The focus of my blog is to review book series and not individual novels, but writers are going to continue writing novels within a series even after I have done my review, so I plan on reviewing the individual novels as they come into circulation.   J.A. Schneider just recently added book #5, Silver Girl, to the Embryo series.

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The first book in J.A. Schneider’s Embryo series, Embryo, gives the impression that the series is a futuristic medical thriller as the embryo in this novel is the first human fetus that is brought to full term outside the mother’s uterus and there is also some indication that there maybe some genetic enhancements as well. However, as the series progresses, it is quite clear that this is indeed not a futuristic medical thriller but is very much a crime thriller with two OB/GYN physicians and married couple, Dr. Jill Raney and Dr. David Levine, acting as detectives. In recent novels, the embryo which is now a child named Jesse and is the adopted child of Raney and Levine acts as a background character and is not really the focus of the series.

The latest edition, Silver Girl, continues the crime thriller theme, though I would say that it is more like a whodunit mystery than a thriller. The story begins with Jody Merrill, an actress in a popular TV comedy cop show, being murdered. Merrill, who has a severe allergic reaction to penicillin, is poisoned with the antibiotic. As she is dying from the allergic reaction she is rushed to the hospital where her friends Drs. Jill Raney and David Levine are waiting. Merrill’s death triggers Raney and Levine to switch from doctors delivering babies mode to crime fighting sleuths and the rest of the novel focuses on Raney and Levine trying to figure out who is the murderer.

I have no problem with doctors being detectives as many good series have this feature but in those series, the doctors usually have some kind of connection with law enforcement such as a psychiatrist or medical examiner, but OB/GYNs? Really? Really?! OB/GYNs are not what I consider the crime sleuthing types unless the crimes are more related to their occupation, such as a serial rapist. I also have an objection to doctors carrying guns. Many may argue that doctors should be able to carry guns to protect themselves but that seems to go against their motto ‘do no harm’. Yet, in this series David Levine walks around with a gun strapped to his leg. I don’t know about you but I would be a little unnerved if I knew that my doctor was carrying around a loaded pistol. Heaven forbid I forget to pay my bill on time.

Silver Girl is a fairly straight forward whodunit and for those who are into a mystery that doesn’t have too much gore, bad language, and graphic sexual content, then I would say this would be a good story for you. I think that this would make for a good young adult novel as the plot is not overly complex but yet entertaining. This is very much a standalone book and you don’t really need to read the rest of the series to enjoy it.

To learn more about the series check out J.A. Schneider’s Embryo Series.