The Deadly Dinner Party; and Other Medical Detective Stories

Picking up where Berton Roueche'sThe Medical Detectivesleft off,The Deadly Dinner Partypresents fifteen edge-of-your-seat, real-life medical detective stories written by a practicing physician. Award-winning author Jonathan Edlow, M.D., shows the doctor as detective and the epidemiologist as elite sleuth in stories that are as gripping as the best thrillers. In these stories a notorious stomach bug turns a suburban dinner party into a disaster that almost claims its host; a diminutive woman routinely eats more than her football-playing boyfriend but continually loses weight; a young executive is diagnosed with lung cancer, yet the tumors seem to wax and wane inexplicably. Written for the lay person who wishes to better grasp how doctors decipher the myriad clues and puzzling symptoms they often encounter, each story presents a very different case where doctors must work to find the accurate diagnosis before it is too late. Edlow uses his unique ability to relate complex medical concepts in a writing style that is clear, engaging and easily understandable. The resulting stories both entertain us and teach us much about medicine, its history and the subtle interactions among pathogens, humans, and the environment.

Jonathan A. Edlow, M.D., F.A.C.P., is vice chair of emergency medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and associate professor of medicine, Harvard Medical School. He is the author of the award-winning Bull's Eye: Unraveling the Medical Mystery of Lyme Disease and Stroke. He lives in Newtonville, MA.