A Cause and Manner is a noir thriller featuring suspense, dark humour and physicians behaving badly.

Matthew Kork is an anesthesiologist at a Canadian community hospital. There is tension in the operating room between Matt and an elitist surgeon, Angelo Amodeo. There is also tension between Matt and his wife, whom he suspects of having an affair. Her boyfriend dies in what looks like a staged suicide. Angelo disappears next. Matt is either responsible for these events or wished for them hard enough.

Matt is also the local coroner and is assigned to investigate the boyfriend's death. Despite the obvious conflict of interest, he accepts the case and brings in a verdict of suicide. The decedent's family launches a wrongful death lawsuit. At the hearing, their lawyer is on the verge of discovering the love affair that would have given Matt a motive for murder. He admits to all the allegations against him to bring the proceedings to a close. This by no means confirms his guilt.

Peter Tinits is a physician in Ontario, Canada. A Cause and Manner is his debut novel. The book title is taken from coroners’ parlance for findings made at the conclusion of an investigation. The storyline features authentic details and gallows humour that only an insider would know. The question of whether murder can be justified, if it is well earned, remains unanswered.

Advance Praise for A CAUSE and MANNER

Bloody good —Sebringville Star

Effing great —Mennonite Gazette

You have to read this one. Very effing great —Mitchell Times

I had my heart in my mouth —13th Dalai Lama

So-so, if you’ve seen everything on Netflix —Cal Malinkowski

Strong writing, if you like that kind of thing —Charles Hamilton, Hamilton House

Pretty darn good —Nijole Tinits

Passable first effort —Lila Cook, Nijole’s sister

Not that bad —Peterborough Anarchists Motorcycle Club

I liked the hockey chapter —Father O’Brien, Coach, Coventry Minor Bantam Hockey

No blood or blood products —The Watchtower

I would rather have a root canal —Mark Straus DDS

I’m a better writer —Hawthorne Didier

It’s no Duddy Kravitz —Yale Erenberg MD

Smut and filth —Smiths Falls Literary Review

Matthias Kork, Investigating Coroner