9 Macabre Medical Mystery Books

In this chilling medical thriller, surgeon Steve Mitchell’s life is turned upside-down when he botches a surgery and his patient dies. Already facing possible career-ending questions, Mitchell’s safety is threatened further when it becomes clear that the death was no accident; that someone in the hospital is deliberately killing patients and setting Steve up to take the fall.

Set against the background of the flu epidemic that hit just after the end of the First World War, A Beautiful Poison follows Allene, a young socialite who starts to suspect that some of the deaths of people she knows cannot be blamed on the virus. Believing that a poisoner is at work, Allene starts to investigate, along with medical examiner Jasper and her close friend Birdie.

Part of Cornwell’s highly-acclaimed Scarpetta series, The Body Farm sees chief medical examiner Dr Kay Scarpetta investigating the murder of a young girl. Reaching dead end after dead end, Scarpetta turns to the titular Body Farm, a famous forensic institute where experts can study corpses in various states of decomposition.

Attorney David Ransom believes he’s been hired for a straightforward medical malpractice case, planning to take a doctor down for negligently causing the death of her patient. However, when he meets Dr. Kate Chesne, she tells him that she’s being framed — and when another body turns up, Ransom becomes more inclined to believe her.

The debut novel by the co-host of hit true crime podcast Morbid, The Butcher and the Wren draws on Urquhart’s own experiences as an autopsy technician. Forensic pathologist Dr. Wren Muller is investigating a serial killer who carries out medical experiments on his victims, desperately searching for clues as the killer closes in on her.

Nurse Korede is used to cleaning up the messes left by her young, beautiful sister Ayoola, who has an unfortunate habit of killing her boyfriends. While Ayoola insists she always acts in self-defense, Korede is far from convinced; but she loves her sister, and would never turn her in. But when Ayoola starts dating Korede’s long-time crush, a doctor at the hospital where she works, Korede must decide who she will save.

After the death of her beloved grandmother, Lena Johnson, in an attempt to help pay off her family’s medical debts, takes a job at the remote Lakewood in Michigan. Lena’s new job is highly paid and, at first, seemingly low-stress — all she has to do is take part in some medical experiments. Drawing on the real-world horrors of the medicalised torture of Black Americans, Lakewood is a chilling medical thriller.

If you like a supernatural twist with your medical mystery, Strange Practice is the book for you. Dr. Greta Helsing runs a medical institute for vampires, werewolves, and other mythical creatures. Her life of happily treating her patients is disrupted when a cult of murderous monks starts killing the supernatural creatures that Helsing works with, and she must stop them before it’s too late.

This suspenseful thriller centres on Rachel, a successful and well-established GP, who finds herself crossing ethical and legal boundaries as she starts an affair with her new patient, Luc. As Rachel’s life begins to spiral out of control, with her family falling apart and another patient potentially stalking her, she feels that things can’t get worse — and then one of her colleagues is murdered.