| If your pulse quickens for ER on Thursday nights, you'll want a dose of Timothy Sheard's medicine. Rocky Mountain News. FULL REVIEWS BELOW |
Some Cuts Never Heal - the second Lenny Moss novel,
finds our hero in a sour mood. The bosses have been
working people to death, filling up beds before they get
a chance to cool from the body just taken away. So
Lenny convinces his co-workers to pretend that there's
a living patient in a bed, just to give them a break for a
few hours.
Big mistake. Find out how much trouble he and his
friends get into in this rapid fire whodunit. Meet the rich,
dirty old man who pays Dr. Kadish a cool million dollars
cash to give him a new set of heart and lungs . . . And
liver and kidney!
It's a wild ride for our hero and his friends. How does
Lenny even find time to go on his first date? But he
does, and the results are . . . Well, you'll have to turn
the pages to find out.
Also available from:
Union Communications
finds our hero in a sour mood. The bosses have been
working people to death, filling up beds before they get
a chance to cool from the body just taken away. So
Lenny convinces his co-workers to pretend that there's
a living patient in a bed, just to give them a break for a
few hours.
Big mistake. Find out how much trouble he and his
friends get into in this rapid fire whodunit. Meet the rich,
dirty old man who pays Dr. Kadish a cool million dollars
cash to give him a new set of heart and lungs . . . And
liver and kidney!
It's a wild ride for our hero and his friends. How does
Lenny even find time to go on his first date? But he
does, and the results are . . . Well, you'll have to turn
the pages to find out.
Also available from:
Union Communications
| Return to Home Page |
COMPLETE REVIEWS
Publishers Weekly, January 6, 2003
Lenny Moss, the hero of Sheard¹s This Won¹t Hurt a Bit (2001), returns in this engrossing, well-researched
medical thriller. The board of directors of Philadelphia¹s James Madison University Hospital desperately need a
new source of revenue. Dr. Martin Kadish, a decidedly egomaniacal surgeon, opts to attempt a risky,
revolutionary new procedure involving quadruple-organ transplants. If successful, the procedure will bring him
international renown and earn the hospital millions of dollars. Before Kadish can wield his scalpel, a young
pharmaceutical representative is found dead in a patient¹s bed. The bad publicity will ruin the hospital¹s
reputation.
Enter Lenny Moss, custodian, union rep and amateur sleuth, who¹s determined to solve the case and bring the
killer to justice. Sheard, a critical care nurse with 30 years experience, knows his way around an operating room,
and doesn't hesitate to describe in sanguinary detail the ins and outs‹literally‹of medical
procedure. Thus, the novel¹s effectiveness will depend on the reader¹s squeamishness level. This well-plotted
page-turner is guaranteed to scare the bejesus out of anyone anticipating a hospital stay anytime in the near
future.
LIBRARY JOURNAL, December 2, 2002
Hospital maintenance worker Lenny Moss (This Won't Hurt a Bit) is also a union representative widely popular
with hospital employees. Unfortunately, a harmless prank backfires on him when a young drug representative
dies in an empty room supposedly occupied by an actual patient. Lenny investigates not only the dead woman's
possible murder but also a doctor's unethical approaches to getting an organ donor for his wealthy patient,
gathering bits of information from his contacts to make things right and stop the killer. Drawing on 30 years'
experience as a critical care nurse, Sheard provides realistic details of hospital routine and budget-cutting
politics. Other bonuses are polished prose and elements of warmth and humor. Strongly recommended for most
mystery collections.
Rocky Mountain News, January 17, 2003
If your pulse quickens for ER on Thursday nights, you'll want a dose of Timothy Sheard's medicine in Some Cuts
Never Heal. The inside workings of a big-city hospital, including graphic
descriptions of yucky procedures and what the staff does to clean up while the glamorous docs are on the golf
course, are the heartbeat of this book.
Sheard, a veteran critical-care nurse in New York City, gives descriptions of what a gastroenterologist does that
you won't want to read during lunch, but his insider's view makes this book worth reading. Sheard's blue-collar
characters are wonderfully recognizable, although the characters he doesn't like – arrogant doctors and mean
administrators - come off a bit stiff. …The well-meaning, hard-working hospital folks will warm your heart, while
the cold realities of modern medical care will raise your blood pressure and keep you turning the pages.
When a drug company rep dies in an unassigned hospital bed, union steward Lenny Moss gets involved to
protect co-workers whose jobs may be on the line. Lenny is a custodian with a
reputation for problem-solving, from how to help the woman in the laundry whose husband is beating her, to how
to get the administration to let the rank and file attend a co-worker's funeral. Lenny makes cleaning up around
the hospital look almost fun. He's a working-class hero who gets locked in a morgue freezer when somebody
wants to slow him down - permanently. But with friends throughout the hospital, it's not long before someone
rescues him in time for him to complete his investigation and wind up the story with a big-bang finish.
Mark Graham Jane Dickinson Peter Mergendahl Joan Hinkemeyer Natalie Soto
THE HARTFORD COURANT, December 15, 2002
By ELAINE ROUNDS BUDD
If you're a devotee of TV's "ER," you'll devour "Some Cuts Never Heal" by Timothy Sheard (Carroll & Graf, $24).
This book is more graphic in taking the reader through surgeries and autopsies than would be acceptable on TV.
In fact Sheard, a 30-year critical-care nurse, vividly takes the pulse of James Madison University Hospital in much
the same way "ER" seduces viewers with the inner life of the emergency room.…
The earthy dialogue of the non-medical staff humanizes the hospital's workday…This is a really good yarn, if that
isn't too old-fashioned a phrase.
Elaine Rounds Budd is a free-lance writer who lives in East Haddarn.
Kate’s Mystery Books Newsletter
…Our favorite union representative for the unionized workers at James Madison University Hospital is back in
Some Cuts Never Heal (Carroll & Graf, $24.00). Lenny knows better than anyone that a little prank can go awry.
One goes horribly awry when the body of a young female pharmaceutical representative turns up in a supposedly
empty hospital room. Unfortunately the staff has been ordering meals and supplies to that room so, of course,
who are the prime suspects? Lenny knows that some of his co-workers goof off sometimes, but he doubts one of
them is a murderer. However, to get his friends off the hook, Lenny will have to find the real killer.
Meanwhile, an egomaniacal surgeon claims to have perfected a new technique that will save the most
desperately ill patients. The hospital administration is naturally delighted. Against this backdrop, Lenny carries
out his investigation while, at the same time, mourning the loss of a friend and the dangerous results of his
investigation.
Sheard …has done a fine job of bringing alive those numerous men and women we never see—from dietary to
laundry to maintenance who do the hospital’s invisible work. I look forward to more Lenny Moss mysteries. (The
Lawyer, 5 Cats)
Challenge Newspaper
SOME CUTS NEVER HEAL Mystery and Class Struggle: Lenny Moss Returns
Lenny Moss is the type of shop steward I'd want representing me if I got in hot water with management. He's also
a savvy detective. This book combines two great interests of mine: solving mysteries and seeing workers band
together to fight for their rights.
The story is set in a large public hospital in Philadelphia where Lenny is a shop steward, a janitor and a detective,
in that order. This is Timothy Sheard's second mystery with Lenny Moss as his detective. Although references
are made to the first book, you can enjoy this one without having read the other.
An attractive female pharmaceutical representative is found murdered in a vacant room on the ward where Lenny
works. Woven in is a realistic story of workers dealing with staff cutbacks, asinine bosses, greedy doctors and a
hospital management striving for greater profits and prestige rather than guaranteeing decent patient care.
Lenny does not sugarcoat or romanticize workers. He's fully aware of his own shortcomings, as well as those of
his co-workers. What's refreshing is that the workers are not viewed as "deadbeats" or "problems" or "slackers."
They have good and bad traits. Lenny looks for the good in his fellow workers and tries to help everyone, not to
judge them. Consequently, although "just a janitor," he's respected by many throughout the hospital -- nurses,
security guards, orderlies and even some doctors.
However, he's feared by management. Why? Because he organizes the workers in a collective way to fight the
bosses. Although Lenny is the principal detective, he couldn't solve the murder without many co-workers
constantly feeding him needed information, nor without his friends, who save his life twice. The crime solving is a
collective effort.
One example of this collectivity occurs when the workers, overcoming many obstacles, try to get time off for a co-
worker's funeral during the middle of the day. Lenny first appeals to the Housekeeping Supervisor who threatens
to write up everybody if they're late returning from lunch. The head of Security is similarly very nasty. Then he
goes to Freely, head of Human Resources, who will only allow an hour maximum. Lenny decides to gather as
many workers as possible to meet in the lobby on the day of the funeral and confront Freely. A worker-filled lobby
forces the extra time out of Freely for both the service and dinner/discussion afterwards.
With short chapters, the book is very readable, engaging and suspenseful. The hospital conditions dealing with
staff shortages, organ transplants, grabbing prestige and headlines over patient care make it very relevant. It's
hard putting the book down. I raced through it but hated to see it end. This is no surprise as the author is a 30-
year veteran as a critical-care nurse. The hospital scenes ring true. For mystery lovers, this one's a must!
SUN SPOTS Newsletter, Saskatchewan Union of Nurses
When I first began to read this excellent novel, I couldn't put it down, anxiously wanting to turn the page to find out
what was going to happen next.
Some Cuts Never Heal, the second novel by Timothy Sheard, RN, is a fascinating look at the goings-on in a major
American hospital. The hero in the book, Lenny Moss, a custodian, union rep and amateur sleuth, leaves no
stone unturned in his quest to solve a murder in a hospital, after police think they have solved the crime by
charging a recently discharged hospital employee.
Sheard filled me with sympathy for the hardworking health care workers, each of which do their part in healing
their patients. But what struck me most of all was how a handful of health care providers stood up to
management, forcing them to allow the workers to go to the funeral of one of their own.
Lenny Moss and his co-workers bend the rules just enough to figure out whodunnit in this fast-paced, 80-chapter
work of fiction.
While the book may seem like fiction to me, Registered Nurses and Registered Psychiatric Nurses will notice
some similarities to where they work, such as short-staffing and working double shifts, as well as understand
more of the nursing lingo, some of which clearly went over my head.
Timothy Sheard is a Registered Nurse with more than 30 years of experience in critical care. He currently works
at State University of New York/ Downstate Hospital where he is Assistant Director of Infection Control.I can't wait
for the third novel in the series. George Manz, Communications ERO
•
Working Class Studies Bulletin Board Post
“The college prep program which i coordinate just finished using the work of a contemporary writer you may want
to check out. His name is Timothy Sheard. He is a infection control nurse with 30 years experience who has
written three murder mysteries (two published, one in contract) which twist the genre in interesting ways.
“His protagonist is neither a super-sleuth nor a world weary cynic. He's a worker on the janitorial staff of an urban
hospital. Because he's a dedicated shop steward, he cannot escape feeling responsible for the fate of his
members. In the first book, "this won't hurt a bit," when one of the hospital workers is unjustly accused of a
murder, Lenny Moss takes on the task of trying to find the real murderer.
“His success depends not upon his superior intellect or skills of detection, but rather upon his horizontal chain of
connections Throughout the hospital, the conventionally "invisible" workers see everything and become the
source of valuable information about the prime suspects. Our students loved the book, and after I contacted him
(he lives and works in Brooklyn), he agreed to come up and spend time with all our students. They were thrilled.
“This guy is flipping the script of the murder mystery in interesting ways that invoke aspects of U.S. Proletarian
lit.”
Leo Parascondola, Director, CUNY.
Publishers Weekly, January 6, 2003
Lenny Moss, the hero of Sheard¹s This Won¹t Hurt a Bit (2001), returns in this engrossing, well-researched
medical thriller. The board of directors of Philadelphia¹s James Madison University Hospital desperately need a
new source of revenue. Dr. Martin Kadish, a decidedly egomaniacal surgeon, opts to attempt a risky,
revolutionary new procedure involving quadruple-organ transplants. If successful, the procedure will bring him
international renown and earn the hospital millions of dollars. Before Kadish can wield his scalpel, a young
pharmaceutical representative is found dead in a patient¹s bed. The bad publicity will ruin the hospital¹s
reputation.
Enter Lenny Moss, custodian, union rep and amateur sleuth, who¹s determined to solve the case and bring the
killer to justice. Sheard, a critical care nurse with 30 years experience, knows his way around an operating room,
and doesn't hesitate to describe in sanguinary detail the ins and outs‹literally‹of medical
procedure. Thus, the novel¹s effectiveness will depend on the reader¹s squeamishness level. This well-plotted
page-turner is guaranteed to scare the bejesus out of anyone anticipating a hospital stay anytime in the near
future.
LIBRARY JOURNAL, December 2, 2002
Hospital maintenance worker Lenny Moss (This Won't Hurt a Bit) is also a union representative widely popular
with hospital employees. Unfortunately, a harmless prank backfires on him when a young drug representative
dies in an empty room supposedly occupied by an actual patient. Lenny investigates not only the dead woman's
possible murder but also a doctor's unethical approaches to getting an organ donor for his wealthy patient,
gathering bits of information from his contacts to make things right and stop the killer. Drawing on 30 years'
experience as a critical care nurse, Sheard provides realistic details of hospital routine and budget-cutting
politics. Other bonuses are polished prose and elements of warmth and humor. Strongly recommended for most
mystery collections.
Rocky Mountain News, January 17, 2003
If your pulse quickens for ER on Thursday nights, you'll want a dose of Timothy Sheard's medicine in Some Cuts
Never Heal. The inside workings of a big-city hospital, including graphic
descriptions of yucky procedures and what the staff does to clean up while the glamorous docs are on the golf
course, are the heartbeat of this book.
Sheard, a veteran critical-care nurse in New York City, gives descriptions of what a gastroenterologist does that
you won't want to read during lunch, but his insider's view makes this book worth reading. Sheard's blue-collar
characters are wonderfully recognizable, although the characters he doesn't like – arrogant doctors and mean
administrators - come off a bit stiff. …The well-meaning, hard-working hospital folks will warm your heart, while
the cold realities of modern medical care will raise your blood pressure and keep you turning the pages.
When a drug company rep dies in an unassigned hospital bed, union steward Lenny Moss gets involved to
protect co-workers whose jobs may be on the line. Lenny is a custodian with a
reputation for problem-solving, from how to help the woman in the laundry whose husband is beating her, to how
to get the administration to let the rank and file attend a co-worker's funeral. Lenny makes cleaning up around
the hospital look almost fun. He's a working-class hero who gets locked in a morgue freezer when somebody
wants to slow him down - permanently. But with friends throughout the hospital, it's not long before someone
rescues him in time for him to complete his investigation and wind up the story with a big-bang finish.
Mark Graham Jane Dickinson Peter Mergendahl Joan Hinkemeyer Natalie Soto
THE HARTFORD COURANT, December 15, 2002
By ELAINE ROUNDS BUDD
If you're a devotee of TV's "ER," you'll devour "Some Cuts Never Heal" by Timothy Sheard (Carroll & Graf, $24).
This book is more graphic in taking the reader through surgeries and autopsies than would be acceptable on TV.
In fact Sheard, a 30-year critical-care nurse, vividly takes the pulse of James Madison University Hospital in much
the same way "ER" seduces viewers with the inner life of the emergency room.…
The earthy dialogue of the non-medical staff humanizes the hospital's workday…This is a really good yarn, if that
isn't too old-fashioned a phrase.
Elaine Rounds Budd is a free-lance writer who lives in East Haddarn.
Kate’s Mystery Books Newsletter
…Our favorite union representative for the unionized workers at James Madison University Hospital is back in
Some Cuts Never Heal (Carroll & Graf, $24.00). Lenny knows better than anyone that a little prank can go awry.
One goes horribly awry when the body of a young female pharmaceutical representative turns up in a supposedly
empty hospital room. Unfortunately the staff has been ordering meals and supplies to that room so, of course,
who are the prime suspects? Lenny knows that some of his co-workers goof off sometimes, but he doubts one of
them is a murderer. However, to get his friends off the hook, Lenny will have to find the real killer.
Meanwhile, an egomaniacal surgeon claims to have perfected a new technique that will save the most
desperately ill patients. The hospital administration is naturally delighted. Against this backdrop, Lenny carries
out his investigation while, at the same time, mourning the loss of a friend and the dangerous results of his
investigation.
Sheard …has done a fine job of bringing alive those numerous men and women we never see—from dietary to
laundry to maintenance who do the hospital’s invisible work. I look forward to more Lenny Moss mysteries. (The
Lawyer, 5 Cats)
Challenge Newspaper
SOME CUTS NEVER HEAL Mystery and Class Struggle: Lenny Moss Returns
Lenny Moss is the type of shop steward I'd want representing me if I got in hot water with management. He's also
a savvy detective. This book combines two great interests of mine: solving mysteries and seeing workers band
together to fight for their rights.
The story is set in a large public hospital in Philadelphia where Lenny is a shop steward, a janitor and a detective,
in that order. This is Timothy Sheard's second mystery with Lenny Moss as his detective. Although references
are made to the first book, you can enjoy this one without having read the other.
An attractive female pharmaceutical representative is found murdered in a vacant room on the ward where Lenny
works. Woven in is a realistic story of workers dealing with staff cutbacks, asinine bosses, greedy doctors and a
hospital management striving for greater profits and prestige rather than guaranteeing decent patient care.
Lenny does not sugarcoat or romanticize workers. He's fully aware of his own shortcomings, as well as those of
his co-workers. What's refreshing is that the workers are not viewed as "deadbeats" or "problems" or "slackers."
They have good and bad traits. Lenny looks for the good in his fellow workers and tries to help everyone, not to
judge them. Consequently, although "just a janitor," he's respected by many throughout the hospital -- nurses,
security guards, orderlies and even some doctors.
However, he's feared by management. Why? Because he organizes the workers in a collective way to fight the
bosses. Although Lenny is the principal detective, he couldn't solve the murder without many co-workers
constantly feeding him needed information, nor without his friends, who save his life twice. The crime solving is a
collective effort.
One example of this collectivity occurs when the workers, overcoming many obstacles, try to get time off for a co-
worker's funeral during the middle of the day. Lenny first appeals to the Housekeeping Supervisor who threatens
to write up everybody if they're late returning from lunch. The head of Security is similarly very nasty. Then he
goes to Freely, head of Human Resources, who will only allow an hour maximum. Lenny decides to gather as
many workers as possible to meet in the lobby on the day of the funeral and confront Freely. A worker-filled lobby
forces the extra time out of Freely for both the service and dinner/discussion afterwards.
With short chapters, the book is very readable, engaging and suspenseful. The hospital conditions dealing with
staff shortages, organ transplants, grabbing prestige and headlines over patient care make it very relevant. It's
hard putting the book down. I raced through it but hated to see it end. This is no surprise as the author is a 30-
year veteran as a critical-care nurse. The hospital scenes ring true. For mystery lovers, this one's a must!
SUN SPOTS Newsletter, Saskatchewan Union of Nurses
When I first began to read this excellent novel, I couldn't put it down, anxiously wanting to turn the page to find out
what was going to happen next.
Some Cuts Never Heal, the second novel by Timothy Sheard, RN, is a fascinating look at the goings-on in a major
American hospital. The hero in the book, Lenny Moss, a custodian, union rep and amateur sleuth, leaves no
stone unturned in his quest to solve a murder in a hospital, after police think they have solved the crime by
charging a recently discharged hospital employee.
Sheard filled me with sympathy for the hardworking health care workers, each of which do their part in healing
their patients. But what struck me most of all was how a handful of health care providers stood up to
management, forcing them to allow the workers to go to the funeral of one of their own.
Lenny Moss and his co-workers bend the rules just enough to figure out whodunnit in this fast-paced, 80-chapter
work of fiction.
While the book may seem like fiction to me, Registered Nurses and Registered Psychiatric Nurses will notice
some similarities to where they work, such as short-staffing and working double shifts, as well as understand
more of the nursing lingo, some of which clearly went over my head.
Timothy Sheard is a Registered Nurse with more than 30 years of experience in critical care. He currently works
at State University of New York/ Downstate Hospital where he is Assistant Director of Infection Control.I can't wait
for the third novel in the series. George Manz, Communications ERO
•
Working Class Studies Bulletin Board Post
“The college prep program which i coordinate just finished using the work of a contemporary writer you may want
to check out. His name is Timothy Sheard. He is a infection control nurse with 30 years experience who has
written three murder mysteries (two published, one in contract) which twist the genre in interesting ways.
“His protagonist is neither a super-sleuth nor a world weary cynic. He's a worker on the janitorial staff of an urban
hospital. Because he's a dedicated shop steward, he cannot escape feeling responsible for the fate of his
members. In the first book, "this won't hurt a bit," when one of the hospital workers is unjustly accused of a
murder, Lenny Moss takes on the task of trying to find the real murderer.
“His success depends not upon his superior intellect or skills of detection, but rather upon his horizontal chain of
connections Throughout the hospital, the conventionally "invisible" workers see everything and become the
source of valuable information about the prime suspects. Our students loved the book, and after I contacted him
(he lives and works in Brooklyn), he agreed to come up and spend time with all our students. They were thrilled.
“This guy is flipping the script of the murder mystery in interesting ways that invoke aspects of U.S. Proletarian
lit.”
Leo Parascondola, Director, CUNY.
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