John J Jessop, Ph.D., pharmacology, worked in pharmaceutical and medical biotechnology development (20 years at the FDA, 20 years on the industry side). Always an avid reader of mysteries, in retirement he has redirected his knowledge and experience towards writing the perfect murder mystery.
He is currently working on two different mystery series. The first is a medical comedy mystery series (PLEASURIA: TAKE AS DIRECTED (Koehler Books), MURDER BY ROAD TRIP, and THE REALTOR’S CURSE), and a dark mystery series (The GUARDIAN ANGEL series).
The medical mystery series examines the humorous side of what can go wrong with medical biotech when scientists play around with our DNA, immune system and cells. The first book in this medical murder mystery series, ‘PLEASURIA: TAKE AS DIRECTED‘, staged in the pharmaceutical industry, is published by Koehler Books, whose senior editor said the book made him laugh out loud.
This medical mystery series includes a husband and wife team, Dr. Jason Longfellow, the dysfunctional detective, and nurse wife Chelsea. Jason is a bored doctor who decides to get his PI license online. He drags poor Chelsea into his cases, because he is easily distracted and needs her to keep him focused. She’s so involved she often ends up solving the case.
In this book, PLEASURIA: TAKE AS DIRECTED, Jason’s first case includes a most bizarre murder weapon, a number of attractive female suspects (not good, as Chelsea has a jealous streak), CureStuff Pharmaceuticals, and an antidepressant that works wonders. It’ll knock your socks off, and kill you. He wants do the PI thing full time, Chelsea wants him to keep his day job with the FDA, and he’s in serious danger of his jealous and unhappy wife killing him before he can solve the case. PLEASURIA is available at bookstores and on Amazon at http://bit.ly/pleasuria.
His second book in this series, MURDER BY ROAD TRIP, launched November 16, 2020. This story was inspired by a once-in-a-lifetime month-long cross-country trip that John J Jessop took with his youngest daughter, Jacqueline (now 29) in July 2016. He co-wrote MURDER BY ROAD TRIP with Jacqueline, and while the locations in the book are real, the events are hilariously fictitious.
In this book, our amateur sleuth travels across the US in an RV with his family to interview for a lucrative job with Well-Healed Pharmaceuticals. Someone is trying to kill him, and steal his teeth. His wife thinks he’s hallucinating. They solve several interesting cases together along the way, such as the tiny jewel thief, murder at the restaurant, and the great cheese caper, and Jason tries to feed a lion. Will they solve the case of the tooth thieves, or will Jason end up a toothless FDA drug reviewer? MURDER BY ROAD TRIP is available on Amazon at https://amzn.to/2HauHCg.
John is very proud of his latest book, THE REALTOR’S CURSE, another Jason Longfellow story. He submitted this one to the Firebird Book Awards in 2022, and it won first place in both the mystery and humor categories. In this one, Jason and Chelsea travel to Florida to buy a beachfront condo. Should be simple. Right? Instead they end up investigating multiple murders and chasing a killer around St. Augustine, Florida. It’s mayhem in Florida. A fun read, Jason and Chelsea will keep you reading, and laughing, until one of them solves the case. THE REALTOR’S CURSE is available on Amazon at https://amzn.to/3gCnCZ6.
COMING IN DECEMBER: A FISHY TALE, the fourth Dr. Jason Longfellow, PI book. In this one, nurse wife Chelsea inherits lots of money and the Longfellow family moves to a wilderness lake to escape frenetic Northern Virginia. They set up a private detective agency, Chelsea Longfellow, PI, and Associate (it’s Chelsea’s inheritance), and they get involved in a case where someone, or something, is killing off local fishermen. Is it a serial killer, or nature fighting back against the human intruders? This laugh out loud murder mystery launches in early December. Stay tunes for the fun. Laughter truly is the best medicine!
Two books in the dark murder mystery series (The GUARDIAN ANGEL series) are available on Amazon as well. They involve the evilest of villains, a serial killer using exotic toxins on his victims and an elusive cult leader who kidnaps young women. See https://bit.ly/3o9hH0v for more.
John J Jessop and his wife live full-time in St. Augustine Florida. His favorite things are writing, walks on the beach, driving his Subaru WRX, boating, fishing, playing video games, taking naps, visiting with his two loving daughters and binge watching murder mysteries on Netflix and Hulu.
His favorite authors are Robert B. Parker and J.A. Jance. His heroes are Steve Martin, Bill Murray, Dan Ackroyd, and Mel Brooks. His youngest daughter, a Media Arts and Design Major from James Madison University currently working for a marketing research firm in NYC, edited his dark murder mysteries, designed the book covers. co-wrote MURDER BY ROAD TRIP with him and designed the book covers for MURDER BY ROAD TRIP and THE REALTOR’S CURSE.
CHARITABLE FUNDING: John’s after tax profits from PLEASURIA: TAKE AS DIRECTED are being donated to two charities for abused children, Holly’s House and Darkness to Light, in honor of his late sister Jackie.