Joanna Blalock Books In Order

Publication Order of Joanna Blalock Books

The name ‘Joanna Blalock’ refers to a series of medical thrillers written by Leonard Goldberg, an American author with experience in the medical field.

+The Story

The Joanna Blalock series tells mystery/suspense stories set within the medical arena. When she is introduced in ‘Deadly Medicine’, the first book in the series, Joanna is a forensic pathologist, one of the best in the country.

She gets her chance to shine when nurses at a prestigious Los Angeles hospital start dying and she makes it her mission to catch the murderer. Like most medical thriller protagonists, Joanna Blalock doesn’t seek out trouble but she seems to have a nose for it.

Sometimes, Joanna will take on the wrong case and find herself at the center of a nefarious conspiracy, such as the time her erroneous diagnosis of a sample forces a woman to abort her child, only for Joanna to be tried for her perceived crime.

Other times, Joanna finds evidence of wrongdoing and then her moral compass drives her to pull on the thread. Joanna often regrets the decision because her initial investigations tend to reveal that she is facing off against far more dangerous opponents than she initially expected, but by then it is too late to back out.

Joanna does her best work in the company of Jake Sinclair. A detective, Sinclair was initially introduced to give Joanna Blalock access to the law enforcement resources she needs to solve cases.

After all, as a forensic pathologist, Joanna does not have the mandate to investigate crimes, especially if they fall beyond the boundaries of the medical field, and they often do. Joanna might start out investigating medical malpractice and viral infections but it isn’t long before murder comes into the picture and a human entity emerges as the driving force behind the scenes.

Over time, Jake and Joanna fall for one another. Their romance is fraught with problems. They are constantly falling in and out of relationships with one another, many times because of personal and professional reasons

Joanna’s relationship with Jake Sinclair is typically met with disdain, especially in the first couple of stories in the Joanna Blalock series. In fact, Leonard Goldberg, the author, has been accused of manifesting sexist tendencies when it comes to Joanna’s romantic life.

The first book, in particular, was criticized for forcing Joanna Blalock into a relationship that wasn’t really called for. It didn’t help that her love interest at the time displayed numerous sexist traits.

The idea of a strong and independent woman like Joanna falling for him seemed to completely stand in opposition to her character. Throughout the series, Joanna continues to display flawed decision making by allowing the wrong men to woo her.

Some of Leonard Goldberg’s fans have defended him by arguing that Joanna Blalock’s romantic miscalculations build her character.

When Leonard Goldberg has been praised for the Blalock series, it has been as a result of his rapid pacing and the fact that his medical thrillers proceed without relying heavily on complicated medical jargon, thus making them far more accessible than their many counterparts on bookshelves.

+The Author

Leonard Goldberg is a consulting physician with extensive experience in the medical field. Leonard started writing during his time with the UCLA Medical center where he works as a Clinical Professor of Medicine.

Leonard encountered a person who, after analyzing their blood, determined that they were a universal blood donor. Their blood could be administered to anyone without the risk of a transfusion reaction.

The experience drove the author to write a story about an individual who didn’t have a tissue type, and thus their organs could be transplanted to anyone without the fear of rejection. The book was a rousing success and even garnered the attention of a Hollywood studio that optioned ‘Transplant’ for a possible movie adaptation.

The positive reception was all the encouragement Leonard needed to pursue a second career as an author of medical mysteries. Joanna Blalock is still the author’s most popular creation.

Leonard’s fans have praised him for writing books that are surprisingly accessible to the layperson despite their medical setting. Leonard draws upon his experiences to produce stories for the Blalock series.

That experience includes all the times the author has been called upon as an expert witness in medical malpractice trials.

+A Deadly Practice

There is a serial killer haunting a Los Angeles Hospital. He seems to have an affinity for medical practitioners. More importantly, he has the expertise to imitate the specialties of each of his victims.

Joanna Blalock is a medical pathologist who cannot afford to sit on the sidelines and let the police do their work, not when she could be the killer’s next victim.

The second book in the Joanna Blalock series finds the forensic pathologist fighting to save her career. Joanna interpreted biopsy slides on a pregnant woman as malignant. Now Joanna and three other doctors are on trial because their interpretations forced the woman to undergo an abortion.

That was the only way she could begin chemotherapy. A second opinion revealed that the abortion was largely unnecessary, which puts Joanna on the spot. The pathologist is ready to defend her findings but the slides in question have disappeared. So Joanna has nothing but her word and reputation with which to fight back.

When one of the other doctors with whom she has been accused ends up dead, and more bodies begin to drop soon after, Joanna cannot help but wonder if her case is at the center of the murder spree. Joanna refuses to admit any guilt in the trial. Her career is on the line. But she might soon have to make the ultimate choice between her life and her job.

+Deadly Care

Joanna Blalock, a forensic pathologist at a prestigious Los Angeles hospital has a mystery on her hands. Her story begins with a mysterious man who has neither a face nor fingerprints.

Joanna is determined to find out who murdered him so viciously and why. When a rash of patient deaths at the L.A hospital piques her interest, she begins to wonder whether the two cases might be related.

Using computer technology and a lot of guesswork, Joanna slowly puts the clues to a horrifying nightmare together, assisted along the way by detective Jake Sinclair. Her discoveries deepen her mistrust for her hospital and drag her into a game with an unseen enemy who will try to silence her before she can find the truth.