Blood Lies by Daniel Kalla (2007, Unabridged, Compact Disc)

Daniel Kalla has written a fast-paced, excitement-packed mystery with a strong, positive, anti-drug message. An ER physician in Vancouver, his ingeniously tangled plot hangs on medical facts not generally known to laymen but easy enough for them to understand.

Dr. Ben Dafoe’s family is replete with addictive personalities. His father is an alcoholic. His identical twin brother Aaron and his cousin have multiple-substance addictions. Even his ex-fiancée Emily is an incorrigible recreational drug abuser. Their habits have made them run afoul of the law and cost them their health as well. In the case of Aaron and Emily, their drug involvement also becomes the catalyst for his disappearance and likely murder and, two years later, her savage slaying. Ironically, Dafoe, who’s hooked only on the natural high produced by exercise-stimulated endorphins, becomes the police’s prime suspect in the latter crime’s investigation. Not sure whom he can trust, he flees the country to seek out the clues which will clear his name.

From the medical emergency that opens the novel to its surprise conclusion, reader Anthony Heald keeps the action going and the suspense mounting at breakneck speed. He differentiates all characters consistently and convincingly.