Historical Medical Mystery

Set in the early 1960s, this is the story of a family-oriented community, surrounding a winterbourne stream, in Northern California. It is full of average law-abiding citizens who live in picturesque equestrian properties with white three-rail fences. A violent motor vehicle accident and the attempted resuscitation of the victim, a homeless drug addict, by surgeon Doctor Franklin Carson and his Labrador, Winston, begins a fast-paced story of deception and lies. The event calls attention to a problem in the small community.

Sybil makes a serious mistake. Everyone who knows her or of her is aware that she and Attorney Paul Bel Geddes have locked horns for a decade, and each regards the other as the nemesis. Sybil's error is to get angry, then loud and demeaning, at Paul at a very public black tie New Year's Eve gathering after having received yet one more intent to sue 90-day letter from the man. Her billionaire husband tries to shush her, but she all but shouted, "Don't patronize me, Charles. That bottom feeder has gone too far. Somebody needs to do something about him."

Die Serie um die mutigste Ärztin der Kaiserzeit geht weiter. Hamburg, 1913: In Deutschlands größtem Auswandererhafen kümmern sich die Ärztin Anne Fitzpatrick und die angehende Pädagogin Helene Curtius um Familien aus schwierigen Verhältnissen. Anne und Helene sorgen sich vor allem um die Kinder, von denen viele traumatische Erfahrungen gemacht haben. Plötzlich häufen sich unter den Ärmsten unerklärliche Todesfälle. Kommissar Berthold Rheydt sieht sich die Sache genauer an und stellt fest: Die Opfer wurden vergiftet.

London, 1628. Nicolaes de Pelgrom, assassin and devoted servant of George Villiers, will do whatever his master asks of him—even if that means enduring the perilous voyage to the Indies to exact a grieving widow's revenge. Making that same journey is Jeronimus Cornelisz, a conniving apothecary determined to escape the backstreets of Amsterdam and become rich beyond imagination. Hired by a criminal mastermind to escort precious cargo to the Indies, he will kill anyone who stands in his way.

March 4, 1918. An army cook at Fort Riley, Kansas reported to the infirmary with a temperature of 103.1 degrees fahrenheit. Within two days, another 521 men became sick. It is one of the first recorded outbreaks of what came to be known as the Spanish flu. Living in the country, we fared better than those who lived in crowded conditions in the big cities. We were like one big, happy family, living in different houses. We held barn raisings, outdoor festivals, and church picnics. But at last, the plague of 1918 found us too, and that silent killer was about to drag us into hell.

Eine Ärztin im Hamburg der Kaiserzeit kämpft für die Rechte von Frauen. Hamburger Hafen, 1910: Anne Fitzpatrick ist eine der ersten Ärztinnen Deutschlands und arbeitet im neuen Frauenhaus. Dort kümmert sie sich vor allem um Frauen, denen von ihren Männern großes Leid zugefügt wurde. Als die Pastorentochter Helene bei ihr auftaucht und mithelfen will, unterstützt Anne die junge Frau in ihrem Wunsch, etwas Sinnvolles zu tun. Da wird neben dem Frauenhaus im Wasser eine Leiche entdeckt. Anne ist schockiert. Das Opfer war Mitglied der neuen Frauenbewegung, so wie sie selbst auch.