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Dengue: A Microbial Mystery
Is dengue the next pandemic? Two veterinary medical detectives, decades apart in age and experience, battle the tropical disease first in New York City and New Mexico, then in Hawai‘i. Even in paradise, people can’t escape blood-thirsty mosquitoes spurred on by a warming climate. Join these resilient women as they push through personal challenges to discover the scientific truth and stop the relentless death toll.
Faye Simpson abandons New York and a domineering boss to solve the mystery of an explosion in Hawaiian dengue infections. She postpones her blossoming relationship with a younger trans female physician and reconnects with a veterinary school classmate who’s a dengue expert. Maya Maguire, brokenhearted from family tragedies, is thrilled to push aside painful memories in the Land of Enchantment and contribute her disease detective skills.
Despite their efforts, the disease swarms two Hawaiian islands through insatiable mosquito carriers. Lessons learned from initial investigations on the mainland don’t control the threat. Faye has seen nature’s deadly creativity before, and the evil people can do.
Maya’s brilliant analytical work leaves both vets wondering whom they can trust, and what caused the fatal outbreak, people or nature. Can Faye and Maya decipher the mystery of a spiraling catastrophe in Hawai‘i and beyond?
Interview with the Author
Fans of which other authors will love this novel?
Michael Crichton for science-based thrillers, Tess Gerritsen for medical thrillers, Nora Roberts for romantic suspense, Nicholas Sparks for intense relationships, and Tony Hillerman for multicultural characters and vivid settings.
Which recent bestseller will remind me of “ A Microbial Mystery”?
“Eruption” by Michael Crichton and James Patterson
Why is dengue the focus of the fourth MayaVerse microbial mystery?
Dengue disease is the most common mosquito-borne viral disease in the world. Infections are skyrocketing as Aedes mosquitoes migrate into warmer non-tropical areas.
What is One Health?
One Health is an important MayaVerse theme. The concept integrates the health of people, animals, insects, and the environment, to maximize the benefit for all.
Why are all the book covers nature photographs?
Most of the exciting action is based outdoors, not in a hospital or pathology lab. The covers reinforce the crucial role of nature in maintenance of ecologic and disease life cycles.
Have you always wanted to be a writer?
Scientific writing and communication are a focus of my career as a veterinary epidemiologist. But creative writing has been a lifelong passion to entertain, educate, and enlighten.
Which of your interests make an appearance in your books?
Travel throughout the U.S. and worldwide. Animals of all kinds, including pets like cats and dogs, livestock like horses and cattle, and wildlife. Photography, art, music, and museums. Family and friendships. Hiking and old movies.
What’s the genre of the MayaVerse?
Contemporary, upmarket stories with complex themes and happy-for-now (HFN) endings. Medical thrillers as characters battle disease outbreaks from animals and insects. Women’s fiction with elements of romantic suspense featuring passionate and engaging female medical detectives who transform themselves in the face of difficult life
Faye Simpson abandons New York and a domineering boss to solve the mystery of an explosion in Hawaiian dengue infections. She postpones her blossoming relationship with a younger trans female physician and reconnects with a veterinary school classmate who’s a dengue expert. Maya Maguire, brokenhearted from family tragedies, is thrilled to push aside painful memories in the Land of Enchantment and contribute her disease detective skills.
Despite their efforts, the disease swarms two Hawaiian islands through insatiable mosquito carriers. Lessons learned from initial investigations on the mainland don’t control the threat. Faye has seen nature’s deadly creativity before, and the evil people can do.
Maya’s brilliant analytical work leaves both vets wondering whom they can trust, and what caused the fatal outbreak, people or nature. Can Faye and Maya decipher the mystery of a spiraling catastrophe in Hawai‘i and beyond?
Interview with the Author
Fans of which other authors will love this novel?
Michael Crichton for science-based thrillers, Tess Gerritsen for medical thrillers, Nora Roberts for romantic suspense, Nicholas Sparks for intense relationships, and Tony Hillerman for multicultural characters and vivid settings.
Which recent bestseller will remind me of “ A Microbial Mystery”?
“Eruption” by Michael Crichton and James Patterson
Why is dengue the focus of the fourth MayaVerse microbial mystery?
Dengue disease is the most common mosquito-borne viral disease in the world. Infections are skyrocketing as Aedes mosquitoes migrate into warmer non-tropical areas.
What is One Health?
One Health is an important MayaVerse theme. The concept integrates the health of people, animals, insects, and the environment, to maximize the benefit for all.
Why are all the book covers nature photographs?
Most of the exciting action is based outdoors, not in a hospital or pathology lab. The covers reinforce the crucial role of nature in maintenance of ecologic and disease life cycles.
Have you always wanted to be a writer?
Scientific writing and communication are a focus of my career as a veterinary epidemiologist. But creative writing has been a lifelong passion to entertain, educate, and enlighten.
Which of your interests make an appearance in your books?
Travel throughout the U.S. and worldwide. Animals of all kinds, including pets like cats and dogs, livestock like horses and cattle, and wildlife. Photography, art, music, and museums. Family and friendships. Hiking and old movies.
What’s the genre of the MayaVerse?
Contemporary, upmarket stories with complex themes and happy-for-now (HFN) endings. Medical thrillers as characters battle disease outbreaks from animals and insects. Women’s fiction with elements of romantic suspense featuring passionate and engaging female medical detectives who transform themselves in the face of difficult life
320 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 12, 2024
About the author
Millicent Eidson
15 books25 followersMILLICENT EIDSON is the author of the alphabetical Maya Maguire microbial mystery series, which currently has 5 novels in the MayaVerse: Anthracis (Book 1, 2021), Borrelia (Book 2, 2022), Corona (Book 3, 2023), Dengue (Book 4, 2024), and Ebola (Book 5, 2025), plus Microbial Mysteries: A Story Collection (Book 0, 2023).
Author awards include Best Play for "Monuments" in Synkroniciti and Honorable Mention from the Arizona Mystery Writers.
Dr. Eidson’s work as a public health veterinarian and epidemiologist began with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and continued at the New Mexico and New York state health departments. She is a public health faculty member at the University at Albany and the University of Vermont.
Author awards include Best Play for "Monuments" in Synkroniciti and Honorable Mention from the Arizona Mystery Writers.
Dr. Eidson’s work as a public health veterinarian and epidemiologist began with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and continued at the New Mexico and New York state health departments. She is a public health faculty member at the University at Albany and the University of Vermont.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 3, 2024
The first thing I noted while reading Dengue, the latest Microbial Mystery by Dr. Millicent Eidson, was the chilling timeliness of the story. As the death toll from dengue rises in the pages of the novel, so too it continues to rise all over the world as a symptom of climate change.
In this fourth book in the Microbial Mystery series, Dr. Maya Maguire and her aging mentor, Dr. Faye Simpson, find themselves in a tropical paradise doing battle with a rapidly rising incidence in dengue infections. At the heart of their investigations is their attempt to find out why the rates of infection and death seem to be climbing so much higher and faster on Hawaii Island than in other parts of the state and country.
But there’s so much more than just the mystery.
Maya Maguire is a deeply complex character, with a backstory that contains both heartache and joy. I have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know her, and the author has done a beautiful job of presenting her as a strong woman who nonetheless has vulnerabilities and insecurities, just like most of us. The same holds true for every other character, whether primary, secondary, or further on down the pecking order.
With a setting like Hawaii, it’s easy to imagine being there along with the characters. Eidson does a good job of describing the differences in climate in the various regions of Hawaii Island, from the dry southern and western sides to the rainforest of the east side. And luckily for the reader, Maya’s job takes her and her team into Volcanoes National Park. We are treated to lush descriptions of the flora, the lava, the sky, and even the choking sulfuric air and the searing steam vents in parts of the park.
As for the medical terminology in the book, don’t fret. You’re in capable hands. Dr. Eidson uses real-life medical words and situations in the book, but they’re always put into a context that allows the reader to understand exactly what’s going on. (As an aside, the research that must have gone into this book is mind-blowing.)
The mystery, the characters, the setting, and the uncanny timing of this book make it a compelling read. I would recommend it to anyone who loves medical thrillers, mysteries set in Hawaii, mysteries with diverse characters, books with a strong female protagonist, and fictional tales related to climate change.
In this fourth book in the Microbial Mystery series, Dr. Maya Maguire and her aging mentor, Dr. Faye Simpson, find themselves in a tropical paradise doing battle with a rapidly rising incidence in dengue infections. At the heart of their investigations is their attempt to find out why the rates of infection and death seem to be climbing so much higher and faster on Hawaii Island than in other parts of the state and country.
But there’s so much more than just the mystery.
Maya Maguire is a deeply complex character, with a backstory that contains both heartache and joy. I have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know her, and the author has done a beautiful job of presenting her as a strong woman who nonetheless has vulnerabilities and insecurities, just like most of us. The same holds true for every other character, whether primary, secondary, or further on down the pecking order.
With a setting like Hawaii, it’s easy to imagine being there along with the characters. Eidson does a good job of describing the differences in climate in the various regions of Hawaii Island, from the dry southern and western sides to the rainforest of the east side. And luckily for the reader, Maya’s job takes her and her team into Volcanoes National Park. We are treated to lush descriptions of the flora, the lava, the sky, and even the choking sulfuric air and the searing steam vents in parts of the park.
As for the medical terminology in the book, don’t fret. You’re in capable hands. Dr. Eidson uses real-life medical words and situations in the book, but they’re always put into a context that allows the reader to understand exactly what’s going on. (As an aside, the research that must have gone into this book is mind-blowing.)
The mystery, the characters, the setting, and the uncanny timing of this book make it a compelling read. I would recommend it to anyone who loves medical thrillers, mysteries set in Hawaii, mysteries with diverse characters, books with a strong female protagonist, and fictional tales related to climate change.
August 11, 2024
Dengue, the fourth book in Dr. Eidson’s microbial mystery series, sees our two intrepid veterinary medical detectives, Dr. Maya Maguire and Dr. Faye Simpson, chasing down a new threat. They leave behind their complicated relationships and painful memories to track the emerging dengue disease from NYC, to New Mexico, to Hawaii. The size and type of the outbreak on the islands is unusual, raising questions about its origin. Maya and Faye get swept up in this intrigue amid a setting described in rich detail.
If you love medical mysteries with a diverse cast and strong female protagonists, this is the series for you.
If you love medical mysteries with a diverse cast and strong female protagonists, this is the series for you.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews