Aubrey Nye Hamilton Reviews: Lethal Resuscitation by Mairi Chong

Mairi Chong is a former practicing physician from Scotland, who puts both her training and her knowledge of the Scottish countryside to good use in her series about Dr. Cathy Moreland, a general practitioner who lives and works in the north of Scotland.

In the sixth book of the series Dr. Moreland is attending a certification class for emergency treatment of unconscious patients. The attendees all have different reasons for taking the class, some need the continuing education credits, some want to upgrade their skills, one couple needs the class as a prerequisite to their being able to take a position on one of the islands off the coast of Scotland. The three instructors are urgent care specialists of long standing, one of whom is a close friend of Dr. Moreland’s from medical school.

The lead instructor is arrogant and overbearing and loses no time in antagonizing everyone, including the other instructors. His teaching style involves humiliating students and contradicting his colleagues. At the end of the first day of the course, everyone is feeling tense and Dr. Moreland retires early with a migraine. Most of the others settle in for a long night of drinking.

The next day is supposed to be a practical application of the previous day’s instruction. A room was to be set up with replica patients. When Dr. Moreland and a few of the others enter the room in the morning, they find the body of the lead instructor who has been suffocated with some of the equipment left for use during the workshop.

Since the hotel has been closed for the sole use of the class, the pool of suspects is well defined. All of them naturally are required to stay during the investigation, creating an uncomfortable and anxious atmosphere. Adding to the strain are anonymous letters that have been left for most of the participants.

The plot here is more involved than I expected. All of the doctors have an unhappy episode in their past and therein lies the motivation for the murder, which is not obvious to the reader. The killer is well hidden in plain sight with some excellent misdirection. The descriptions of the Scottish coast could be borrowed for the local tourism agency. Especially for fans of medical mysteries.

 

·         Publisher: ‎Bloodhound Books (May 31, 2022)

·         Language: ‎English

·         Paperback: ‎242 pages

·         ISBN-10: ‎1504076532

·         ISBN-13: ‎978-1504076531

 

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3y7L0K7

 

 

Aubrey Nye Hamilton ©2024

Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who works on Federal It projects by day and reads mysteries at night.