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  • HOME
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  • NOVELS
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  • Press and Book Club Kits
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MICROBIAL MYSTERIES

A STORY COLLECTION

Bats and bearded dragons, raccoons and baby goats—animals are our fellow Earth creatures. But they pose a threat. Each species harbors invisible microbes, ready to leap into human bodies. In this compilation of ten short medical thrillers and one graphic poem, public health disease detectives are challenged by mysterious outbreaks from zoonotic viruses, bacteria, and parasites.

Distributor List

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Short Works [plot dates]

El Chinche (in "Danse Macabre")

[1993]

This story features Maya’s future mentors, Nancy Bingham and Fred Grinwold, at the beginning of their public health careers along the Mexican border. The story received an award from the Arizona Mystery Writers.

SARS

[2003]

Nancy Bingham takes the lead in investigating Arizona’s first coronavirus infection while struggling to maintain her long-distance relationship with Fred Grinwold. 

Firenze (in "Mystery Tribune")

[2019]

In another Nancy Bingham/Fred Grinwold story, a hard-driving immigrant from El Salvador juggles his acclaimed Tucson restaurant, a new relationship with a county epidemiologist, and his pet bearded dragon.

What's Within (in "Fiction on the Web")

[1983-1984]

At the epicenter of the AIDS epidemic in New York City, the public health career is launched for Faye Simpson, future veterinary mentor for series protagonist, Dr. Maya Maguire. 

MERS

[2013]

Faye Simpson hops the pond to London and Saudi Arabia for the emergence of coronavirus in camels and spillover to humans. 

Pérdida (in "El Portal Literary Journal")

[2014-2019]

In this reverse narrative story, a young mother in New York City struggles with the mysterious hospitalization of her five-year-old daughter; Faye Simpson finds the answer.

Cruel, Cruel, Cruel

[1992-1993]

This short story sets the stage for Maya Maguire’s eventual return to her country of birth, China.

Ringer (In "2020 An Anthology of Poetry with Drawings by Bill Liebeskind")

[2023]

This graphic poem provides a snapshot of the COVID pandemic. 

Bandit (in "The Chamber Magazine")

[2018-2019]

Class differences in Washington, DC influence the outcome of infection with a dangerous neurologic parasite.

Eruption (in "Down in the Dirt")

[2019]

A teenager visiting Santa Fe joins a young man she meets at the swimming pool in an ill-fated trip to a New Mexico hot spring.

Road Not Taken (in "Bewildering Stories")

[2020]

In this alternative history story, a mother attempts to find Christmas Eve joy during an ice storm and the COVID pandemic. But her world has been altered from ours because Pope John Paul II did not survive the May 13, 1981 assassination attempt.

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