The third book in my Medical Biotech Murder Mystery series turned out to be The Realtor’s Curse, coming February 14. Here’s how. The Realtor’s Curse
I retired six years ago from a 40-year career working in the medical biotech and pharmaceutical industry. With a Ph.D. in Pharmacology, I spent most of my time doing risk assessment, looking at scientific and clinical data and evaluating the safety and effectiveness of new biopharmaceuticals and drugs. Having always been a workaholic, I wasn’t about to just retire and watch TV all day. I’ve always loved murder mysteries, so I decided to try my hand at writing some. But, I couldn’t just be happy writing the usual murder mystery. I’m not much of a follower. So, I decided to come up with something different…some might say really different. The Realtor’s Curse
I know a lot about the medical biotech and pharmaceutical industry, I love murder mysteries, and I also get a kick out slapstick comedy and comedy of the absurd. You know, The Three Stooges, Dan Ackroyd, John Candy, Steve Martin. Now, there’s an unusual combination. So, I came up with the Medical Biotech Murder Mystery, where the main character is a bored FDA drug reviewer who decides to become a private eye, an amateur sleuth, on weekends, much to the dismay of his poor wife. Oh, yeah, and the murders all involve some form of medical biotechnology gone awry. Well, in medical biotech, doctors do play around with your DNA, immune system and cells to create new medicines. What could possibly go wrong? The Realtor’s Curse
The first book in this series is PLEASURIA: Take as Directed, published in 2018 (Koehler Books). In that one, our amateur sleuth, Dr. Jason Longfellow, got his PI license. His first case involved his carpooler breaking out in spontaneous happy endings on the way to work (I told you I wanted to write something different) which he had some difficulty explaining to his nurse wife. There’s also a clinical trial gone wrong and a whole string of murders. Aren’t you at least a little bit curious as to how a pill can cause spontaneous, unending happy endings? Don’t you want to know how this story ends? Does Jason catch the killer, before his wife kills him? The Realtor’s Curse
The second book is MURDER BY ROAD TRIP, which was inspired by a 30-day cross-country trip that I took with my 22-year-old daughter. We actually visited all the places mentioned in the book, and my daughter co-wrote this one with me. In this book, our amateur sleuth travels cross-country in an RV with his wife and three daughters. He is going out west to interview for a high-paying job with…you guessed it…a medical biotech company. The Realtor’s Curse
The problem is that someone is trying to kill him, and steal his teeth. Adventures abound, and he and Chelsea solve several bizarre cases along the way. And, for some unknown reason, Jason keeps taking his wife up on top of the RV. Wife Chelsea isn’t quite sure what to do with this, but she manages somehow. Again, you’ve got to be at least a little curious what’s going on here. Who is trying to steal his teeth, and why? Why the increased libido in a middle-aged man? Will his young daughters ever unplug from their electronics and join in the trip? Will Jason catch the killer? Will he take the high-paying job? Will he survive to appear in another book? The Realtor’s Curse
When it came time for a third book, I needed an idea…some inspiration for another murder mystery involving medical biotech. I have my beautiful wife to thank for this. When she retired, two years after me, we were living on a lake in Southern Virginia. The winters were getting worse, with some weeks in January-February the temperature plummeting to 9 degrees…in freakin’ Southern Virginia? Is this what killed off the dinosaurs? Sorry, I digress. The Realtor’s Curse
Anyhow, one frigid night my wife informed me that she wanted to be a beach girl. She actually preferred the beach, and wanted to move to Florida. We had spent a lot of time vacationing to St. Augustine over the years, so that’s where we ended up. It’s a wonderful place with lots to do and many beautiful parks and beaches. The Realtor’s Curse
This move to Florida taught me many things. Living here for a couple of years has taught me even more. To move here, we had to find a place to live (no duh?). So, we went in search of a condo near the beach. A very nice realtor took us around the area, looking at condos and a few smaller single family homes (there are only two of us). It was during this time that I learned how complicated moving to the sub-tropics could be. The Realtor’s Curse
For example, did you know that Florida has a hurricane season when these giant storms come along and sometimes blow you, and your home, away? Or, wash you away with flooding that comes, not so much from the ocean, as from the marshland where the alligators and poisonous snakes roam. So, you need wind insurance, and you have to prove to your insurance company that your roof and shingles are attached properly for a big blow. I’d a thought that was kind of obvious. The Realtor’s Curse
It also helps to buy a place made of block or brick instead of twigs (remember the Three Little Pigs?). With respect to flooding, Florida is flat. Purchasing a place with an elevation five feet above sea level can save you lots of money on your flood insurance. Some developments are built on very large ant hills just for this reason. The Realtor’s Curse
Then, there’s the sub-tropical sun and the salt. The sun bakes the paint off of your house, and the skin off of your bones. It’s also hard on your car’s paint. When we were trying to decide between a single family home and a condo, the realtor told us we would only have to paint our house every 15 minutes because the sun would keep peeling off the paint. So, condo it was. We pay a condo fee, and someone else does the painting. The Realtor’s Curse
The salt rusts everything metal, which concerns me since there are so many elderly people down here with metal replacement parts (hips, knees, etc.). I don’t have any of those yet, but I’m thinking I’m gonna make sure they’re treated with Rustoleum when the time comes. The Realtor’s Curse
The first time I went to the doctor for a checkup, my doc was an old time Florida resident. When I told him I had lived on a lake in Virginia for several years, his response surprised me. He said, “It must have been nice to take your kids water skiing or tubing without worrying about their being eaten by sharks or alligators. Also, Florida is flat, so Lake George is only 6 feet deep. A little bit of wind can cause some really rough water.” He was 63 at the time, and I heard recently that he and his wife retired to a lake in Virginia. Go figure. The Realtor’s Curse
My beach girl and I decided to check out the local boat club. We had done a lot of boating on the lake, and we naively thought it might be fun to boat down here as well. Then we got our first boating course taught by an old time ship’s captain. He told us, “You gotta be careful down here. There’s a lot of money, lots of millionaires and billionaires. They go out and buy a new 50-foot yacht, the dealer gives them a quick course in boating…push the throttle forward to go forward and back to go in reverse. Then, they take several bottles of champagne and their latest young trophy wife out on the Intracoastal Waterway and swamp boats the size of the one you’ll be using with the boat club.” We didn’t join.” The Realtor’s Curse
By this point, I had the plot for my newest Medical Biotech Murder Mystery, which is entitled The Realtor’s Curse. In this book, our amateur sleuth and his wife take a vacation to Florida, and decide to buy a vacation condo while there. Their first realtor, the perky young Debbie, tries to kill Jason. Wife Chelsea isn’t all that surprised, since her husband is kind of annoying. Then, dead realtors start turning up everywhere. Meanwhile, Jason samples many of the recreational opportunities that Florida has to offer, and it’s Chelsea to the rescue. Why are the realtor’s in Florida so angry? Is Florida really trying to kill Jason? Will they ever buy a condo? What the hell does all this have to do with killer mosquitoes? The Realtor’s Curse
Help me. I moved to Florida. And, whenever I complain to my wife about the sand, salt, heat, humidity, rusting cars, hurricanes, sharks, poisonous snakes or alligators, her response is always the same, “At least it’s not 9 degrees. You’re welcome.” The Realtor’s Curse
Get The Realtor’s Curse, coming February 14. Come on folks, stop binge watching 30 Rock or The Simpsons, buy the book, and find out the answers to these questions, and more. A great murder mystery, and a laugh or six thrown in for good measure. It’s medical biotech run amok, and Florida will never be the same! The Realtor’s Curse
To buy The Realtor’s Curse on February 14, go to https://johnjjessop.com to find links to where you can purchase the book. For ebook or paperback copies of PLEASURIA and MURDER BY ROAD TRIP, go there now. If you want to start with PLEASURIA, the ebook is on sale for only $0.99 on Amazon, B&N and IngramSpark. That’s pretty cheap to learn how a pill can have a side effect of endless spontaneous happy endings!