Eisenmenger-Flemming Forensic Mysteries Books In Order

Publication Order of Eisenmenger-Flemming Forensic Mysteries Books

“Eisenmenger-Flemming Forensic Mysteries” is a series of novels by Keith McCarthy. McCarthy is a British author from Surrey that went to Dulwich College and St. George’s Hospital Medical School. Once he had his medical degree, he decided to specialize in pathology and got work at London’s Royal Marsden Hospital. During this time, he got his Ph.D. in research and in 1995 was admitted to the Royal College of Pathologist. He soon got into consultancy and for a year was a chief consultant at the Royal Marsden Hospital. He then moved to Gloucestershire where he has been working since then. He currently lives with his wife and three children close to the intersection between Worcestershire and Herefordshire in Gloucestershire.

McCarthy first got into writing when he was in his early teens and wrote a lot of poetry and short fiction. When he got into medical school, he did not do much writing until he had more time as a junior pathologist. He completed his first work in the early 1990s but it would not see publication as he did not think it was good enough. A few years later, he wrote what he deemed worthy enough and got an agent to sell it to publishers. The novel did not go anywhere and neither did the third. It was only when he changed agents and wrote his fourth title that he finally got the breakthrough he needed. Constable and Robinson published “A Feast of Carrion” the first of the “Eisenmenger-Flemming Forensic Mysteries” Series in 2003 and he was off to the races. He went on to publish four more works with the publishing house before moving to Severn House. Severn has been publishing all his novels since the sixth of the series with” A Passion Put to Use” that he published in 2008. In addition to writing forensic thrillers, he has also written the “Dr. Lance Elliott” series of novels that he launched with the novel “Murder Plot” published in 2008.

The “Eisenmenger-Flemming Forensic Mystery” Series are intense stories that have everything from the characters, scenery, murder, and sex depicted in graphic, dark and intense detail. Still, they are incredibly intriguing and compelling reads with complex characters. John Eisenmenger the lead is a shadowy figure with human flaws though these are overshadowed by an insatiable curiosity. He wanted to leave his practice as a pathologist after he was witness to the killing of a child. But curiosity and fate will never let him quit since he has a knack for solving mysterious murders. However, his work has a huge impact on his romantic and personal life as it develops in him a certain detachment that often leads to frustration on the part of those who care for him. At the beginning of the series, he has a wife who then goes psycho and leaves him. It is with defense lawyer Helena Flemming that he finds some compatibility. She has her own haunts and a soft spot for the vulnerable in her society and together they can share their pain. However, Flemming also leaves and he ends up with Beverly Wharton who is the only woman who stays to the end of the series. However, just like John Eisenmenger, beneath all the shameless and conniving exterior, Wharton is a lonely and vulnerable woman. Over the course of the series, she gets attracted to John and he too is strongly attracted to her but tries to keep her at arm’s length.

“A Feast of Carrion,” the debut novel of the “Eisenmenger-Flemming Forensic Mysteries” is a story of law enforcement and forensic science clashing with regard to their conclusions about a crime. The ingeniously twisted and suspenseful novel opens to a scene in the St. Benjamin Museum of Pathology. It is a place where the academic community is used to death. However, the death in question is no ordinary one as Nikki Exner was found grotesquely executed after she was raped. Suspicion immediately falls on Tim Bilroth, a convicted rapist and drug addict who works for the museum. He is immediately arrested and when he takes his own life while in jail, the police are more convinced that they had their man. But Helena Flemming who is the family lawyer to the Bilroths is not convinced and calls upon John Eisenmenger, an expert forensic pathologist to investigate. He does his pathological examination and his report on the quartered and drawn body of his victim comes to a very different conclusion to that of the police. As Flemming and John investigate the case to find Exner’s killer, they unearth a trail of suspects, drugs, sexual favors, and blackmail and they suspect the police may be compromised.

“The Silent Sleep of the Dying” the second novel of the series tells the story of a consultant pathologist Mark Hartman who is in dire straits. He is the son in law of a judge and his wife is a barrister which means he should be quite comfortable. The problem is that he is addicted to gambling and now has huge debts that are threatening to tear his marriage apart. Things get very interesting at work when an autopsy of a 22-year-old laboratory assistant returns some bizarre results. The woman’s body is full of all manner of cancer and he does not know what to make of it. Before he can resolve the mystery he has to attend a conference in Scotland where depressed and drunk, he sleeps with a woman he just met. It turns out that the woman had been hired by a pharmaceutical company who now blackmails him with a video of his indiscretions. He has to falsify a report on the dead woman or else they will send the video to his wife. But the father of the dead woman called in Eisenmenger to investigate. He soon finds a lot of inconsistencies in the autopsy and subsequent reports. It is not long before Flemming and Eisenmenger are unearthing the pharmaceutical company’s practices and the conspiracy to keep them secret. But the people they are dealing with are ruthless operators ready to do anything including kill to protect their interests.

“The Final Analysis” the third novel of the Eisenmenger-Flemming Forensic Mysteries series is a story of multiple murders. At the start of the novel, five identical bodies are discovered with their organs grotesquely displayed. Police investigator Beverly Wharton is convinced Melkior Pendred, a highly skilled and autistic morgue assistant is responsible. However, Sergeant Homer her colleague believes that Martin Pendred his twin brother is the responsible party. Prison life does not agree with Melkior and is dying when another man is killed which means that Homer may have just been right. Martin is arrested but Helen Flemming his lawyer comes in and taking advantage of a few technicalities gets her client out. Once he is out, he runs for the hills and soon more people are getting killed and the police have no choice but to hunt him down before more people die. Meanwhile, Beverly is afraid that her career may be over since she had been so convinced that Melkior was the guilty one. She calls in John Eisenmenger to assist in tracking down Martin. But as John investigates, a fellow pathologist becomes the latest victim of a killer. While on a desperate search for Fleminng that has been taken by Martin, he begins to piece together a very elaborate scheme.