No Cure For Murder

Brier Hospital #2

by Lawrence W. Gold

Death at Brier Hospital is routine and provides the perfect opportunity to murder and get away with it. Dr. Jacob Weizman is a holocaust survivor and needs no proof of evil in this world, but he’s still shocked when his patients start dying, even the unexpected ones. It soon becomes clear to Jacob that a killer is stalking the halls of Brier Hospital—and Jacob’s patients are the target. While Jacob has made enemies over the years, he finds it inconceivable that anyone would murder his patients for revenge. Despite increased policy security at the hospital and a vigorous investigation, the number of deaths keeps climbing, forcing Jacob to face the most frightening question of all: Is he next?

Genres: Mystery, Thriller, Suspense, Mystery Thriller, Medical, Fiction, Ebooks

513 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 27, 2011

About the author

Lawrence W. Gold, MD is a retired physician. He is a veteran of the Vietnam War where he served in an evacuation hospital, ran an emergency room and was a Battalion Surgeon. He completed his training in internal medicine and diseases of the kidney in 1968.

He retired in 1995 after 23 years in a hospital-based practice caring for patients with complicated illnesses and served as Chief of Medicine. After retirement he and his wife, Doris, spent time sailing at sea. He has written three screenplays based on his novels. His screenplay for Rage won honorable mention at the 80th annual Writer's Digest contest. He lives in Grass Valley, CA with his wife.

Reviews

[Dianne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Take a look behind the scenes of Brier Hospital, the health professionals, the patient interaction and the unexplained deaths, because the count is rising. One veteran physician will find his capacity to care for his patients questioned as many of the deaths are his patients, and point to incompetence on his part.

Jacob Weizman has survived the Holocaust, still makes house calls and isn’t afraid to cause a stir. His experience makes him an excellent diagnostician and his bedside manner makes him a favorite of patients and most hospital personnel, alike. Still, a twisted killer has access to his patients and seems hell bent on blackballing his credentials. Who could hate the good doctor enough to kill his patients and why? Is Jacob next?

NO CURE FOR MURDER by Lawrence W. Gold combines fabulous, folksy characters with the insanity of an “angel” of death, working from the shadows. Humorous dialogue, hospital drama, this murder mystery reads like a daytime soap opera on steroids. So many possible villains are paraded before us, some many clashes among characters and through it all, Jacob Weizman, MD proves that age is just a number!

If you like medical mysteries, plus the drama of life and death decisions, welcome to Brier Hospital, where all is not well and even the staff are only human. Check that age discrimination at the door, and settle in, ready to be entertained and feel the hair rise on your neck as the hunt for a killer is on, hopefully before they take their final prize, because there is NO CURE FOR MURDER..

Series: Brier Hospital - Book 2
Publisher: Grass Valley Publishing; 1 edition (December 16, 2011)
Publication Date: December 16, 2011
Genre: Medical Thriller
Print Length: 414 pages
Available from: Amazon | Barnes & Noble
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[ILoveBooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is impossible to put down, the reader will absolutely need to know who the killer is. One of the best qualities this book contains is when the author switches to writing from the killers' point of view. A look into the killer's mind in a murder mystery add to the story exponentially.



This book is written by a Doctor, the reader will feel as if the book is situated in reality at times. The plot and events can appear very real. The method that some patients are killed can seem so coldly...logical. The main characters, Jacob and Lola, are very intriguing. They are smart, funny, efficient, and very entertaining. The secondary characters are interesting to get to know as well, they each have differing qualities that can make some very memorable. The reader will be sad when some of them are murdered under mysterious circumstances.



This book is highly recommended to adult readers. The plot is unique and the author makes the events highly realistic. The events are fast-paced and intense. The characters are memorable.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this book in the mail yesterday and finished it today. It was great! Dr. Gold has done an amazing job in what is the second book in the Brier Hospital series. Chapter one throws you right in to the story and it honestly doesn't stop until the very last page. No one is safe from who ever is ending the lives of patients at Brier, not those knocking on deaths door nor those who are almost ready to be released. Because the unlucky patients are being injected through their IV lines, at first no one suspects any foul play. I enjoyed all of the characters and especially the little parts written in the mind of the killer. I really thought I had it all figured out, who was the "bad guy" and the reasons why then it all hit me right in the face and boy was I wrong! There are a ton of characters in these pages but they all fit together and are necessary for the story to flow. I was in love with the respectable Dr. Jacob Weizman and his wife Lola. Both in their upper eighties and still on the go daily, helping and needed and still very much in love. I really felt like I was thrown into the hospital world through out this read, everything from some medical lingo to disgruntled nurses. A great mystery, that feels like it is taken right out of every day life. I am excited to go back and check out First, Do No Harm, the first in the Brier Hospital Series and anxious to see what is to come next. I definitely recommend picking up your copy of No Cure For Murder!

[L. Shosty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Based on the overall content, specifically the quality of the plot and characters, this is a five-star book. Gold ably handles a very large cast, and he gives a look into a world that is compelling without the murder mystery. However, my Kindle copy was riddled with formatting errors, and Gold has an annoying tendency to tell us, over and over, each character's role within the hospital. It's understandable, given how large the cast is, but it's unnecessary. Gold needs to trust his readers a little more, or provide a cast listing at the end for easy reference. Also, the dialogue at times became a little preachy, and at other times a little speech-y, feeling more like something written for the stage than how people actually speak. Gold also has a problem with time. It seems that Zoe Spelling has just signed on as Jacob's partner, yet at the end it's said she was with his office for five years. Did five years pass within the scope of the novel? If so, Gold does a terrible job showing it. If not, this is an editing error I hope will be fixed in a future edition. Despite each of these problems, this was a page-turner. I read over four hundred pages of it in two days, which is rare for me.

[Joan · Rating 2 out of 5]

As a lover of medical mysteries, I thought this book started off well. But it got into too many other topics that had nothing to do with the story and distracted from it. The timeline was also confusing as it seemed that all the events of the book took place within a couple of months, but near the end of the book it was mentioned that Dr. Spelling had worked for Dr. Weizman for 5 years. It was also very offensive to me that every Christian in the book was portrayed as a bigoted and hateful person - except perhaps for the Arab Christian who is persecuted and hated by some people. I think the story had a lot of potential, but the author seemed more interested in airing his personal prejudices than in writing an entertaining novel.

[Kayla Krantz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dr. Weizman has dealt with ageism for some time. So when his patients start turning up dead, that criticism reaches its highest point. Hospital staff thinks it might be his time to retire, but he’s confident that the deaths aren’t his fault. There’s a new doctor on his team, and despite her pretty, bright demeanor, there just might be a darkness in her.

Suspenseful with an interesting mix of characters. The MC in particular had some endearing ways about him. There are plenty of twists and turns, making it nearly impossible to guess who the killer is until it is revealed about 75% of the way through the book.

The only thing I didn’t really like in this story was the way it would switch POV suddenly and without warning. Made it a little hard to keep track of who was who, but I suppose that in the end that helped add to the suspenseful feel of the book.

Narration was okay.

This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this voluntary review.

[RJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

There’s a killer loose in Briar Hospital. Several of Briar Hospital’s patients, specifically Dr. Weizman’s patients, are turning up dead for no obvious reason. Jacob Weizman has dealt with ageism, or discrimination on the grounds of one's age, for some time but it’s reaching critical mass with the recent deaths. The deaths affect both hospital staff and relatives alike. A young, pretty doctor, Zoey Spelling has joined Jacob’s staff at the request of an old friend and colleague. Zoey seems to be bright, well-trained, and helpful, but is she? We’re treated to another tense and interesting account of today’s hospitals. I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

[Whitney Joy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of those free Kindle books that ended up being an entertaining page turner. I love the fact that the protagonist in the book is a member of the geriatric population, which made it different from most murder mysteries. The plot captivated my attention and I'm happy to see that there are more books in this series.

[D R Childs · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sorry,.but had to kill

Interesting premise, but very poorly written. Strange ending. Strange people. Could not connect the dots or the people. As a language tutor, I wept, but finished it anyway because I wanted to see where it would go. Sorry, Dr. Gold, it didn.t meet the smell test.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I l I ked the main character Jacob as a human and his e work ethics. The sentence that Zoe received was justified. A bit t slow at times but over all I enjoyed this book.

I chose it because I liked the book but it was slow going.and still I may recommend I t to others

[Teresa Gagean · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow

Another excellent book! I can say that as a night nurse I’m glad I slept all day, so I could read this wonderful book with no interruptions😊. I don’t think my family likes you Dr. Gold😊

[Al · Rating 4 out of 5]

Death at Brier Hospital is routine and provides the perfect opportunity to murder and get away with it. Jacob Weizman, a physician, and his wife, Lola, a psychotherapist, are holocaust survivors and need no proof of evil in this world. Jacob and Lola are unique protagonists. They’re octogenarians who take the fear out of getting old. Their intelligence, competence, humor, and sense of history make them appealing in a world that too often disdains the aged. After fifty-five years practicing medicine, Jacob is disappointed, but not surprised by several patients’ deaths, even the unexpected ones. Soon, however, it becomes clear that a killer is stalking the halls of Brier Hospital targeting Jacob’s patients. While Jacob has made enemies over the years, he finds it inconceivable that anyone would murder his patients for revenge. The killings mount even as the hospital and police increase security and pursue a vigorous investigation. Finally, unsatisfied with surrogates, the killer targets Jacob.

About the Author

I was born in Brooklyn, moved to Queens, and then, as New Yorkers say, we ascended to the Island.
After graduating from Valley Stream Central High School, I went to Adelphi, a college then, a university now, and then to medical school in Chicago.
The war in Vietnam interrupted my postgraduate training with a year in Colorado Springs and another as a Battalion Surgeon in Vietnam. I spent seven months in the Central Highlands with the 4th Infantry and five months in an evacuation hospital in Long Binh outside Saigon where I ran the emergency room.
I returned intact in 1968 to complete my training in internal medicine and diseases of the kidney, nephrology.
I worked for twenty-three years in Berkeley, California in a hospital-based practice caring for patients with complicated illnesses often in ICU and served as Chief of Medicine.
My wife Dorlis and I retired in October 1995 and sailed under the Golden Gate Bridge for a life at sea in Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean.
Four years later, exhausted from repairing everything on board, (often many times) we sold the sailboat and within a year took the lazy man's out; we bought a Nordic Tug, a trawler. We motored around Florida, the Bahamas, the entire East Coast and completed two 'Circle trips' to Canada and back, eight months, the first time, five months, the second.
I wrote professionally as a physician to inform but rarely to entertain, at least not on purpose.
First, Do No Harm was published in April 2007. No Cure for Murder was released in August 2011. For the Love of God was published in January 2012.
In the last two years, I've written three screenplays based on my novels and hope to see one or more produced for the screen. I submitted my screenplay, Rage to the 80th Annual Writer's Digest contest and won honorable mention (57 out of 11,000).
We live in beautiful Grass Valley with 13 year old Mike, a terrier mix and Bennie, a 7 year old purebred though enormous Yorkie.

[Michele · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is 3 AM--I received this book from Amazon yesterday (the kindle version is free from 2/14-2/16). I read half before I went to sleep and finished it just now. I can not say enough about Lawrence Gold, MD's books. You really have to read them to realize what a great writer he is and how he can keep you guessing up to, in the case of this book, nearly the very end.

Jacob Weizman is still practicing family medicine in his 80's and still making house calls! His wife, Lola is a psychotherapist who has downgraded her practice but still works with disturbed teenaged girls. NOTHING gets past Lola nor is there much she hasn't heard or seen and she makes sure the teens know this. Between the two of them they have helped and are still helping many.

Physicians do tend to be slightly egotistical (yes, I have worked in hospitals and done the books for many doctors) and Jacob, because he doesn't agree with some of the newer practices is forever getting into "discussions" with other practitioners, nurses, etc. Some think it is time for him to retire--not so! There is a hospital chaplain who he really does not trust or like and one nurse in particular who does not like him-ah the dynamics of the workplace. He takes on another physician in his practice at the behest of an old and dear friend.

If I say much more I will give it all away-so I guess I will just have to leave you all hanging again! Yup-another 5 Star and I think I better go get some more sleep now!No Cure For Murder

[Patricia Ibarra · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love reading medical thrillers and was excited when I stumbled upon this one. At Brier Hospital patients are dying, nothing unusual, except that somebody is helping them in this difficult transition. Most of them are the patients of Dr. Jacob Weizman. So far, everything sounds great! Well, let me tell you that Dr. Weizman is 88 years old, and he is the most beloved, gifted, perfect, wise, empathetic, caring doctor and human being on earth. As if this were no sufficient blessing, he is married to Lola, an 84-year old gifted, perfect, wise, empathetic, caring psychiatrist. I cannot imagine what the world would do without these two wonderful people!!! Additionally, there are several secondary characters and stories that contribute nothing to the story. I love reading fiction, but with a touch of reality. This plot is absolutely ridiculous!!! I am giving it two stars because it made me so mad that at least it was a source of catharsis to me!!!! This author is automatically included in my black list!

[Jina Howell-Forbes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another really terrific read in the Brier Hospital series. This series is filled with detailed medical stories and procedures, along with a legal mystery, and usually a trial. There are great interactions between the recurring characters. There are also continuing moral dilemmas, with different areas of moral thinking in each book.. I really like this author, and his writing style. But readers should be aware that his style involves frequent switches between different characters and different events within the Brier Hospital community. I happen to love the switching. I think it keeps me paying attention, and sometimes reading faster and longer to get back to the previous story line. This is just a heads-up to those who dislike this approach. I think that this series has similarities to the "In Death" series by JD Robb if you switch out police work procedural for medical procedural, and omit most of the detailed violence.

[Tertia R Armstrong · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good for what ails you.

Good for what ails you.

Seemingly unrelated vignettes connect through a common hospital and set of characters. The perspectives of Holocaust survivors,, Doctors Jacob and Lola, are poignant and add depth to the moral and ethical issues that arise. There are a multitude of murder suspects and their elimination one by one adds suspense to the final discovery of the killer's identification. The author goes a step further and provides motivational analysis through the trial. The politics within the Brier Hospital, both patients and staff, add realism and believable subplots.

[Jenny Soltis-schill · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was disappointed in myself that it took me so long to finish it! This was one of those books you just can't help but finish till the end. You just have to know, "whodunit"!
The characters are brilliant and although you have your suspicions from the beginning as to who could be offing Jacob Weizman's patients, it's a real nail biter until you find out who it really is! The one I had pegged for sure as being the culprit disappointed me in the end. Detective skills I lack! The murderer was a jaw dropper and the defense line was superb! I was hooked from the first sentence!

[Babus Ahmed · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting medical thriller but I did find the main story was hidden by lots of smaller parables. I loved reading all the characters but I found Lola more interesting than Jacob (is there going to be another book where she has center stage?) and much more likeable.

There are a number of suspects to choose from and the hook gives a lot of background information on victims etc, but I just found all those details diluted the main story. Not the best of LawrenceGold's books but still very readable.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel like this book took on a few too many themes. Trying to deal with the topics of racism, ageism, anti-Semitism, psychological illness, political battles, and physician-assisted suicide all at once meant that none of them were truly hit with the depth that could have been shown. That aside, the book was well-written. The witty banter between the two elderly main characters kept me grinning throughout the quick read.

[Linda B · Rating 1 out of 5]

Unfortunately, in my opinion this author has a deep-seated hatred for Christians as is evident in all of his books. After reading this book, I did not expect the same theme in another.

In any case, the story plods along and the characters are not well-developed. Not much of a mystery either. You will know from the beginning who was responsible.

[Lillie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although the story was an engaging psychological thriller, I didn't appreciate that the "good guys" were all non-religious and the religious characters were portrayed as fanatics and/or evil. The 88-year-old lead character is a Jewish doctor who lost his faith in a Holocaust concentration camp. He was so hostile to religion that he refused to allow the hospital chaplain to visit his patients.

[Kay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good read

Good read

No Cure For Murder is a good mystery novel, holding in my interest until the end. I appreciated that the author did not end the story when the culprit was caught but continued to the trial and verdict. Most stories end leaving a sense of loss not knowing the true outcome. Thank you Lawrence Gold.

[Karen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Book jumped around to m uch. I couldn't identify with any of the character-actually disliked them all. The book went nowhere and landed nowhere. The first few pages were good, but then we see a wild hair of nothing. There seemed also to be bias against religion here.

[Chaplain Stanley Chapin · Rating 5 out of 5]

The good Dr. Is a terrific novelists

All the central characters are developed with just enough subtle action as to keep you interested and evolved as to they being the guilty one which keeps you evolved to the end

[Howard Katzoff · Rating 5 out of 5]

A real thriller

Don't plan on getting any sleep after starting this book. It's impossible to put down. The story line was believable and the tension mounted slowly until the end. Terrific insight into a disturbed mind.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dr.Jacob Weizman, after practicing medicine for over 50 years is concerned that his elderly patients are dying at Brier Hospital. Is their a reasonable explanation or something more sinister occurring.

[Theresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Medical mystery.

Entertaining book with multiple storylines. It keeps you guessing all the way through the book and you are never sure what is really going to happen from minute to minute.

[Karyn Schulz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stayed up late to read and am awake now to read. Sign of a good book!

Finished and highly recommend it. Writing captures your attention and leaves you wondering who did it until the end.

[Sarah Fitzgerald · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic! I couldn't put it down. Twists and turns kept me guessing. I also liked the medical accuracy.

[Beth Dary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Had it figured out early on. Nice enhancement having the Nazi survivor angle written in to the story but wasn't pertinent to the mystery.