A Gift of Life

About the Book

Call it blood money.

The murder of Dr. Bud Marlowe, a blood bank inspector for the National Institutes of Health, propels New York City detective Jack Morison into a mystery that reveals syndicated crime can infiltrate even the most trusted industry.

The murder investigation leads Morrison to connections with other blood-related crimes. The death of a glass blower who suffers a heart attack while fashioning false bottoms in blood storage bottles and the disappearance of two men. One, a sleazy owner of a blood bank and the other, a wino who donated blood for ready cash. Morrison soon discovers that blood can be used for purposes never mentioned in medical textbooks.

About the Author

Robert Pennington is a retired (director grade) Public Health Service officer, who served at the National Institutes of Health from 1954 until retirement in 1974. His blood bank experience was with the Division of Biologics Standards from 1963 to 1967. He was a certified Blood Bank Inspector and Chief of the Diagnostic Reagents Section of the Laboratory of Blood and Blood Products. He transferred to the Blood Program of the National Heart and Lung Institute in 1967. He was appointed the Executive Liaison to the National Blood Resources Panel charged with developing a program plan for the President's National Blood Policy (Public Law 92-423). The plan was published on April 6, 1973, and submitted to the Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare for review and approval by the President. Upon retirement from the PHS, Pennington was employed by the National Red Cross Blood Program in Washington, D.C. He served as an Assistant Scientific Director to Tibor Greenwalt, M.D., the Medical Director of the Red Cross Blood Program. From 1979 until 1989 he served as the Personnel Officer of Frederick Community College. Pennington has lived in Braddock Heights, Maryland, since 1951.