Dr. Declan Murphy confronts murder in the marsh. What Becomes is the third in a series of medical thrillers featuring Dr. Declan Murphy, an Obstetrician – Gynecologist at the Medical University of South Carolina and literature’s only Ob-Gyn “action hero.”
Dr. Murphy has once again found himself at odds with the Medical University. Declan’s been suspended over a Peer Review complaint involving his behavior during a calamitous cesarean delivery. Declan is still grieving the tragic death of his wife, Helene, leaving him angry, apathetic and lonely. He’s lost his commitment to medicine and the deterioration in his clinical performance is recognizable to all. With only an appeal to the Board of Trustees standing between him and termination, Declan again finds himself dependent on his talented lawyer, Rosemary Winslow. Ms. Winslow shatters the stuffy formality of the Board of Trustees meeting, turns the inquiry upside down, and humiliates the Medical University leadership.
Desperate for a fresh start, and with few options, Declan Murphy leaves the Medical University and joins a private practice with an old mentor and eccentric friend, Dr. Homer Lahr, a larger than life, brilliant, but narcoleptic Ob-Gyn surgeon who navigates by his own set of rules. In this new workplace, Declan discovers a kindred spirit in Louis Guillette PhD who is a Reproductive Biologist and Embryologist who uses the South Carolina Low Country alligator as a sentinel species to monitor the reproductive health effects of industrial contaminants originating from a Georgetown paper mill. This new research partnership, as well as his growing relationship with Rosemary Winslow, provides Declan with renewed optimism and sense of purpose.
Declan’s new life is disrupted by an escalating series of terrorizing incidents culminating in murder. Voodoo Tarot cards, left after each incident, points a finger at a nemesis from a previous book; the ruthless, sociopathic fugitive Paris Laveau who has vowed revenge on Declan and Rosemary for what they did to her and her brother, Hector. However, without any direct evidence of Paris’ presence or involvement, the authorities gradually lose interest forcing Rosemary, Declan and Homer to protect themselves from an unseen evil. Eventually, Declan and Rosemary must risk their careers by taking the law into their own hands, to find out What Becomes.