Where did the ideas for
this book come from?
I plucked the idea for this story from the front pages of the Hamilton Spectator, our daily local newspaper, which does a fine job of chronicling our city's stories. A few years ago, counterfeit prescription drugs were discovered in a city pharmacy, and the RCMP swooped in. It was proven that the blood-pressure medications were indeed knock-offs of brand-name pills, but the two pharmacists involved were found by a judge to be not criminally responsible. They got away with a warning from their college of pharmacists and stayed in business. The case sparked a lot of heated discussion in hospital corridors, let me tell you, amid fears that this sort of thing was probably going on all over the place. A little digging told me we were correct.
The beloved silver-haired characters in Camelot Lodge are inspired by my own parents and their friends, now well into their 80s and 90s. As I started to write this book, Mum and Dad moved into a retirement residence filled with former university professors and senior bureaucrats. Everything that goes on at mealtime in TAMPERED, Zol Szabo #2, comes from what I witnessed around my parents' table. The skulduggery, however, came from the newspaper and my imagination.
"Medical-thriller fans will find much to enjoy here." – Booklist