sleuths
Supper SleuthsThis genre's setting can cover a great deal of territory - medical facilities including nursing homes, physicians' offices, hospitals, and research laboratories...the possibilities are forever fertile. The investigator can be a doctor, nurse, medical examiner, scientist, lab technician or even a patient. The mystery usually involves a murder that takes place in one or more of the aforementioned facilities and often hides a motive involving huge profit-making capabilities.
Robin Cook is an excellent example of what some consider the Medical Horror category because a "mad" scientist or doctor practices "unnatural" medicine. Forensic mysteries can easily be considered a subset of this genre and often they overlap with medical scenarios and expertise.
Often, these authors cross over into the Suspense/Thriller category where diseases become epidemics and villains use their medical training for diabolical and evil motives. In these books, medical professionals face the mysteries of immunology, virology, and the petri dish or microscope. An excellent definition comes from the Williamsburg Regional Library: "Typical of the genre, writers in this arena transform current medical 'hot topics' into nightmarish scenarios."
The following is a list of authors who fit into this category. One or more of the titles in each series is given.
A subset of this genre is the Forensic mystery. For a list of these, click
here
.