Borrelia: A Microbial Mystery

Borrelia is the second novel featuring Maya Maguire, medical detective, in her journey as an Asian American veterinarian solving microbial mysteries.

A pregnant New Mexico woman is dying from relapsing fever and reaction to her treatment for infection with Borrelia, a squiggly spirochete bacteria. After searching for blood-sucking ticks at the patient's cabin, veterinarian Maya Maguire of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has a car accident which upends the confidence gained during her first year of CDC training. Her childhood panic disorder and struggles with its treatment block Maya's dreams of achieving balance between demands of public health and her almost-fiancé, a physician incapacitated by Arizona anthrax.  

Summer heatwaves spike lice-associated Borrelia in Europe. Maya consults on a surge of deaths in Borrelia-infected refugees relocated to Norway. When extending her mission to Portugal and Morocco, impacts from her fieldwork pile up. At home, she juggles support for a harassed friend and a colleague rejected by his biological family, while mentoring a trainee stepping over the line. Protecting those she loves backfires when she hides her own legal jeopardy.

Maya successfully battles Borrelia until swept up in an Atlanta protest march. Juggling difficult choices of disclosure versus service threaten to overwhelm, until recovery of a loved one and decisions about the future allow her to take important steps forward.  

Interview with the Author

Q: Have you always wanted to be a writer?

A: A career in public health can include scientific writing and communication. But even before my training as a veterinarian, I wrote a satirical newspaper and a romance novel. In recent years, I've focused on creative writing as a way to entertain, educate, and enlighten.

Q: Why do you write your MayaVerse series of microbial mysteries?

A: Disease from animals—zoonoses—make up most emerging disease threats. As we've experienced in recent years, there's been one scary disease after another. Bird flu, Ebola, Zika, SARS, COVID, and monkeypox. By focusing on a young veterinary epidemiologist named Maya Maguire, readers can enjoy her worldwide travels, scientific discoveries, and relationships as she matures over several decades of her lifetime. Each new disease is a puzzle to solve caused by a microscopic criminal.

Q: What is One Health?

A: One Health is an important MayaVerse theme. The concept integrates the health of people, other life forms, and the environment, to maximize the benefit for all.

Q: What genre of books do you enjoy?

A: I'm particularly drawn to upmarket stories with complex themes and happy for now (HFN) endings. I want passionate, engaging characters dealing with difficult life issues. Some of the MayaVerse mysteries are thrillers and many are romantic suspense. With a female medical detective, all are women's fiction.

Q: What authors do you read or admire?

A: Having grown up in the Southwest, I worship Tony Hillerman and his daughter Anne Hillerman who's carrying on his legacy. For medical thrillers, Tess Gerritsen is my goddess, although Robin Cook and Michael Crichton have great stories with more of a sci/fi leaning than the MayaVerse, which is strongly anchored in reality. I love the romantic suspense of Nora Roberts and the intense relationships of Nicholas Sparks. 

Q: What are your favorite stories?

A: Shakespeare's plays and Lin-Manuel Miranda's musicals.

Q: Which of your interests make an appearance in your books?

A: Travel, animals, and music. Family and friendships. Hiking and old movies.