book cover of Unnatural Causes
 

Unnatural Causes

(2022)
A novel by

 
 
“Puckett’s specialist knowledge and gifts as a storyteller pull the reader in… a smart mystery and thriller.” Thomas Waugh.

How do you find the murderer of sixteen people spread over southern England?

Christine Hamilton, an analyst at the Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Research Centre in Edinburgh, works out that a variant of CJD (also known as Mad Cow Disease) must have been deliberately created and distributed. In other words, someone has committed mass murder.

The Department of Health in London is informed. Commander Brigg, the secretive Head of the Domestic Terrorism Unit, and his colleague Inspector Rebecca Hale, neither of whom are strangers to unusual killings, are tasked with investigating the crime. Brigg then recruits Dr Herry Smith, Head of the Virology Lab in Exeter, to help.

The sixteen victims of the murderer are a diverse selection: a Bishop, a bank clerk, two Members of Parliament, a slum landlord, an NHS Trust Manager, a Channel 4 Presenter, a parish priest, a University Professor, and so on.

Why would anyone want them dead? And will the perpetrator strike again?

Rebecca and Herry, working undercover as analysts from the CJD Research Centre, interview the relatives of the victims, to find out what they had in common.

As they move closer to untangling the mystery, they find themselves increasingly in peril.

And the hunters become the hunted …


Andrew Puckett was born in Sherborne, Dorset. He has worked in various hospitals in Taunton, London and Oxford, and in the latter city was for many years microbiologist at the Blood Transfusion Centre. He now lives in Taunton with his wife and two daughters.

Praise for Andrew Puckett:

'If medical mysteries are what keep you glued to your fireside chair... then look no further. Puckett, something of a master of the genre, has penned a cracker.'
Western Daily Press.

'An interesting story with a very plausible plot and frightening overtones.'
Mystery News.

'A terrifying scenario made all the more chillingly believable by its similarities to real life situations.'
The Southern Daily Echo.

'The best thing about it is its remarkable feeling of authenticity.'
Birmingham Post.

'Successful and thoroughly enjoyable novel.'
Financial Times.


Genre: Thriller

Praise for this book

"Puckett's specialist knowledge and gets as a storyteller pull the reader in...A smart mystery and thriller." - Thomas Waugh


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