Medical School Is Murder: A Ben Candidi Mystery (Ben Candidi Mysteries) [Paperback]

Dirk Wyle (Author)

Book Description

Series: Ben Candidi Mysteries | Publication Date: August 1, 2001

This is the third in the Ben Candidi Mystery Series by biomedical scientist Dirk Wyle. From the back cover: When Rebecca said it was a great career opportunity, Ben had to agree. But with Rebecca in the middle of her training program, Ben's opportunity will mean separation for six months. Ben Candidi, Ph.D., leaves his physician soulmate in Washington DC and returns to Miami's Bryan Medical School to take over a dead scientist's laboratory and two-year grant. And when he is offered $20,000 to write the biography prescribed in eccentric Dr. Peter Peterson's will, Ben accepts that opportunity, too. Collecting humorous anecdotes about the talkative old bachelor and WW-II hero is simple, but making sense of his after-hours "crusades for science and reason" is much harder. Dr. Peterson made many enemies when he spoke out on public corruption, the right to die, abortion, animal experimentation, human cloning and meat irradiation. And how should Ben deal with rumors that Dr. Peterson had falsified his lab data on dietary supplements? Should Ben heed anonymous warnings to stop looking for substance in Dr. Peterson's "crusades"? Was last night's burglary just another random act of Miami violence? And what should he tell Rebecca, the next time she calls from Washington? Can he write off the poorly-documented crusades as the delusions of an attention-starved old man? Or was it something other than a heart attack that left Old Pete floating in the canal by Bryan Medical School?

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In Medical School Is Murder, by Dirk Wyle (Biotechnology Is Murder), series hero Ben Candidi takes a two-year grant in Miami to run a deceased scientist's lab and to write the scientist's biography according to strict specifications in the will. While immersed in the life of this oddball crusader "for science and reason," Ben discovers some strange things about his predecessor's political activism, weathers a break-in at the lab and learns that the scientist may not have died of natural causes, after all.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Review

Dirk Wyle has an extraordinary medical background...a fascinating story...keeps the reader continually immersed...entertaining...educational...fabulous. -- Murder on Miami Beach New Books and Book Reviews (Lou Mobilia)

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 286 pages
• Publisher: Rainbow Books; 1St Edition edition (August 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1568250843
• ISBN-13: 978-1568250847
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,792,162 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Dirk Wyle's mystery-thrillers play out against an authentically rendered backdrop of biomedical science. His stories are informed by a long scientific career that included a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania, postdoctoral work in Germany and service as a medical school professor in Miami ("Google" Duncan H. Haynes). He conducted research in abnormal blood coagulation and drug delivery and invented a drug microencapsulation technology (searchable at www.uspto.gov) which led to the founding of three companies employing approximately 65 people. Countless story ideas came as a byproduct of that quest, and eventual commercial success gave him leeway to create the Ben Candidi mystery-thriller series. Believing there are no stone walls separating the realms of popular science, serious literature, formal mystery and cliff-handing suspense, Dirk Wyle has created stories that play out in all four arenas. Protagonist Ben accepts "straightforward scientific" projects which quickly turn perplexing, mysterious and then sinister. With the help of fiancee Rebecca Levis, world health physician, Ben solves the mystery just before the bad guys (and gals) strike back. Like his protagonists Ben and Rebecca, Dirk Wyle does not regard work and play as necessarily separate activities. He enjoys researching the books' exotic locations, which include the waters of South Florida, the Bahamas and the Brazilian Amazon.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Intrigue with a reluctant hero, February 16, 2003

By 

Laura B. "laurajbell" (South Florida, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Medical School Is Murder: A Ben Candidi Mystery (Ben Candidi Mysteries) (Paperback)

Author Dirk Wyle is at it again. In his smartly drawn "Medical School
is Murder," he's managed to synthesize the worst of crimes with the
best of science, and put them together in a setting that academics
would especially find riveting -- a university campus.

"Medical School is Murder" is Wyle's third Ben Candidi mystery and as
with the first two, Wyle puts his reluctant hero into jeopardy that
emerges as a byproduct of seemingly ordinary circumstances. This time
around, Ben is asked to return to Bryan Medical School in Miami and
finish out the term of an eccentric professor whose body was found in
a canal near the school. All indications suggest that the professor,
Pete Peterson, fell into the canal after suffering a heart attack.
Ben isn't all that keen on taking the job; he'll have to leave his
soul mate behind for a good chunk of time. But accepting the position
will present him with once-in-a-lifetime opportunities, not to
mention a much-needed boost to his income, and so he agrees.

All is not well at Bryan Medical School, however, and the more deeply
Ben immerses himself in Peterson's life, the closer he gets to
uncovering a shocking scenario that a lot of his own colleagues
would rather he not explore. When he presses on, the quiet halls of
academia explode in a life-and-death drama that calls for an equal
measure of brain and brawn. Ben's a survivor, but he's no Rambo.
Whether he makes it is entirely up to Dirk Wyle and the wily twists
and turns he always brings to his mysteries.

Sit back. Enjoy the ride. Learn a little science on the way.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sounds like a winning recipe, and it is, February 11, 2002

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Medical School Is Murder: A Ben Candidi Mystery (Ben Candidi Mysteries) (Paperback)

Dirk Wyle is a pseudonym for Duncan H. Haynes, Ph.D. in molecular biology and 30-year veteran of biomedical science. Since 1973 Dr. Haynes has served as a medical school professor in Miami for the past twenty-five years, conducting research in blood coagulation and drug delivery. He has experience with numerous grants, the pharmaceutical industry, and outside financial donors. Eschewing guns, he plots his murders using more devious and interesting weapons.

Ben Candidi returns after the exciting Pharmacology is Murder and Biotechnology is Murder. He has received his coveted Ph.D. and is working with patents for the feds in Washington, D.C. when he is not on his boat with fiancee Rebecca Levis (M.D.). But in murder mysteries life does not remain idyllic for long, and Ben answers a call to return to his alma mater, Bryan Medical School, to take over a grant after fellow scientist Dr. Peter Peterson suddenly dies. Peterson has stipulated in his will that he wants his biography written, which seems like a whim until Ben meets up with a hostile Dean of the College and is attacked in Dr. Peterson's apartment:

"No accident--attacked by a man,'" came the diagnostic from my shocked cerebrum. Escaping. You'll lose him in a few seconds.' I willed myself to my knees and crawled in the direction of the sound. Stumbled to my feet and groped along the wall. A door slammed in the distance. I ran through the front door, hitting my shoulder on its metal frame."

Wyle creates Ben as the playful idealized man: mensa member; looks like Frankie Avalon; can fight like a pit bull; has a steady relationship with the beautiful Rebecca while tossing off adversaries with stumbling panache and outwitting the evil administration. Sounds like a winning recipe, and it is. Medical School is Murder is pure and simple entertainment. Ben Candidi is his adorable self, and Dirk Wyle knows how to stun and delight the reader with clear science put into layman's terms. Medical School is Murder continues Dirk Wyle's winning ways as a feature science mystery writer. Ben is a bicycle-wielding, high energy Gen-Xer who is just rebellious enough to be considered brilliant.

Shelley Glodowski, Reviewer

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars There's more to be learned than medicine at this school., September 18, 2001

By 

Gregg E. Brickman (Florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Medical School Is Murder: A Ben Candidi Mystery (Ben Candidi Mysteries) (Paperback)

"Medical School is Murder" grabs the attention of the reader even as Ben Candidi emerges as a very human, very real protagonist. But, Candidi is not perfect, and Wyle allows examination of his strengths as well as his frailties.

The quickly advancing plot uses the author's technological knowledge without being overbearing. Appropriate explanations are provided along the way that add to the story. Meanwhile, we follow Candidi as he digs deeper into the hidden politics of the school.

The surprising ending to the expertly woven plot catches the reader by surprise, leaving a yearning for the next novel in the series. We know that Candidi isn't done with us yet.