The Books of Jerry Labriola, M.D.
Murder at Hollings General Murders at Brent Institute Maltese Murders Famous Crimes Revisited Dr. Lee's Forensic Files The Budapest Connection The Strange Death of Napoleon Bonaparte Shocking Cases Scent of Danger: A Novel Object of Betrayal Deadly Politics - A Novel Global Shadows - a novel Diamonds and Pirates: A Novel Dangerous Triangle - A Novel The Bliue Baron The Saga of Hodge Spying for Keeps Discovery
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Click here to see COVER
by Jerry Labriola, M.D.
Imprint: STRONG Books
Publisher: Publishing Directions, LLC
Publication Date: 
October 1999
Date Available: August 1999
hardcover
Price: $19.95
Finished size:
5 ½ x 8 ½
Total Pages: 357
ISBN: 1-928782-00-0
Library of Congress Catalog Number: 99-70735
Available at any bookstore or online
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Murders at Hollings General - click to see Cover

STORY LINE

Murders at Hollings General is a medical mystery involving a series of bizarre homicides at a major teaching hospital in New England. The protagonist, Dr. David Brooks, is an engaging if somewhat quirky doctor/amateur sleuth who confines his practice to making afternoon house calls for other physicians. To date, his investigative experience is limited, but he is pressed into probing the hospital deaths by his police detective fiancée, Kathy Dupre. And their relationship becomes the stuff of a sub-plot woven into the main story line.

From the opening scene in which a surgical patient (the hospital's Chairman of the Board) is brutally killed on the operating table by an imposter surgeon, to David's last brush with death at the hands of latter-day samurai warriors, the protagonist faces a parade of conflicts. Suspense is enhanced through a story concept rooted in situational uncertainties, plot twists and unforeseen murder victims. As applied to each suspect, the opportunities and means for murder solidly exist, but it is in the area of motives--romantic entanglements, ties to foreign drug cartels, job terminations, hospital rivalries and power struggles--that the bulk of tension and conflict resides.

David's search takes him into a world of martial arts, fortune tellers, Japanese daggers and the dispensing of illegal drugs from the back of an ambulance. In one major scene, he becomes trapped in his Mercedes convertible which is wrapped in barbed wire and in tow up a cliff for certain deposit over the other side. But this and other perils merely harden his resolve to find the killer.

The novel's main characters are:

  1. Dr. David Brooks: Six-five, floppy mustache, floppy bow tie, black belt in karate, gun aficionado.
  2. Kathy Dupre: David's fiancée. Police detective. Petite, striking and independent.
  3. Nick Medicore: Kathy's newly arrived superior. Ambivalent about David's role in the investigation.
  4. Bernie and Robert Bugles: Half-brothers and sons of the murdered Chairman of the Board. Linked to drug cartels of Istanbul and Cartagena.
  5. Alton Foster: Hollings General's administrator with a surprising past.
  6. Musco Diller: Runyonesque cabby and world-class pickpocket.