In this third medical thriller by award-winning author and practicing physician Darden North, human reproductive tissue becomes a murderous commodity. In Fresh Frozen, a young policeman and his tormented wife fail miserably to produce a family, finding themselves outcasts of the renewed baby boom sweeping the United States. However, there is one last hope for them: a catalogue of human embryo and egg donors peddled by a woman whose standards are easily dismissed for the right price. Pursuing their futile attempts to become parents has nearly cost the wife her life and pushed the couple to the brink of bankruptcy. This seemingly last chance for Wesley and Carrie Sarbeck to satisfy their place as parents in Middle America unknowingly tosses them in the midst of a grisly murder, the world of Hollywood celebrities, and a heist of freshly frozen human embryos.
The lives of Sarbeck, international superstar Allyn Saxton, and socialite Cheryl Choice unknowingly collide at the Van Deman Institute, once a decaying brick building complex just north of Jackson, Mississippi, but now a state-of-the-art center for the treatment of infertility. While an Internet voyeur and thief looks on, each of the three women has her own reason for entering the Institute. However, as a result of subjecting herself to a concoction of hormones and surgical procedures, one of the three is gruesomely murdered in an intriguing twist of human greed, mental torment, and medical science.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Born February 21, 1956, in Jackson, MS, Darden North was raised in the Mississippi Delta as an only child. Nearing his twenty-second anniversary in active medical practice as an obstetrician gynecologist, he often fields the question "How did you ever get interested in writing fiction?" (Quite frequently he also gets the query "How in the world do you have time to be a doctor and write books?" --- a question he often asks himself!)
Perhaps his taste for the arts was seeded there in the Mississippi Delta while attending the seventh grade. Much to his mother Evelyn's urging and against his initial argument, North starred in the speaking and singing role of Louis in the The King and I, produced by the Cleveland (MS) Little Theater. While continuing to be a straight A student and looking toward the sciences for a career, his desire to expand his horizons continued as he played three different musical instruments in the public school marching and concert bands. In addition, some early afternoons were spent taking piano lessons; but alas, he can no longer play any of the four instruments well. Furthermore, after the family piano was recently converted to a computerized-player version, his fledging career as a musician was finally buried.
Without question, Darden North's interest in writing and publishing sparked while serving as editor-in-chief of the award-winning 1978 OLE MISS annual (At which time he began dating his future wife Sally Fortenberry, who was on the yearbook staff herself and served as editor the following year) and on the 1982 MEDIC yearbook, both published in hardcover. The fact that both his wife and mother have been English teachers could not have hurt either.
After graduating magna cum laude from the University of Mississippi in 1978 with a BA in zoology and minors in both English and chemistry and induction into The Hall of Fame, he finished medical school and obstetrics/gynecology specialty training at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in 1982 and 1986, respectively, where he was a member of Alpha Omega Alpha honorary society.
He and his wife Sally married in 1979 and have remained in Jackson since. After serving as chief-of-staff at two local hospitals, he remains active in the American Medical Association, the Mississippi State Medical Association, and the South Central Obstetrical and Gynecological Society while maintaining a full-time ob/gyn medical and surgical practice. Darden and Sally have two young adult children, as well as two dogs and a grand dog.
Years ago Darden North traded his golf clubs for a laptop but on occasion can be seen with a tennis racket or garden shovel. North has written and published three novels in the mystery/suspense/medical thriller genre: House Call (2005), Points of Origin (2006),and Fresh Frozen (2008). Both House Call and Points of Origin have one national awards.
