A CAUSE and MANNER

A sleep-deprived anesthesiologist seeks advice on dealing severely with his wife's lover. Suspense, dark humor and physicians behaving badly.

A Cause and Manner is a domestic psychological thriller. Matthew Kork is an anesthesiologist at a Canadian hospital. There is tension in the operating room between Matt and an elitist surgeon, Angelo Amodeo. There is also tension between Matt and his wife, whom he suspects of having an affair. Her alleged lover dies in what looks like a staged suicide. Angelo disappears next. Matt is either responsible for these events or wished for them hard enough.

Matt is also the local coroner and is assigned to investigate the boyfriend's death. Despite the obvious conflict of interest, he accepts the case and brings in a verdict of suicide. For five years, Matt and Katya live together, each believing one is guilty of infidelity, the other of murder, neither speaking of it for fear of causing an argument that would lead to the breakup of their marriage.

The decedent's family launches a wrongful death lawsuit. At the hearing, their lawyer is on the verge of discovering the love affair that would have given Matt a motive for murder. He admits to all the allegations against him to bring the proceedings to a close. This by no means confirms his guilt.

Peter Tinits is a physician in Ontario, Canada. The book title is taken from coroners' parlance for findings made at the conclusion of an investigation. The storyline features authentic details and gallows humor that only an insider would know. The question of whether murder can be justified, if it is well earned, remains unanswered.

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