Melissa Yuan-Innes

OK
About Melissa Yuan-Innes
Dr. Melissa Yuan-Innes, M.D., is a Canadian emergency doctor with a special interest in health education. She aims to make research accessible and engaging for everyone. Her columns appear regularly in The Medical Post. She is the lead author of a study on spinal wounds published in Spine.
Under the name Melissa Yi, she writes the searing Hope Sze medical mystery series, hailed as “entertaining and insightful” by Publishers Weekly and praised for its "wonderful characters and plot" on CBC Radio. She also writes speculative fiction, romance, children’s literature, and medical memoir.
She has two small children, one larger husband, and a very loud Rottweiler. She makes friends on Facebook and Twitter (@dr_sassy) and welcomes visitors at www.melissayuaninnes.com.
Customers Also Bought Items By
Are you an author?
Author Updates
-
-
Blog postToday I won’t talk about awards or bestseller lists. I’m doing deeper. I’ve been learning from Kris Rusch and Dean Wesley Smith since 2003, when I managed to cut together one week’s vacation and another rotation’s conference week out of my emergency medicine fellowship year to attend their two-week Master Class. “They broke me down and built me back up again,” said Ilsa Bick, who had won Writers of the Future with me. “I’m coming back to ICU. I don’t...
The post How do you know you’ve17 hours ago Read more -
Blog postMy poster! Please admire it! Tickets HERE Hooray! My skeleton and I are heading to the Winnipeg Fringe, the second-largest Fringe in Canada (and, I hear, maybe the most dedicated, where the whole city takes time off work to come). Come see us! You can buy Fringe tickets here: https://www.winnipegfringe.com/performer-detail.aspx?kw=Melissa+Yuan-Innes. And/or come to a free workshop and reading, below!
Performance Schedule:
Melissa Yuan-Innes: I Am The Most Unfeeling Doct1 month ago Read more -
Blog post“So hard to apply for grants. You spend tons of time on them and get rejected,” I told other people in the theatre community. “Yup,” they all answered, and gave me pep talk that boiled down to “Get used to it.” Sadly, since our society don’t support the arts as much as, say, big oil, arts grants fill the gap. They make sure the performers, director, playwright, and behind the scenes technicians get paid and can continue to make more...
The post Grants! Grants! Grants! appeared first o3 months ago Read more -
-
Blog postThe International Thriller Writers sent a notice for their BIPOC Middle Grade crime novel contest. The prize? A scholarship to ThrillerFest 2022 with a $1000 stipend. Had I ever written a middle grade thriller? No, but last year, I won the ITW contest for best first sentence, as selected by NYT and USA Today bestselling author Allison Brennan: My mom told me I could do whatever I wanted for the whole summer I was fourteen, so I decided to find...
The post The International Thriller Wr3 months ago Read more -
Blog postby Melissa Yuan-Innes Mui Mui was born in 1980, which was too late for most things, including lava lamps, pet rocks, and most importantly, the Fairy Godfather. Her brother, Trenton, was seven years old when he defeated the Fairy Godfather who’d threatened their parents at Guandong Barbecue, their Toronto family restaurant. Mui Mui, who’d been only three months old at the time, didn’t remember one second of the showdown “It was a long time ago,” Trenton said, stuffing paper napkins...5 months ago Read more
-
Blog postRegister on Eventbrite On June 25, 2019, I submitted my first proposal to to turn one of my novels into a stage play. I deliberately picked the most challenging to stage: TERMINALLY ILL, where Elvis the Escape King is chained and nailed into a coffin and lowered into the St. Lawrence River.
In December, Bronwyn Steinberg, TACTICS Artistic Director and Series Curator, accepted Terminally Ill as a workshop so we could figure out how on earth to stage Elvis.
We were slated to op1 year ago Read more -
-
Blog postAs I introduce Scorpion Scheme to the world, I’m interviewing some author and reader friends. Today we meet Dr. Frank Warsh, author of The Flame Broiled Doctor and Hippocrates: The Art and the Oath.
Melissa Yi: You and I have both written fiction inspired by ancient history. What drew you to the Greeks?
Frank Warsh: I’ve always been fascinated by Ancient Greece going back to grade school. Its literature, art, and even political theory is still relevant today. We hold the Olympic1 year ago Read more -
Blog postScorpion Scheme is here! To celebrate, I’m starting a series on KamikaSze writers and readers–basically, people to whom my heroine, Hope Sze, would give the thumbs up.
First up, please welcome R.H. Nix. I met her in real life because we’re close friends with the same person, but we’re both enthusiastic book nerds who got together to watch Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir on their final skating tour.
You can see we’re kindred spirits because she’s the only other person I know who re2 years ago Read more -
-
Blog postYes. ‘Tis my baby, Code Blues. With the orange Amazon bestseller bar. Check me out! #http://(http://amzn.to/2q5057f)1 in Medical Thrillers on Amazon.ca! You know, me hanging out with Dean Koontz, James Patterson, and Michael Crichton. Also me, hanging out with Emma Donoghue, Samuel Shem’s The House of God, and (in another shot) One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. But this one captures me with Naughty Neuro and Gorgeous Gyno. Can’t resist them! And #1 on Kobo’s Hard-Boiled list! Hoora
2 years ago Read more -
Blog postIn 2018, British author and editor Bridget Lawless founded a prize for excellence in thrillers that do not portray violence against women. In 2020, I have been longlisted for the Staunch Prize for short fiction for my story, “My Two-Legs.” The heroine of my story is a golden retriever named Star who’s locked in a car when her owner (her “two-legs”) disappears. I enjoyed the challenge of a protagonist who couldn’t talk and who has no opposable thumbs, trying to...
The post Staunch Priz2 years ago Read more -
Blog postIntroducing…S!
My latest Hope Sze thriller, Graveyard Shift, was inspired by a local police officer who stopped a massive medication theft. But I needed both his and the police department’s permission to talk about that, and I didn’t know the officer’s last name.
Then this happened: “Oh, it’s Dr. Yuan-Innes!”
I ran into Constable Michael Ménard, who recognized me and said, “You’re one of our favourite doctors.”
Gosh. I shook his hand, thanked him for making my day (2 years ago Read more -
-
Blog postMelissa Yi: Welcome, Joanne. You fell in love with cozy mysteries during chemotherapy. Do you mind telling that story? Joanne Guidoccio: On the cusp of my fiftieth birthday, I was diagnosed with inflammatory breast cancer and forced to take a leave of absence. While undergoing chemotherapy, I searched for light and entertaining novels that would provide a healthy diversion. I was grateful for the bags of books dropped off by friends but couldn’t get into any of the storylines. I...
Th3 years ago Read more -
Blog post1. Do you like money?
2. Do you love to read? Like, all the time? At the beach, or in the bath, even?
3. Do you like my crime-fighting doctor, Hope Sze?
Well, now you can scoop up $5000 and read about Hope under the Atlantic Ocean, if you want to, through the generosity and creative engineering of Kobo!
This is my Cinderella moment, so bear with me. I am so excited about this.
You could win five thousand dollars and a Kobo with Hope Sze,8 years ago Read more -
-
Blog postDo you remember that scene from Trading Places, where Eddie Murphy looks absolutely delighted and says, “We are moving! We are moving!”
A moving stallion, courtesy of http://venomxbaby.deviantart.com
No? Here’s the scene, and here’s a longer clip with an ad and poorer quality but that makes it even funnier.
All that to say, I’ve headed off into the Wild West and am now hosting my own website through http://melissayuaninnes.com and http://melissayuaninnes.net.
And,9 years ago Read more -
Blog postOoh! Have you ever wanted to go to assassin school for your birthday?
Me neither. Luckily, Octavia (“V”) Ling is crazy enough to do it for you.
When Octavia “V” Ling spots the ad for The Italian School for Assassins, she figures that it sounds like a crazy workout, better than pole dancing, and exactly the kind of nuttiness she craves for a birthday that ends in a zero.
Except, when V lands in Florence, the other assassin students seem…awfully serious about this whole ex9 years ago Read more -
Blog postShri Yoga hosted a great seminar by Todd Norian last October, and I’d always wanted to go back. Mona, one of the owners, made several adjustments on me that I liked, even though they made me self-conscious (what? I can’t even do plank pose right?). So I thought I’d go back for my extended birthday celebration. (Note: this post written in September and not posted until now because…why blog in real time when you can blog two months later? Regardless, as my friend Amanda put it, it’s my yea9 years ago Read more
-
Blog postI know. That’s a terrible yoga title. I should be more compassionate, more talking about modifications and opening your body, and less about judging.
And yoga has helped me so much with self-judgement and self-criticism.
“I can’t do wheel, and I don’t care. Check me out rocking my undies.” Photo by Belovodchenko Anton.
But if you want to get the job done, if you’re tired of doing Bridge pose while everyone else la-la-la opens up into full wheel, if you don’t have any i9 years ago Read more -
Blog postFirst of all, I hate picking favourite stories. I have lots of favourites.
Secondly, if I had to pick a story, really, I’d pick one of my own books, because if I didn’t like my own writing, I wouldn’t bother to do it. But that would come off pretty conceited, and even then, I have trouble choosing. It’s like picking your favourite child—why bother? They’re all terrific in their own way.
Thirdly, like Heraclitus said, you can never step in the same river twice. You can never re9 years ago Read more -
Blog postWill shoot for milk
I did a WritersFest workshop on writing mysteries. That was the idea, anyway. Actually, most people wanted to talk indie publishing and making money. It wasn’t until I checked my notepad later that I found some mystery craft questions, which I will answer here.
I also randomly picked a winner for the book draw. But because it was a mystery workshop, and I’m a pain the bum, I’ll announce the winner at the end of the post.
Question 1. How do you keep9 years ago Read more -
Blog post1. New books, just in time for WritersFest!
Terminally Ill, the third Hope Sze medical mystery, will debut February first, 2014, in print and e-book. You can pre-order at Kobo or for Nook, iPad, iPhone, Sony and other formats, which would give you a bazillion supercool points.
In the meantime, feast your eyes on these, which are available right now:
2. The Cornwall Public Library is hosting Writersfest October 20-27th. It’s fun! It’s free! It’s chock-ful9 years ago Read more -
Blog postWhat I worry about is having a birthday party and nobody comes. It’s like I’m a kid in grade two, sitting by myself at lunch and pretending not to care.
It would be easier for me not to have a party at all.
“Shouldn’t someone else throw you a birthday party?” a friend asked.
Who’s going to do that for me? My misanthropic husband, who thinks hell is other people? No. My two-year-old? I wish. I wanted to have a group birthday party, but one of the people flew to Paris. S9 years ago Read more -
Blog posthttp://www.wallsave.com/wallpaper/1600×1024/kali-free-maa-1101411.html
I was all excited about teaching Kali yoga x 2 classes on my birthday, but my babysitter had to cancel, so I ended up bringing Anastasia with me.
So, all those pretty plans, my study of Dr. Melissa West’s sequencing, my vision of what we could do together, to celebrate: shot.
Just like Kali.
Just like having a baby.
Just like life.
About five minutes into my class with9 years ago Read more
Titles By Melissa Yuan-Innes
Dr. Hope Sze rolls into Montreal with three simple goals: 1) survive her family medicine residency, 2) try pain au chocolat, 3) go on a date sometime in the next two years.
Turns out there's no shortage of good-looking guys in the gourmet capital of North America—and a Code Blue in the men's locker room.
On her first emergency room shift, Hope tries to resuscitate a doctor—St. Joseph's smartest, most charming, most beloved M.D.
The police think he accidentally overdosed on insulin. Yet why did he wander in the operating room area in the middle of the night? Either he had untold secrets, or evil lurks in the crumbling corridors of St. Joe's.
When Hope tries to uncover the killer, two men dive in to help her.
The one man with charm to burn has zero alibi.
See Hope eat. See Hope laugh. See Hope run.
Because in the end, her only goal comes down to this: survive.
Code Blues. Sex, drugs, and doctors.
Written by an emergency physician trained in Montreal.
"Drawing on her personal experiences in the ER in Canada, Yi has created medical thrillers that shine with authenticity and are impossible to put down. Code Blues provides the perfect introduction to a world we often experience, but rarely understand."—Kris Nelscott, New York Times bestseller
"Written with wit and sensitivity, CODE BLUES is a smashing introduction to a great series."—Reading Machine, Amazon
"Five stars. I couldn't put it down! I thought it was a great mix of mystery, drama and romance ... Coming from the point of view of a physician that completed residency in Canada, and did some of my studies in Montreal."—Sara, Amazon.ca reader
"Five stars. Intrigued by the author’s back story, I decided to read Code Blues, the first book in the Hope Sze Medical Mystery series. Captivated from the start, I found myself enmeshed in a medical drama that kept me up two nights in a row. From Ms. Yi’s vivid descriptions, I could easily imagine the dilapidated Montreal hospital and the conflicted characters, who struggle with boundaries and relationships. The murder of a beloved doctor sets in motion a riveting narrative that takes many unexpected twists and turns. I continually second-guessed myself as I attempted to identify the murderer in this well-plotted, character-driven novel."—Joanne Guidoccio, author of the Gilda Greco mystery series
Praise for the Hope Sze series
#1 Mystery Selection by CBC Books, on Human Remains
One of the best Canadian suspense novels ... Human Remains, "a scarier-than-ever medical mystery." —Margaret Cannon, The Globe and Mail
One of the best crime novels of the season.—CBC Radio's The Next Chapter Mystery Panel, on Stockholm Syndrome
“Although the tone is light, the author is not afraid to introduce darker themes. The three intertwining mysteries and Hope herself provide a narrative by turns entertaining and insightful.”—Publishers Weekly, on Terminally Ill
"Narrating in a sprightly style while sharing some of the nitty-gritty of a resident's job, Hope Sze is an utterly likeable character.
Kate Zhao, the corporate lawyer, faces down her best friend and first lover who dumped her when they were both 17. Now that he's all grown up, he wants to make it up to her.
Hailey St. Laurent falls in love with her baby girl and belly dancing, only to pull away from her husband.
Gavriella Schumacher, the sassy Jewish engineer, picks up a guy who turns down the fornication but sends her clues through songs. Is he crazy, or a kindred spirit?
Friendship. Love. And a whole lot of chaos.
Dr. Hope Sze solved her first murder case a week ago—and almost got strangled in the process. Now she just wants to pass her psychiatry rotation. No more Sherlock Holmes-ing for Hope. Ever.
Until her first psych patient says, "My daughter is dead. And somebody killed her."
Hope can’t walk away from this grieving mother. Yet how can she solve a murder that stumped Montreal’s police department for the past eight years?
Sifting through the cold case, Hope recruits her two hot, brilliant men to their cause, one of them her ex-boyfriend, the other a doctor who could represent her future. Yet as they draw ever-closer to the truth, the killer shifts out of the shadows.
This psychopath has waited eight long years to kill again.
Now Hope must protect not only herself, but two innocent men and a mother who yearns for retribution.
Notorious D.O.C.
A psychological thriller about family ties, revenge, and the outer edge of sanity.
Praise for the Hope Sze series
"Drawing on her personal experiences in the ER in Canada, Dr. Melissa Yi has created medical thrillers that shine with authenticity and are impossible to put down."—Kris Nelscott, New York Times bestseller
#1 Mystery Selection—CBC Books, highlighting Human Remains alongside Louise Penny and Maureen Jennings
One of the best crime novels of the season.—CBC Radio's The Next Chapter Mystery Panel, on Stockholm Syndrome
“The three intertwining mysteries and Hope herself provide a narrative by turns entertaining and insightful.”—Publishers Weekly, on Terminally Ill
"Narrating in a sprightly style while sharing some of the nitty-gritty of a resident's job, Hope Sze is an utterly likeable character.”—Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine
"Melissa Yi is a talented writer."—Murder in Common
A dead man in the snow shatters Dr. Hope Sze’s peaceful month of research at an Ottawa stem cell lab.
Hope discovers that one man’s body leads to a series of corpses, both at home and around the globe.
This time, the killer knows no borders and no conscience.
Hope must extricate them all, while caught between the man who saved her life, the man who helps rebuild it, and a killer on an intercontinental rampage.
“Human Remains strikes straight at the heart of today’s most controversial and moving issues, through the hothouse world of big-bucks medical research. Impressive and complex. This is good stuff. Big stuff.”—Richard Quarry, Author of Midnight Choir
"Wonderful characters and plot."—Richard King, CBC Radio's Homerun
"Drawing on her personal experiences in the ER in Canada, Melissa has created medical thrillers that shine with authenticity and are impossible to put down."—Kris Nelscott, New York Times bestseller
"When I last wrote about Melissa Yi’s wonderful character Dr. Hope Sze, she was in dire circumstances in Stockholm Syndrome. The aftermath of this has resulted in PTSD.
Currently living in Ottawa, Sze is set for a rotation at a lab for stem cell research. Scoping out the lab the evening before her first work day, she finds a body in the snow. The murdered man is Dr. Acayo, a recent addition to the personnel.
The research lab has an interesting mix of characters, from the imperious to the sullen, and the over enthusiastic. Sze must carefully navigate these personalities as there is something else happening there. It’s a deep, disturbing undercurrent that works on Sze’s vulnerability.
As she strives to deal with her trauma, Sze continues to be torn between the two loves of her life, Tucker and Ryan. Changes are coming and she may be too fragile to manage them.
Melissa Yi is a talented writer and this 5th offering in the Hope Sze Medical Crime Novels has her on firm ground."—June Lorraine, Murder in Common
Step into Indian Country—which comprises the entire North American continent, from the uppermost reaches of Canada to the island of Puerto Rico. Enter the dark welter of troubled history throughout the Americas, where the heritage of violence meets the ferocity of intent. An integral part of Native American culture, storytelling now takes a bleak turn to showcase the scope of indigenous peoples’ experiences.
Indian Country Noir features brand-new stories by Mistina Bates, Jean Rae Baxter, Lawrence Block, Joseph Bruchac, David Cole, Reed Farrel Coleman, O’Neil De Noux, A.A. HedgeCoke, Gerard Houarner, Liz Martínez, R. Narvaez, Kimberly Roppolo, Leonard Schonberg, and Melissa Yi.
“Whatever the case, each situation is built around individuals doomed by their heritage. Ultimately, each story gives readers a disturbingly insightful and relatively unknown view of the lives of thousands of fellow citizens all but invisible to mainstream America.” —The Denver Post
“Written by both Native American and non-Native authors, the 14 stories in this worthy volume in Akashic’s noir series range geographically from northern Canada to Puerto Rico and from New York’s Adirondacks to Los Angeles.” —Publishers Weekly
1. Are you a nurse?
2. Wow. That must be really hard.
3. What's it like?
This is what it's like to be an emergency doctor.
That teenager puking up two liters of vodka and his stomach lining at triage? Yup. Blood pouring out of a terrified pregnant woman? Call me. And, of course, the patient who no longer has a nosebleed screaming at me across the department, "YOU are the most UNFEELING DOCTOR I have EVER MET!" Fun fun fun.
Let me peel back the curtain for you. It's not an iron curtain. In the emerg, it's most likely a crummy fabric curtain that too many other people have sneezed on.
Come on in.
Chosen for the The Ultimate Reading List for Nurses.
Magic? Dr. Hope Sze steers clear of magic.
But when “Elvis the Escape King” chains and nails himself inside a coffin on the anniversary of Houdini's death, in Montreal’s St. Lawrence River, he can’t break free.
Soon after Hope restarts his heart and saves his life, Elvis demands to know who sabotaged his stunt.
Hope hung up her amateur detective badge to tend to cancer patients on palliative care.
Next, she'll transfer to Ottawa and join her ex-paramour, Ryan. No more unspeakable Montreal drivers and stymied medical care. No more working with the charming yet infuriating Dr. Tucker.
Hope the Escape Artist can afford to act generous. As a parting gift to Montreal, city of festivals and murderers, she'll save Elvis’s sanity as well as his skin.
And so Hope plunges into her most unconventional and most terminal adventure yet.
Where the magical art of escape and the subtle skill of crime vie for centre stage, and the better man may lose. Forever.
"[T]his novel demonstrates familiarity with the conventions of mysteries without being constrained by them and with the realities of Canada's medical world. Although the tone is light, the author is not afraid to introduce darker themes. The three intertwining mysteries and Hope herself provide a narrative by turns entertaining and insightful." Publishers Weekly
"Narrating in a sprightly style while sharing some of the nitty-gritty of a resident’s job, Hope Sze is an utterly likeable character." —Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine
Praise for the Hope Sze series
#1 Mystery Selection—CBC Books, on Human Remains. Recommended authors also include Louise Penny and Maureen Jennings
One of the best Canadian suspense books , recommended by Margaret Cannon, The Globe and Mail, on Human Remains
One of the best crime novels of the season.—CBC Radio's The Next Chapter Mystery Panel, on Stockholm Syndrome
"Drawing on her personal experiences in the ER in Canada, Yi has created medical thrillers that shine with authenticity and are impossible to put down."—Kris Nelscott, New York Times bestseller
Thoracic surgeon: "Never stand when you can sit. Never sit when you can lie down. Never lie down when you can sleep."
Orthopedic surgery resident: "We do 72 hours on call on the weekends...but if you just accept that you'll have no life for five years, it's not so bad."
Fellow medical student: "You have to decide when you're too tired to eat, or too hungry to sleep."
The people are insane.
Fellow medical student: "Yes, Dr. Job's the surgeon who asked the nurse for a sterile towel. She handed it to him. Dr. Job thanked her, tossed the towel over the resident's face, and punched him through the drape, so that his fist would stay sterile. Then Dr. Job kept on operating." Pause. "But the he's always been very nice to me."
You literally hold someone's life in your hands.
And the one thing that nobody told me before I plunged hands-first into my first surgical rotation, the thing I had to discover for myself, was that, compared to anything else in medicine—
Every blood-spattered second of surgery
is
so
much
fun.
One patient taught me about ulcerative colitis...and a few other things.
You can also find this essay in my book, The Most Unfeeling Doctor in the World and Other True Tales from the Emergency Room.
Here are stories that will make you wish you could howl at the moon until your heart bursts with longing or feel yourself shedding your human body as easily as a snake sheds its skin. Be-were the night . . . it might not kill you, but it will certainly steal you away!
A killer infiltrates the obstetrics ward of a Montreal hospital, taking one pregnant woman and one resident doctor hostage at gunpoint.
Dr. Hope Sze struggles to deliver her patient's baby with blood on the floor and death in the air.
And when Dr. Tucker tries to rescue their tiny crew, only to end up hostage material alongside them, Hope’s heart just might break, even before the kidnapper drills a bullet through her skull.
Praise for Stockholm Syndrome
One of the best crime novels of the season, as selected by CBC Radio's The Next Chapter's Mystery Panel
“An introspective thriller.” David Farland, New York Times bestselling author
"Just couldn't put it down. The mix of gun-in-your-face suspense and humor is as close to perfect as one can get." Richard Quarry, author of Midnight Choir
“Dang thing kept me up until 03:30.” Greg Smith, M.D.
"Whoa! What a thriller. I couldn’t put it down. Melissa Yi pushed the suspense to the brink. Brilliant character development ... Clear, clean and compelling writing ... I am still thinking about it." Patricia Filteau, author of the Kate Roarty, P.I. Novels
Praise for the Hope Sze mystery series
#1 Mystery Selection—CBC Books, on Human Remains. Recommended authors also include Louise Penny and Maureen Jennings
One of the best Canadian suspense books recommended by Margaret Cannon, The Globe and Mail, on Human Remains
The three intertwining mysteries and Hope herself provide a narrative by turns entertaining and insightful.—Publishers Weekly, on Terminally Ill
"Narrating in a sprightly style while sharing some of the nitty-gritty of a resident's job, Hope Sze is an utterly likeable character.—Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine
"Drawing on her personal experiences in the ER in Canada, Yi has created medical thrillers that shine with authenticity and are impossible to put down."—Kris Nelscott, New York Times bestseller
- ←Previous Page
- 1
- 2
- 3
- ...
- 6
- Next Page→