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Maggie Ryan and Nick O'Connor #3
Murder Is Pathological
The exploding wastebasket is a prank, but slaughtered lab rats have graduate students Maggie Ryan, Monica Bauer and the rest of the lab on edge. When the custodian is murdered, actor Nick O’Connor goes undercover to investigate, a protective gesture Maggie does not appreciate. While Maggie and Nick search for the killer, Monica struggles to connect with a young man shot in the head in Vietnam.
- GenresMystery
184 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1986
1 person is currently reading
22 people want to read
About the author
P.M. Carlson
29 books21 followersP.M. Carlson taught psychology and statistics at Cornell University before deciding that mystery writing was more fun. She has published twelve mystery novels and a dozen mystery short stories. Her novels have been nominated for an Edgar award, a Macavity award, and twice for Anthony awards. Two short stories were finalists for Agatha awards. She edited the Mystery Writers Annual for Mystery Writers of America for several years, and served as President of Sisters in Crime. Besides reading mysteries, she enjoys working on her Victorian house and traveling. She has lived in Guatemala, California, Maryland, Indiana, Paris, and Brooklyn. Currently she lives in New York with her husband and a Belgian sheepdog named Nero Wolfe.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
June 9, 2023
1969 in a New England college town. Someone seems to be determined to disrupt the experimental phase of Dr. Weisen's revolutionary new drug for brain tumors. First there is the exploding trash can. Then there is the slaughter of a group of experimental rats. Maggie Ryan, statistician for the project, thinks it's more than just random vandals. And when the lab's maintenance man is found dead in a ditch, she refuses to believe that it was the accidental bicycle accident it has been ruled. Of course, the students associated with the project are all her friends and she is reluctant to believe that any of them could be behind the the sabotage and murder.
Enter Nick O'Connor--Maggie's friend who would like to be more than friends. When she sends him a letter announcing that she's managed to sell an article to a leading journal, he comes to Laconia ostensibly to celebrate with her, but really because he wants to try and settle things between them. He listens as she tells him what's been going on at the lab and he decides to be a hero. He goes undercover as a replacement janitor in an effort to find out what and who is behind the mayhem in the biology lab. But what he and Maggie find out may end their chance to find happiness together....in fact it may end things for both of them permanently.
This is the second Maggie Ryan mystery I've read (3rd in the series) and I have enjoyed both. Murder in the Dog Days is the sixth in the series and featured Maggie more as the detective. Here, Nick takes center stage and does quite a good job with his undercover work. He's an actor, so he's used to slipping into character and he never makes a false step while pretending to be "Rick." Well, except for stumbling into the mysterious night-time visitor to the lab and not preventing another massacre of a batch of rats. But "Rick" was hired to be a maintenance man, not a security guard. He quickly deciphers the clue that his predecessor left behind and then he and Maggie work together to figure out how it figures into the bigger picture.
A better academic mystery than my previous read--the atmosphere is good and the mystery plot and investigation hang together better. Maggie is a little bit prickly in this one (compared to my previous) read, but given her romantic track record it's understandable. Her emotional distractions probably keep her from coming to the same conclusions as Nick as quickly, but she still manages to shine as a co-investigator. ★★★ and 1/2. [not quite strong enough to round up]
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block.
Enter Nick O'Connor--Maggie's friend who would like to be more than friends. When she sends him a letter announcing that she's managed to sell an article to a leading journal, he comes to Laconia ostensibly to celebrate with her, but really because he wants to try and settle things between them. He listens as she tells him what's been going on at the lab and he decides to be a hero. He goes undercover as a replacement janitor in an effort to find out what and who is behind the mayhem in the biology lab. But what he and Maggie find out may end their chance to find happiness together....in fact it may end things for both of them permanently.
This is the second Maggie Ryan mystery I've read (3rd in the series) and I have enjoyed both. Murder in the Dog Days is the sixth in the series and featured Maggie more as the detective. Here, Nick takes center stage and does quite a good job with his undercover work. He's an actor, so he's used to slipping into character and he never makes a false step while pretending to be "Rick." Well, except for stumbling into the mysterious night-time visitor to the lab and not preventing another massacre of a batch of rats. But "Rick" was hired to be a maintenance man, not a security guard. He quickly deciphers the clue that his predecessor left behind and then he and Maggie work together to figure out how it figures into the bigger picture.
A better academic mystery than my previous read--the atmosphere is good and the mystery plot and investigation hang together better. Maggie is a little bit prickly in this one (compared to my previous) read, but given her romantic track record it's understandable. Her emotional distractions probably keep her from coming to the same conclusions as Nick as quickly, but she still manages to shine as a co-investigator. ★★★ and 1/2. [not quite strong enough to round up]
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block.
June 25, 2023
My least favorite of the three I have read.
January 21, 2014
This is a very quick read, focusing on Maggie and Nick (between acting jobs) at a university research lab. Someone has killed the janitor, and Nick goes undercover to find out what is going on. Do not read this if you are squeemish about lab rats. They are everywhere in the story.
June 14, 2013
Quietann might be interested, as a statistician.
It's about a drug trial, with lab rats, for brain tumors.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews