No one would ever make the connection between the deaths: a young, attractive female nurse left brutally stabbed and floating in her bathtub and a prominent, older physician who drowns after tumbling from his deer stand. However, in this first novel, Mississippi physician Darden North masterfully weaves a fabric of secret self-indulgences, reverse discrimination, diverse sexual interests, and murder then drapes it across a fictional southern community. Lurking on the periphery, indirectly touching nearly every colorful character in this medical thriller, is a demonic killer whose victims share the wounds of a twisted psyche. To parallel the bumbling police investigation of the nurse's slaughter is the spreading poison of corporate financial greed that defiles the very core of decency. The unique qualities of this murder mystery lie in its gripping realism wrapped in intense personal tragedy, all crafted by a busy obstetrician-gynecologist who delivers babies. House Call appeals to men and women readers of all ages and occupations who crave fast-paced fiction ending with a surprising twist. Readers have labeled House Call a "can't-put-it-down, page-turner." Its references to medical care situations and characters blend perfectly with the novel's depiction of emotional human drama.
A practicing obstetrician/gynecologist, Darden North has written three nationally-awarded hardcover novels in the mystery/suspense/medical thriller genre: House Call - Finalist, Mystery/Suspense 2008 Next Generation Indie Book Awards; Points of Origin - Third Place, Southern Fiction 2007 Independent Publisher (IPPG) Book Awards; and Fresh Frozen - Overall Winner, Best Cover Design and Finalist, Regional Fiction 2009 National Indie Excellence Awards; Honorable Mention, General Fiction 2009 San Francisco Book Festival Awards.
A member of Mystery Writers of America and the Independent Book Publishers Association, North has served as an author panelist at "Murder in the Magic City" (Birmingham, AL), "Author! Author! Celebration of the Written Word" (Shreveport LA), "Murder on the Menu" (Wetumpka, AL), "Thriller Author Panel - 2008 Southern Independent Book Association (SIBA) Show" (Mobile, AL), and "The Writers' Block -2009 SIBA Show (Greenville, SC) and has exhibited at the Texas, Kentucky Bluegrass, and South Carolina book festivals. He conducted a teaching workshop in writing mysteries and in promoting an author's work at the 2010 Southern Expressions Writing Conference.
Darden North actively promotes his writing through television and radio interviews as well as through personal speaking engagements and the Internet. North began his full-time medical practice in ob/gyn in 1986 and remains board-certified in obstetrics and gynecology. His background lends an unmistakable authenticity to his mystery and medical thriller novels, stories set in the South that portray intense character relationships and unexpected story lines.
Darden North lives in Jackson, MS, with his wife, two children, and three dogs.
