Control Group

After a paralyzing family tragedy shatters Dr. Cooper McKay’s life, big pharma hires him to sell doctors on a safe, effective new drug. It is not. McKay must choose between supporting a company with a promising cancer cure or an FBI informant with his own versions of the truth. One thing he does know—billion-dollar drugs don’t go down without a fight.

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Command and Control

Mackie’s Back!

Doctor Cooper “Mackie” McKay’s plans for a peaceful retirement are once again derailed when he saves a young man’s life on an inbound flight. Instead of gratitude, however, he ignites the suspicions of the U.S. government.

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Blood Money

Doctor Cooper “Mackie” McKay is a surgeon caught between bad love and bad luck. When his ex-wife’s body is unceremoniously crammed into the trunk of his car, and her veins infused with the synthetic blood product they patented together, the police identify him as the primary suspect. Investigators point to their rocky relationship and his ex-wife’s thirty million dollar bank account as a motive. To clear his name, McKay must delve into his ex-wife’s past, discovering a sordid double life and a military secret so deadly it affects the entire country. Threats escalate to himself and then to his family as he exposes her secret, ultimately forcing him to choose between his life and that of his long-time friend. Available at:    Read an Excerpt: Chapter One The handcuffs cut into Doctor Cooper McKay’s wrists each time he shifted in the back seat. He kept his mouth shut, swallowing the pain that ripped through his shoulder. Nashville Police Officer Lance Pennington glanced in the rearview mirror, a smirk flickering in his gaze. Doctor McKay purposely ignored the man. McKay’s thoughts raced. Fast. Frantic. He struggled to regain his composure and his wits. Don’t react, he cautioned himself. Just think. His surgical training had prepared him to stay cool in a crisis. Thirty years in operating rooms had honed those skills, but calm was easier to produce when someone else’s family was in crisis. He continued to ignore Officer Pennington, staring out the window at the hospital entrance instead. On any other Friday morning, the police would still be waiting for him, after being informed that Doctor McKay was halfway through his first surgical case. Last week, all of that had changed with his long–awaited retirement. His heart hammered with anxiety when he considered all that he had left behind. And what remained. “Has anyone told Reagan?” he asked. Officer Pennington flicked a glance at the rearview mirror. “Reagan?” “My daughter.” McKay swallowed, mouth dry with dread. “Our daughter. She’s in her junior year, but she’s studying abroad this semester.” He stared, not really seeing the entrance to the hospital. “This is going to kill her.” Pennington cleared his throat. “You are aware, Dr. McKay, that anything you say can and probably will be used against you in a court of law. Until your lawyer arrives, you may want to sit back and shut the hell up.” For the first time since the police...
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About Stephen

Photo courtesy of Steve Wood, UAB News Dr. Stephen W. Russell is an award-winning Physician and author. He is an Associate Professor of Internal Medicine and Pediatrics at the University of Alabama-Birmingham (UAB), caring for patients of all ages in the clinic as well as the hospital. In a survey of his peers published annually in Birmingham Magazine, he has been repeatedly recognized as one of the city’s “Top Doctors”. Dr. Russell also has a passion for medical student and resident education, having twice been recognized at a top-ten teacher in the UAB Department of Medicine. Prior to that, he received the outstanding faculty teacher in the Department of Medicine at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. Dr. Russell has used his dual board certification in Pediatrics and Internal Medicine, along with his direct exposure to the pharmaceutical industry, to write the Mackie McKay series. He is a devoted student of writing, previously winning the Santa Barbara Writers Conference 2008 Paul Lazaras Award and was a finalist for the conference’s 2008 Dennis Lynds Scholarship for mystery writing. He lives in Birmingham, Alabama with his wife, 4 children, and two relentlessly-chewing lab puppies. He is working in his next Mackie McKay...
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