The Maltese Murders is the third in a trilogy of
medical murder mysteries, following on the heels of Murders
at Hollings General and Murders at Brent Institute.
In addition to main character Dr. David Brooks, the novel
features the return of mobster Frankie Brick and Juan Carlos
Sultanban, the deposed president of Radonia, South
America. Fans will remember David as a part-time
physician and not-entirely-hard-boiled detective with brains
and sensitivity, a sleuth for the new millennium. Also
back are David's petite and spunky fiancée, police detective
Kathy Dupre, and sidekick, Musco Diller, a cabdriver with some
unexpected sleuthing skills.
Medical, biological and technological research,
particularly in the areas of genetic engineering, cloning,
supergerms and bioterrorism are turning up some awesome and
chilling scenarios for the human race, and forms the
background for this latest installment. The action
begins when Professor Kater Weld, the Associate Director of
Brent Institute of Biotechnology, is found shot to
death. Weld has developed a revolutionary new inhaler
that reportedly blocks the harmful effects of any germ that
might be used in a bioterror attack, even before it is
identified. Specifics about the inhaler's formula were
to be unveiled by Weld at an Interpol-sponsored summit in
Malta.
David investigates this and a succession of other murders
related to Brent, the inhaler and the summit. His own
life is jeopardized as mobs from four different continents
compete for rewards offered by terrorist groups. He is
twice ambushed, once in Venice, an episode that results in a
gondola chase; the other on a mountainside quarry in
Connecticut. During the Malta summit, he must handle the
sexual advances of a stunning Interpol official from
Amsterdam.
As David confronts issues of bio-farming, eco-sabotage and
national security, he is nearly overwhelmed by the scope of
what began as a single gang hit in his home town.
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