A Lab for Murder

All summer on Iowa’s iconic Lake Okoboji, Executive Director of Lakeside Laboratory Dr. Cassandra Marek has defended research by renowned freshwater scientist, Dr. David Pryor, from a smear campaign by some who fear his work could slow the economy in the region should he project the threat of waterway pollution from future construction projects. But when Pryor’s body is found floating in a bog and autopsies report no strong conclusions, Marek is forced to enlist the help of a locally famous private investigator, retired federal prosecutor Michael Cain.

Looking into Pryor’s reputation and the possibility of murder, Cain learns of many with motives, the means, the opportunity… even a few individuals on campus. Could botany and mycology instructor Dr. Doreen Adams be culpable? How about the mysterious character who bribed Pryor for access to his report before its release? Or was it Pryor’s graduate assistant, Penny Dykes, whom the man ridiculed nearly to the point of abuse? Whoever is to blame, the case is certain to require rigorous science, personal grit, Cain’s talent for perception, and the help of Michael’s Marauders to solve the mystery before the environment and the laboratory suffer irreversible catastrophes.

Gene Gross’s third novel, A Lab for Murder, is a whodunit wrapped in an environmental drama about the health and future of Iowa’s Great Lakes in an age of rapid growth.