Pierre area author, doctor pens “medical murder mystery” novel

According to the description on Amazon, “Sentenced” is about a family physician who has his whole life upended by a serial killer, who has an intricate understanding of the medical establishment. The physician is forced to lean into his own understanding of the medical field to track the serial killer down, and do what law enforcement can’t.

FORT PIERRE, S.D. - Many people have heard of the “murder mystery” genre of books, but not as many have heard of the “medical murder mystery” genre.

One author out of Fort Pierre is leaning his experience in the medical field to write just that.

Doctor Ken Bartholomew, 73, has been in the medical field for the last 45 years, its what inspired him to write his fifth book “Sentenced,“ his own spin on a murder mystery based loosely on his own life experiences.

“This case that I had when I was an intern at the beginning of my career really haunted me” Bartholomew explained. “And it would never leave my brain, and I got to thinking about how I could eventually turn that into a book.”

The roughly 250 page novel tells the story of a serial killer utilizing the medical system in such a way that his murders are less easy to be held accounted for.

“It is completely immersed in my medical background, because there is a lot of medicine in it,” Bartholomew explained. “What people do, or maybe don’t know, is it is really hard to save a life, but it is easy to take one. And you can do it medically with no trace, that is the eerie part of it.”

Bartholomew has been a doctor with Avera for over a decade, working largely out of Pierre and Faulkton. Of the five books he has ever written, he believes this one could be his “most effective” yet.

“I hope that it will actually haunt people, it will make them really think about crime and punishment. And right versus wrong, etc.”

The book is available for pre-order right now on Amazon, and will officially launch on January 14th.