The Immortality Drug

About the Book

What is health worth? What is beauty worth? What is life worth? And when does life stop being worth the effort? The detectives of the special-operations squad find themselves faced with these questions as they investigate one of their strangest cases ever. It begins with a routine surveillance of the local Mafia godfather, but quickly gets strange when they realize that after years of hostility he’s suddenly become the best of buddies with the local godfather of Chinese organized crime. A third player enters the scene; he turns out to be a plastic surgeon. The detectives at first suspect that they’re involved in some sort of insurance fraud, but it develops that they’re cooperating in a health scam that claims to be able to keep people young forever--in effect, they’re claiming to have produced an immortality drug. One of the detectives, Dan Martin, is divorced. His ex-wife comes to town, and they get together to discuss some old investments held over from their marriage. He is uninvolved and her second husband died two years earlier, so the old attraction between them starts to come out and they become romantically involved. Then Martin discovers the true reason she came to town--she has an advanced case of cancer, and she has enrolled in an experimental treatment program at a local hospital. She, more than anyone, is in need of an immortality drug. As the detectives investigate the health scam, they begin to build a case by slowly fitting together the pieces of the puzzle. The strangest piece of all is that the gangsters and the doctors who work for them may be using stolen human organs to create a drug to keep people young. By working hard and being smart enough to take advantage of good luck, the detectives finally get enough evidence to launch a raid against everyone involved in the scam. That’s when they discover the truth behind the immortality drug. A few days later, Martin’s ex-wife learns the results of her cancer treatment, and both she and Martin have to deal with the consequences.

About the Author

George Buford is a professor of classical studies at the Missouri School of Veterinary Medicine. He did not violate the American embargo on travel to Cuba by going to Mexico on a false passport and then flying to Cuba. He didn’t do that. Honest.