A TASTE FOR DEATH
In the debut novel of the Dr. T Mystery series, A Taste for Death, readers are introduced to Dr. Tasha Harcourt as she runs several focus groups across Canada for the confectionary subsidiary of Novoplume Pharmaceuticals. Her client, Mindy Sharma, seeks to research consumer taste preferences for a power bar which the company plans to bring to market.
One of her sessions is interrupted by Ajay Ashan, a man who convinces the panel he tastes a perilous chemical in the sample. This causes the focus group to disband in confusion. The group participants soon spread word of the hazardous substance over various chat rooms and social media, threatening to damage Novoplume’s reputation at a time when the company is reeling from the loss of a multi-billion dollar class action lawsuit.
Mysterious happenstances begin to occur when Ashan is found to be a disgruntled ex-employee of Novoplume and ends up dying in a fiery explosion. Then Mindy Sharma disappears from work and from her home.
Dr. T is called in by the company’s CEO, Dr. Deiter Müller, an ominous man who says he wishes to watch the focus group tapes with her, a task normally undertaken by an underling. Tasha soon becomes aware that the executive is trying to find out what she knows about the employee who sabotaged the focus group. He also seeks to understand whether she fears the company’s product is actually laced with chemicals which promote alertness but could cause illness and even death. Tasha avoids his questions, provoking his ire. He threatens to fire her research company but she refuses to become engaged in his interrogation.
Soon, Dr. T senses that she is being followed. She seeks to distance herself from the affair only to become hunted by what she assumes are ruffians dispatched by Müller. Then Mindy Sharma’s body is discovered, appearing to be the result of a suicide. Tasha fears that those with knowledge of the focus group revelation are being killed.
Dr. T and her assistant Rhonda work with Tasha’s friend, Detective Richard Lonsdale, to try to unearth whether there is a connection between the two deaths that now envelop the case. A third victim – Tim Spooner who was a member of the focus group and has taken up Ashan’s cause by calling on Müller to resign – dies mysteriously in a car crash. And then, Dr. Müller slyly turns the tables: Julius Fontana, Superintendent of the Ontario Provincial Police takes a bribe from the CEO and names Tasha Harcourt as the prime suspect in the murderers. The hunter now becomes the hunted.
A Taste for Death propels readers on a hair-raising excursion, along the way exploring corporate excess, the intricacies of consumer product manipulation and Tasha’s frustrating attempts to clear her own name. She narrowly misses becoming a victim herself as the story unwinds.
By the novel’s end, Dr. T has become a contributor to Deiter Müller’s downfall and his arraignment for murder.
Download Sample Chapters 1-3 Coming Soon.
In the debut novel of the Dr. T Mystery series, A Taste for Death, readers are introduced to Dr. Tasha Harcourt as she runs several focus groups across Canada for the confectionary subsidiary of Novoplume Pharmaceuticals. Her client, Mindy Sharma, seeks to research consumer taste preferences for a power bar which the company plans to bring to market.
One of her sessions is interrupted by Ajay Ashan, a man who convinces the panel he tastes a perilous chemical in the sample. This causes the focus group to disband in confusion. The group participants soon spread word of the hazardous substance over various chat rooms and social media, threatening to damage Novoplume’s reputation at a time when the company is reeling from the loss of a multi-billion dollar class action lawsuit.
Mysterious happenstances begin to occur when Ashan is found to be a disgruntled ex-employee of Novoplume and ends up dying in a fiery explosion. Then Mindy Sharma disappears from work and from her home.
Dr. T is called in by the company’s CEO, Dr. Deiter Müller, an ominous man who says he wishes to watch the focus group tapes with her, a task normally undertaken by an underling. Tasha soon becomes aware that the executive is trying to find out what she knows about the employee who sabotaged the focus group. He also seeks to understand whether she fears the company’s product is actually laced with chemicals which promote alertness but could cause illness and even death. Tasha avoids his questions, provoking his ire. He threatens to fire her research company but she refuses to become engaged in his interrogation.
Soon, Dr. T senses that she is being followed. She seeks to distance herself from the affair only to become hunted by what she assumes are ruffians dispatched by Müller. Then Mindy Sharma’s body is discovered, appearing to be the result of a suicide. Tasha fears that those with knowledge of the focus group revelation are being killed.
Dr. T and her assistant Rhonda work with Tasha’s friend, Detective Richard Lonsdale, to try to unearth whether there is a connection between the two deaths that now envelop the case. A third victim – Tim Spooner who was a member of the focus group and has taken up Ashan’s cause by calling on Müller to resign – dies mysteriously in a car crash. And then, Dr. Müller slyly turns the tables: Julius Fontana, Superintendent of the Ontario Provincial Police takes a bribe from the CEO and names Tasha Harcourt as the prime suspect in the murderers. The hunter now becomes the hunted.
A Taste for Death propels readers on a hair-raising excursion, along the way exploring corporate excess, the intricacies of consumer product manipulation and Tasha’s frustrating attempts to clear her own name. She narrowly misses becoming a victim herself as the story unwinds.
By the novel’s end, Dr. T has become a contributor to Deiter Müller’s downfall and his arraignment for murder.
Download Sample Chapters 1-3 Coming Soon.
