Creatures On Display

by Wm. Stage

SAINT LOUIS, 1981. Epidemiologist Shaun Malloy is overworked and under-appreciated. Chasing STD cases day in and day out, Malloy and his fellow investigators in the clinic are not prepared when a fatal wasting disease appears that seems to hone in on the city’s gay community. As they strive to understand this new threat, matters are made worse by Trey Vonderhaar, who runs a lucrative private men’s club that caters to the appetites of a privileged class. Despite warnings from health officials, Vonderhaar is determined to benefit from his enterprise without regard to the dangers the luxury sex hotel presents. Perhaps too dedicated to his job, Malloy is just as intent on shutting Vonderhaar down, and, along with best friend and bondsman Teri Kincaid, isn’t above resorting to extreme measures to do it.
Written in the style of a crime novel, Creatures On Display is a comic noir look at the dogged efforts of an in-the-trenches band of investigators trying to get a handle on this mysterious malady, just the newest plague of many that have tormented mankind from its beginnings.

Genres: Mystery

360 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 29, 2015

About the author

Wm. Stage has been a newspaper journalist / columnist and photographer for more than 30 years. Before that, he was a public health officer with the Centers for Disease Control assigned to the St. Louis Sexually Transmitted Diseases Clinic. He has taught photojournalism at Saint Louis University School for Professional Studies; and feature writing with the Defense Information School [DINFOS], Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana. As of 2025, he has authored 16 books with the most recent, Down And Out In The River City, being his fifth novel. Wm. Stage lives in St. Louis with his wife, Mary, and their many unruly children.

Reviews

[Adam Gutschenritter · Rating 4 out of 5]

After the “80” pages of St Louis location name dropping to prove your local credibility. (Having lived there these were annoying and required) I got to the story and the dirty details of sex and the rise of AIDS in STL from a person in the trenches. Story kept STL in the forefront while still giving me an incite into the profession and situation of the 80s. Side adventures were often more entertaining than the main story line and the cast of characters was his strength, although they are often stereotypes. Good for for a first novel.

[Linda Klages · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed the book, easy to read. I thought it ended abruptly - not sure all the loose ends were tied up.

I'd read more from this author