Mysteries for Mature Audiences

            

Readers might assume “Mysteries for Mature Audiences” would be X-rated with lots of sex and violence. That’s not what I had in mind. I think “Mysteries for Mature Audiences” give readers a chance to think about real issues faced by people over fifty and perhaps laugh at them.

In my new mystery FAIR COMPROMISES, I tackle the products and spas that promise to remove wrinkles and make us look young again.  Specifically, I talk about BOTOX and other botulism toxin products. Only I don’t think BOTOX manufacturer will endorse my book.

BLURB:

In FAIR COMPROMISES, Sara Almquist and her FBI colleagues rush to find who endangered the lives of a hundred attendees at a political rally by poisoning the food with botulism toxin. The poisoners’ target was a woman candidate for the U.S. Senate; the rest were just collateral damage. As these agents track clues from a veterans’ hall in Clovis to health spas of Santa Fe, they must make a multitude of personal and professional (perhaps too many) compromises.

WHAT IS BOTOX?

Remember how your mother or grandmother worried about food poisoning when she canned green beans but not tomatoes? You mother or grandmother had learned from Cooperative Extension bulletins or home economic classes that a bacteria (Clostridium botulinum) could grow in improperly cooked vegetables and meats and produce a poison that was lethal. However, this bacteria was sensitive to acid and didn’t produce the toxin in acidic canned tomatoes and fruits.

Scientists have found botulism toxin (the most toxic natural compound ever discovered) prevented muscle contractions. Hence, victims of Clostridium poisoning die of paralysis of the muscles needed for respiration. During WWII, botulism toxin was considered as a potential weapon of war. In the 1980 and 1990s, scientists discovered tiny amount amounts of it could be used injected into muscles that spasmed in various neurological conditions. They also figured out tiny injections of botulinum toxin would prevent the muscles contractions that caused crow’s feet around the eyes and worry wrinkles on the forehead.

Yes that means BOTOX the beauty treatment in larger quantities (but still miniscule amounts) is a poison that can kill.

How is BOTOX used in FAIR COMPROMISES?

In this mystery, state public health officials quickly determine that botulism poisoning has caused double and blurred visions and headaches in dozens of people who attended a political rally the day before. The health officials request the help of the FBI when they realize the symptoms of the senate candidate at the rally are much worse than those of others and she is progressing rapidly to respiratory paralysis and death. They think she may have been targeted.

Thus FAIR COMPROMISES is a medical mystery in which the source of the toxin must be identified. At first improperly home canned food served at the rally appears to be the source of the toxin. The mystery turns from being the analysis of a severe food safety breach to the investigation of a diabolical murder attempt using “cosmetic” botulism toxin when Sara with the help of a talented lab crew discover a more sinister source of the toxin at a health and beauty spa in Santa Fe.

This mystery isn’t just cerebral. The murderer(s) kill others to hide evidence. Thus Sara and her colleagues race from a VFW hall in rural Clovis, New Mexico to posh spas in Santa Fe as they sort clues.

FAIR COMPROMISES has messages for seniors.

The relentless search for youthful beauty can be dangerous and isn’t worth the effort. Compromises are a necessary part of life. Those with experience can often face these compromises more easily than the young and inexperienced.

FAIR COMPROMISES is available at: https://www.amazon.com/Fair-Compromises-Science-Traveler-Greger/dp/1735421421

Bio: J.L. Greger is a scientist turned novelist. She includes science and international travel in her award-winning mysteries and thrillers: The Flu Is Coming, Games for Couples; Dirty Holy Water, Fair Compromises, and seven others. https://www.jlgreger.com