Book 3 of My Trilogy Is Available Online

Book 3 of my trilogy is available online on Amazon and Smashwords. The book–titled No Hallowed Ground–unites the story about surgeons and bodysnatchers published in books 1 and 2.

You may recall that book 1 focused on James Hammond’s training at St. Thomas’s Hospital in London. While at St. Thomas’s, Hammond spends hours dissecting cadavers to learn anatomy and improve his craft. In Book 2, titled Naught but Butchers, Hammond has moved to Nottingham where he finds himself coping with unexpected problems related to the Nottingham General Hospital’s senior surgeon, Mr. Augustus Killmaster, and its board of directors. (An image of Nottingham General Hospital in 1788 can be found here.)

Book 3 of the Surgeon’s Duty trilogy focuses on James Hammond and the people who affect his career and his life. One such person is Mr. Walter Ewebank, Killmaster’s closest friend and ally. Since Killmaster’s death, Mr. Ewebank has become unhinged. He blames Hammond for his friend’s death and allows his hatred and anger to fuel a desire for revenge.

Another influential person is Miss Hannah Freestone. She has fallen in love with Hammond but is afraid of becoming involved with him. She was raped as a young girl and for this reason has refused several marriage proposals. But there is something special about Hammond … something that allows her to feel safe with him. For one thing–unlike most men–he does not appraise her fine figure with eyes full of lust, and she knows that her steady character can help him, for she can imagine how truly awful surgery is, even for surgeons.

Another person whose life intersects with Hammond’s is young Jack Pegg, a boy who has been working with a former London bodysnatcher to dig up the newly buried bodies in Nottingham’s cemetery and ship them to the surgeons in London. Pegg has come north for a very particular reason and is only waiting for the sign that will change his life.

Book 3, together with books 1 and 2, are sold on Amazon and on Smashwords.