BooksChatter: ✉ Prescription RX for Murder

Today author Linda Lovely takes over our blog to tell us about a "Prescription RX for Murder". Her latest novel is Bad Pick (16 April 2019, Henery Press, 274 pages), a Cosy Mystery, book three in the Brie Hooker Mysteries series.

“Wow! In Bad Pick, Lovely wrote an amazing novel only to see one part of the plot come to life in headlines all over the country. A fringe religious cult, a Supreme Court nominee, and goat yoga combine together in a tale that fans of mysteries won’t want to miss.”–Sherry Harris, Agatha Award Nominee and Author of the Sarah Winston Garage Sale mysteries.

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Prescription RX for Murder

by Linda Lovely

How could a smart fictional villain harm someone without resorting to physical violence?

  The answer may be as close as the intended victim’s medicine cabinet. If the target takes prescription drugs—or, in some cases, even over-the-counter medications or herbal remedies—the villain can research ways to cause an adverse drug reaction (ADR) that will make the person very ill or, perhaps, even cause his or her death.

  In BAD PICK, my newest cozy Brie Hooker Mystery, one of the villains embraces this strategy.  Sorry, but you’ll have to read the book to find out who and why!

  According to recent studies, ADRs are thought to be responsible annually for the deaths of some 100,000 people in the U.S. alone, while up to two million may suffer minor to serious reactions from ADRs.

  What are some of the factors that put large portions of the population at risk of an ADR?

By the time people are in their thirties, the ability of their bodies to handle drugs changes. The kidneys and liver may not work as efficiently to flush or metabolize drugs.
When individuals reach age fifty, the odds increase that they take some sort of prescription medication to control blood pressure, cholesterol, acid reflux or other ailments common in the general population.
Even if people aren’t taking prescription drugs, they may rely on herbal supplements or over-the-counter remedies to self-medicate for aches and pain, allergies, etc.
According to one estimate, the percentage of U.S. adults who take one or more prescribed drugs is 60 to 70 percent.
Alcoholics and drug addicts are at risk when a variety of other drugs are introduced into their systems.
ADRs can happen even when medicines are properly prescribed due to individual allergic reactions, improper dosage (the patient accidentally takes too much or too little), or drug-drug interactions.

  While this last category, drug-drug interactions represents a small share of all ADRs, we’ll focus on this “opportunity” for our villain. Once a would-be culprit knows what prescriptions or over-the-counter meds an intended victim takes, he can research lists of warnings for drug-drug interactions for what the victim’s known to take. Then all the villain has to do is figure out how to obtain and introduce the contraindicated drug into the target’s system—without getting caught, of course.

  One of the great things about doing research for mystery plots is discovering information that may be of value to the writer—even if you’re not planning to harm anyone. I’m among that 60-plus percent of the population that takes one or more prescription drugs. So I found the following website, which let me learn the potentially harmful drug-drug interactions I know about given the medicines I take. Here’s the site: https://www.drugs.com/drug_interactions.html.

  On this site, you simply enter the name of a medication and it will give you a list of known drug-drug interactions, color-coded to indicate if they are mild, moderate or serious. It also provides a list of side effects and tips for patients who take the medication entered. My research provided me not only with warning about a number of over-the-counter remedies I should avoid but also some foods and herbal remedies that should go on my caution list.

  Hope this information has proven interesting. And don’t forget to read BAD PICK to see how the research helped me with one component of my plot!