MayaVerse A - D Book Collection

When personal tragedies collide with pandemics and emerging microbial threats, veterinary epidemiologist Maya Maguire finds the courage to tackle worldwide public health crises. Haunted but determined, Maya must make sense of challenging research, betrayal, and conflicting loyalties in a desperate race to detect how disease outbreaks are spreading and whether they can be stopped.
This is an ebook collection of the first four novels in the MayaVerse, a public health world centered on Maya Maguire at the start of her career with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A statistics nerd adopted as an infant from China, raised in the U.S. Southwest, and damaged by a childhood accident, she struggles to find her place. She's obsessed with achievement and allegiance to her colleagues as she fights microbial threats, including bacteria (anthrax and Borrelia) and viruses (COVID-19 and dengue).
The combined stories follow a diverse cast of epidemiologists, veterinarians, and public health officials navigating ethical dilemmas during global and local disease investigations across multiple locales—from Arizona and New Mexico to Hawaii and international settings in Europe, Africa, and China. At its core, the novels are about human resilience and the struggle to balance grief with the urgent need to protect public health in a disrupted world.
The central theme is the interplay between human fragility and tenacity in the face of relentless, large‐scale disease challenges. The narrative explores how characters navigate despair, guilt, and trauma while confronting the uncertainties of modern disease outbreaks and scientific dilemmas. The story repeatedly emphasizes that even amidst global and private calamities, the search for truth, connection, and a sense of purpose persist.
The collection is a medical thriller combined with elements of mystery, suspense, romance, and contemporary fiction. It will appeal to readers of Michael Crichton, Robin Cook, and James Patterson, who integrate science within a suspenseful narrative. It also will be of interest to readers who enjoy international and multicultural settings, given the story's global scope, and those in fields such as infectious diseases, wildlife conservation, bio-engineering, and public health policy.
Unlike standard thrillers, this collection interweaves intimate character relationships, family dynamics, and professional dilemmas in public health, appealing to both "hard science" readers and those favoring emotionally rich narratives. It differs from purely academic texts by effectively using high-stakes storytelling to mirror current societal and ethical issues, positioning it as both entertaining and thought-provoking.

MILLICENT EIDSON is the author of the alphabetical Maya Maguire microbial mystery series. The MayaVerse at https://drmayamaguire.com includes prequels, "El Chinche" in Danse Macabre and "What's Within" in Fiction on the Web, and a side story, "Pérdida" in El Portal Literary Journal. Author awards include Best Play in Synkroniciti and Honorable Mention from the Arizona Mystery Writers. Dr. Eidson's work as a public health veterinarian and epidemiologist began with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and continued at the New Mexico and New York state health departments. She is a public health faculty member at the University at Albany and the University of Vermont. An author of over a hundred scientific papers, articles, and book chapters, she discusses public health communication through creative writing on the podcast: https://www.drchhuntley.com/post/episode-194. With formative years in the Southwest, Millie enjoys family trips to Arizona and worldwide, but has settled in Vermont with her husband Tom Henderson and daughter Lian Henderson, adopted from China and inspiration for Maya Maguire. Millie's creative writing is supported by the Burlington Writers Workshop (BWW), the Alliance of Independent Authors, the Authors Guild, Sisters in Crime, and Green Mountain Writers. She can be found on Twitter, @EidsonMillicent, and Instagram, @drmayamaguire.