West Nile Fatality

Dr. Mark Sloan, chief of internal Medicine at a Los Angeles hospital, is at the center of a deadly conspiracy. A West Nile Virus, gang wars, a vicious mayoral race and his old foe, Carter Sweeney, a man who tried to blow up the hospital a few before, converge in a way that will forever change Sloan's life.

Though he didn't create the popular television series, Diagnosis Murder, featuring Dr. Sloan (played by Dick Van Dyke), Lee Goldberg wrote more than 100 television episodes for the show and was the principal writer for almost four years when a publisher approached him to write three books based on the series.

"I balked at first," says Goldberg.

But he quickly changed his mind and seized the opportunity to explore the characters in a different way. "In TV. You have to show and not tell," says Goldberg. "It's all action and dialogue played out. In novels you can use so many tools. You can get inside the character's mind."

Eight books later, in Diagnosis Murder #8: The Last Word, Goldberg says this last book in the series is loosely tied to books #5 and #7 (Past Tense and The Double Life) in that it explores what makes his protagonist tick.

"In a book, you can make anything happen," says Goldberg. "I could go back and show why Sloan became a detective in the first place—who he is and why. I was freed by not having the limitation of a TV show and its set of restrictions."

Does Goldberg have a favorite aspect of Dr. Sloan's character?

"His ability to be serious and funny," says Goldberg. "To walk a fine line between both."

Lee Goldberg is a novelist and television producer. His two careers merged when he began writing the Diagnosis Murder series of original novels, based on the hit CBS TV mystery. His TV work has earned him two Edgar Award nominations. Readers can post questions about the series and join a discussion with Goldberg by visiting his forum.