Dengue

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

Q: Fans of which other authors will love this novel?

A: 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.

Q: Which recent bestseller will remind me of "Dengue: A Microbial Mystery"?

A: "Eruption" by Michael Crichton and James Patterson

Q: Why is dengue the focus of the fourth MayaVerse microbial mystery?

A: 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.

Q: What is One Health?

A: 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.

Q: Why are the book covers nature photographs?

A: Most of the exciting action is based outdoors, not in a hospital or pathology lab. The covers reinforce the role of nature in maintenance of ecologic and disease life cycles.

Q: Have you always wanted to be a writer?

A: Scientific communication is a focus of my career as a veterinary epidemiologist, but creative writing has been a lifelong passion to entertain, educate, and enlighten.

Q: Which of your interests make an appearance?

A: Travel throughout the U.S. and worldwide. Animals, 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.

Q: What's the MayaVerse genre?

A: Contemporary, upmarket stories with complex themes and happy-for-now endings.  Medical thrillers as characters battle disease outbreaks from animals and insects. Women's fiction with romantic suspense featuring passionate female medical detectives who transform in the face of difficult life issues. Crime fiction with deadly germs as the criminals, sometimes aided by an inadvertent or deliberate human hand. Mysteries as the characters solve the puzzle of confusing illnesses and deaths.