Book Details:
Published by: Encircle Publications, LLC
Publication Date: July 17, 2024
Number of Pages: 284
ISBN: 9781645995241 (ISBN10: 1645995240)
Series: A Dr. Lily Robinson Novel, #4
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In this series finale, pathologist Dr. Lily Robinson races around the globe to hunt an assassin who, like her, finds poison the weapon of choice.
A world-renowned climatologist is found dead off the Great Barrier Reef of northern Australia weeks before he’s set to deliver his earth-shattering findings at the international Climate Council conference. Was it greed to maintain the status quo of fossil fuels—or revolutionary new science—that motivated his murder? Can Lily Robinson stop the killer before another climate scientist dies?
With operative and lover JP Marchand at her side, Lily uncovers a cunning plot that endangers world order, and changes the trajectory of her life—forever.
CHAPTER 1
The Northeast Coast of Australia
Mountainous clumps of staghorn coral littered the seafloor like remnants of an exposed grave. The diver edged along the reef. He remained focused. Determined to capture the growing destruction, staccato flashes from his underwater camera reflected off the remaining bright purple sea fans. Delicate air bubbles floated above while he photographed the masses of stark white ‘bones.’ Closer to the shore, waves crashed over adjacent brain coral without effect. The coral sat unmoved; their pale fissures lifeless, devoid of thriving soft polyps.
Diving off this isolated stretch of beach had once been wondrous—all varieties of colorful aquatic life captured by the camera lens. Gone were the majestic manta rays that swam at his side, their broad wings flapping as they searched for zooplankton. Only a few remaining ornate butterflyfish, glorious in their brilliant orange-yellow stripes, darted in and out of the coral in search of polyps.
The change was undeniable. Bleaching had progressed. How could the Great Barrier Reef come back from this latest insult? The diverse ecosystem he had documented over the last fifteen years continued to collapse. He stopped. His fins fanned through the water, stirring the sand below. The ocean gasped for breath.
Tiny coral polyps had taken fifty million years to build the reefs. By comparison, human impact took less than two hundred years to unravel Mother Nature’s work. If these bastions of marine life died, the world would lose fifty to eighty percent of its oxygen emitted via plankton and photosynthesizing bacteria. A quarter of the planet’s marine life would lose their habitat, as coral reefs provide food, shelter, and protection for spawning. And, as lower organisms disappeared, those higher up the food chain, too, would be threatened.
The discouraged diver headed back to shore, lost in thought, believing the Great Barrier Reef was on the precipice of death. Only the sounds of his breathing filled his ears. Soon, he planned to meet with the Climate Council and deliver his report. What he would say would turn the world upside down. He made a mental note to call the Council Chair and request the presence of a security service at the conference.
Another diver hid, and watched, within the mounds of bleached coral. Her mask and snorkel allowed her to see the seafloor yet stay undetected—no bubbles to give her away. Strapped to her left leg, a diving knife remained ready. She took a few shallow breaths and waited. When her target stopped to remove his fins so he could step the remaining yards through the shallows, she made her move. The pouch at her side writhed in undulations. Using a set of snake tongs, she pulled the sea serpent from the bag, and with her own fins beating like a dolphin’s tail, she swam silently to the unaware diver and positioned the head of the snake at his exposed ankle. The bite was swift. The snake, agitated from its journey in a blind pouch, squirmed and lunged with a second bite. The man stumbled. Gravity pulled him face-first into the water, his mask slipping off the top of his head.
The woman returned the snake to the pouch, grabbed her victim’s camera, and swam along the shore with the deftness of a water ballerina. When she reached a dense cluster of orange mangroves, she rose from the ocean like a sea creature adapted to land. Hidden behind a tree, she dropped the writhing bag onto the sand and loosened its opening. In one swift gesture, she sliced off the serpent’s head. A spurt of dark fluid missed splashing her face—the turn of her head, too quick. Picking up the still wriggling pieces, the lithe diver cast them into the ocean, knowing the fish would finish off what she had started.
Damp, blond tresses curled in ringlets spilled from under her diving cap as she prepared to change. She took a deep breath and, with some difficulty, stripped off her dive skin to expose a royal blue print bikini. Gathering her things, the shapely diver waited for her contact’s arrival and thought, one down.
Back down the beach, gentle waves pushed the man’s body toward the sandy shore, nudging curious ghost crabs in its path. Their scurrying etched tiny trails in the sand, defining their movements. Overhead, squawks from silver gulls filled the quiet as they eyed the lifeless form below. Circling blowflies landed on the salt-soaked corpse, depositing eggs in the eyes, nose, and mouth. By now, the sky was a glorious red with streaks of purple, blue, and gold. Polluted air created a spectacular sunset as particles of smoke and dust reflected beams of brilliant light. And when the bright was replaced with the dark, only a ribbon of stars lit the heavens.
CHAPTER 2
Boston
My name is Lily Robinson, and I’m on the upside of my recovery from a gunshot wound suffered at the hands of a terrorist. Remnants of my past stay with me, plague me, tangled in what’s to come. It’s the past I now hear knocking at my door. And maybe the future, too…
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BJ Magnani’s fascination with toxicology led her to a career in pathology and laboratory medicine. She is Professor of Anatomic and Clinical Pathology Emerita at Tufts University School of Medicine and the author of the Dr. Lily Robinson suspense thriller series (The Queen of All Poisons, The Power of Poison, A Message in Poison, We'll Always Have Poison and the short story collection Lily Robinson and the Art of Secret Poisoning) about a Boston physician recruited by the U.S. government as a covert assassin. A portion of the proceeds from her novels helps women receive free breast and cervical cancer screening through the College of American Pathologists Foundation.
You can learn more about Dr. Magnani, her work, and her Poison Blog at:
Tour hosted by: Partners in Crime Tours
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