If you have ever seen any of the great true crime series featuring former homicide detective Joe Kenda, such as “Homicide Hunter,” then you know that what makes him so engaging and memorable is how he speaks. He has such a no-nonsense, direct manner that comes across as unapologetically honest and so very real. That same voice is fully evident on each and every page of FIRST DO NO HARM, a fictional work that features a younger version of himself as one of the detectives on this case.

"Joe Kenda treats you to a story that jumps off the page like a true-crime documentary or podcast that you just cannot stop streaming."

Dr. Blair Moreland is the head anesthesiologist at a hospital, and he has a serious God complex. He seems to feed off of the pain that his patients feel and occasionally sees to it that they experience more than they should. This is because he has been skimming off the top of the latest pain medication, known as fentanyl. What started as an obsession with this highly addictive narcotic soon turns into his getting into the illegal drug game. It is here where the crime part of the novel takes shape as the new hybrid drug containing fentanyl has been killing many of its users who had the misfortune of purchasing it.

Detective Joe Kenda and his partner and mentor, Lee Wilson, are getting the rapidly increasing number of cases involving fatal overdoses in and around the Colorado Springs area. Even though Kenda’s wife, Kathy, works as a nurse at the same hospital as Moreland, an initial link to him is not even close to being made yet. However, Moreland being the sociopath he has exhibited in these pages surely will make a misstep at some point that will put him directly in Kenda’s crosshairs.

Moreland’s partner in his efforts to doctor street drugs from Mexican cartels is former military officer Lula Lopez. She met him through his work with addicts in recovery, many of whom are former military personnel. When people start dying, it puts Lula in a very bad position with her regular customers and her cartel bosses, which could be a deadly mistake that will come back to bite all of them.

Kenda names Moreland as a person of interest in his investigation when Kathy introduces him to a nursing colleague who was engaged to Moreland at one point, only to break it off when he showed his true colors. He now knows that Moreland had motive and opportunity to turn his pain meds into killer drugs. All he needs to do is catch him in the act. Moreland will make that easy when, in taking a page out of “Breaking Bad,” he hires a former drug addict and Jesse Pinkman wannabe, who will wear a hazmat suit and cook up batches of the new drug at a location deep in the woods.

The suspense of FIRST DO NO HARM lies in whether it will be law enforcement or hitmen from the Mexican cartels who get to Moreland first. In the meantime, Joe Kenda treats you to a story that jumps off the page like a true-crime documentary or podcast that you just cannot stop streaming.