FIVE REASONS FOR READING Murder: A New Way to Lose Weight

I got my copy of my new medical mystery/suspense novel last Friday. Here’s why you want to read Murder: A New Way to Lose Weight. 

You’ll feel like an “insider” not a patient in a hospital.

In this novel, you get a behind the scenes view of a medical schools – the excitement of scientific research, the quirkiness of at least some faculty members, and the infighting for limited resources.

Linda Almquist, who seldom even smiled, laughed.

Richard Varegos had done it again. He had arranged books and a computer on the front counter of the hospital pavilion for a photo shoot. In the resulting glossy, full-color flyer, he sat at his make-believe teak desk in his supposedly marble-walled office. She read the flyer’s title: THE DIET DOCTOR HAS ANSWERS FOR YOUR WEIGHT PROBLEMS.

Was there no end to his ego?

Maybe this intro doesn’t build confidence in this diet doctor, but don’t you want to know what he does next? So do Linda and the police after the other diet doctor is found dead.

You’ll learn a little science and smile a lot.

The “diet doctors” in this mystery are investigating whether they can help obese subject lose more weight and keep it off by altering their gut flora. Sounds strange? It is an active area of research on weight control. Check out Science, volume 328, pages 179-80 or Science, volume 332, pages 32-3. 

You’ll feel the pain of all the red tape that investigators face when trying to do their research. Or you may feel relief that there are controls on their activities. I guess it depends on your politics.

And then there’s the murder. The possibilities are endless in a medical school.

“Motive?” Hitchings (the lead police investigator) scanned the crowd and motioned Omar (medical examiner) back to him. “Omar, do we even have a murder? Looks like natural causes.”

“Can’t tell,” replied Omar.

“But no bullet or stab wounds? So natural causes are likely.”

“You’re in a medical school.” Omar walked closer to Hitchings and spoke more softly. “Everyone in this building probably knows how to kill someone without using a gun or knife. A complete tox screen will take weeks. And this woman was only in her thirties, pretty young to die suddenly.”

The suspense might help you lose weight.

The protagonist Linda Almquist of this mystery did, as she raced down the long corridors of the medical school after clues and lost her appetite when threatened again and again. It’s amazing how much weight you can lose it you eat less and exercise more. Of course you won’t have the same incentives (I hope) that Linda did.

The reviewers’ comments are good.

You do want read this medical mystery... Scary shenanigans in the medical research field, so possible. You could lose more than INCHES

Virginia Reaves, freelance writer

Linda and Sara are back, this time involved in a plot with plenty of twists and turns and a good deal of wry humor. A fun read, great believable characters and a real sense of place. Marilyn Olsen, President of Public Safety Writers Association

Murder:  A New Way To Lose Weight starts with a memorable title, followed by a unique crime, and continues with quirky, colorful characters, and snappy dialog.  A satisfying follow-up to Greger’s debut novel. Rob Kresge, author of the spy novel Saving Lincoln

Bug is back.

My own Japanese Chinn dog Bug is the only “non-fictional” character in this novel and it prequel Coming Flu. For more information on my books, Bug, and me, please check out my website (www.jlgreger.com).

Thanks for stopping by.

JL Greger 

A DIET OF MURDER BLOG TOUR

 

 Oak Tree Press is publishing my new mystery/suspense novel Murder: A New Way to Lose Weight in April. To get everyone in the mood I’m having “A Diet of Murder Blog Tour.”

Here are the first five stops:

March 29: A Diet of murder. This guest blog gives organizational advice from Murder: A New Way to Lose Weight. It’s at Stephen Brayton’s Crimespace (http://stephenbrayton.wordpress.com/2013/03/29/a-diet-of-murder/http://stephenbrayton.wordpress.com/2013/03/29/a-diet-of-murder/)

March 30: Let this novel help you lose weight. This guest blog is about the science in Murder: A New Way to Lose Weight. It’s posted at Marilyn’s Musings (www.marilynmeredith.blogspot.comwww.marilynmeredith.blogspot.com)

March 31: Setting priorities. This guest blog is an appraisal of my publicity efforts for Coming Flu. It’s posted at Oak Tree Press Blog (www.otpblog.blogspot.com)

April 2: Lose Weight with Murder: A New Way to Lose Weight. There are five reasons for reading this novel. See them in Lauren Carr’s blog (http://wp.me/p2p3pE-5L)

April 3: A big portion of Murder: A New Way to Lose Weight This guest blog contains practical diet advice. (I taught nutrition classes for more than 25 years at universities.) It’s posted at Killer Craft & Craft Killers (http://www.anastasiapollack.blogspot.com/)

           More stops are coming. Bug says it’s time for a walk. He’s tired of watching me at the computer.

           JL Greger

www.jlgreger.com

RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN MONEY AND OBESITY

My next novel MURDER: A NEW WAY TO LOSE WEIGHT is out later this month. So I’m discussing the problem generated by obesity during the next two months with occasional interruptions for guest blogs.

$$$$$ Money is an incentive to lose weight

A new study (to be presented by researchers from the Mayo Clinic at the American College of Cardiology on March 9, 2013) reports a not very surprising finding.

Dieters, who receive financial rewards, are more apt to follow their weight loss regime carefully and to lose more weight than dieters not receiving monetary rewards.

Experts have long postulated the success of dieters on commercial weight loss programs reflects partially the greater commitment of those dieters to weight loss because of their financial investments.

$$$$$ Obesity costs money

We’ve all heard many times that obese adults are more prone to heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and certain cancers. Now researchers suggest obesity-related health costs in the US are more than $190 billion annually or almost 21% of health care costs in the US (Journal of Health Economics 31 [Jan 2012]: 219-230).

Figures such as these are so large – it’s hard to grasp their significance. The authors Cawley and Meyenhoefer put it in personal terms.

Obesity raised medical costs by $2,417 per person per year (in 2005 dollars).

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation puts a positive spin on these dire numbers (F as in Fat: How Obesity Threatens America issued in September 2012). If overweight and obese adult Americans reduced their average BMI (body mass index) by only 5 percent, the foundation estimates billions of dollars in health spending would be saved — about 7% of total health expenditures.

What is a BMI?

Body mass Index (BMI) is the most common measure of obesity. It is calculated:

                             (weight in pounds)                              X 703

(height in inches) X (height in inches)

Adults with a BMI of >30 are considered obese. Adults with an index of >25 but less than 29.9 are overweight.

I suspect most readers won’t bother to do the calculations so let me give you examples. You are obese (or overweight) if, you are:

5’ 2” and weight more than 164 (136) pounds

5’ 5” and weight more than 180 (150) pounds

5’ 8” and weight more than 197 (164) pounds

6’ 1” and weight more than 215 (179) pounds

$$$$$  Save yourself and your country (Medicare and Medicaid) money and lose weight if you are obese or even overweight. Next time we’ll talk more about the health benefits of weight loss.

JL and Bug

PS: Bug and I both tried to lose weight in 2012. Bug succeeded; I didn’t.

MISERY LOVES COMPANY

Do bad reviews of your latest novel upset you? Do you dread reading suggestion from an editor? Here’s a way to feel better - at least if the old phrase “misery loves company” is true.

FDA example

In June 2011, the FDA posted a preliminary list of their  27 regulations up for review (www.fda.gov/AboutFDA/Transparency/transparencyinitiative/ucm251751.htm).

This might not sound like much revising and editing until you read the topics. For example, they will revise and update food labeling regulations to make nutrition information on packaged food label more useful to consumer. Sounds like fun? What do you think – fifty or a hundred typewritten pages of editing and re-editing in response to comments?

The other thing scary about their revisions is a lot more than sales of books rests on their decisions. For example they state “that existing rules for GMP (Good Manufacturing Practices)  are inadequate.” So they are going to establish preventive controls for food facilities to reduce morbidity and death from food borne illness. Bet that takes of hundred of pages of revisions too.

Feel better?

Doesn’t the FDA task make your next editing project sound easier? I’m going to keep reminding myself as I read galleys for Murder: A New Way to Lose Weight and revise a third book in my medical medical mystery/suspense series.

Here’s a peek at Murder: A New Way to Lose Weight:

Linda Almquist, who seldom even smiled, laughed.

Richard Varegos had done it again. He had arranged books and a computer on the front counter of the hospital pavilion for a photo shoot. In the resulting glossy, full-color flyer, he sat with at his make-believe teak desk in his supposedly marble-walled office. She read the flyer’s title: THE DIET DOCTOR HAS ANSWERS FOR YOUR WEIGHT PROBLEMS.

Was there no end to his ego?

I hope you want to read more. It’s out later in March. Until then, why not read Coming Flu?

Janet and Bug