Double Blind: A Murder Mystery

Edith Fowke is a professor emeritus at York University and author of the
recently published Canadian Folklore: Perspectives on Canadian Culture.

This is Dawson’s second mystery; and like his first, Last Rights, this
one is excellent, too. In Double Blind the author has created very real
people. The main character, Dr. Robert Snow, is working in a state
hospital as he recovers from alcoholism and a painful divorce. He
notices something strange: a number of patients are psychotic and
HIV-positive, but do not have the usual symptoms of that condition.
Snow’s superiors dismiss his concern as statistically unimportant, but
his inquiries reveal that the same condition exists in patients at other
hospitals. He begins to investigate, and he and his friend, nurse
Jennifer Kovach, are brutally attacked. Jennifer is raped, and in
hospital develops the psychotic symptoms. In a desperate race against
time and his enemies, Snow tries to save her.

Double Blind is an interesting, well-written mystery, although some may
find the medical details difficult to follow.