The Clock is Ticking is a contemporary, character-driven murder mystery that takes place in the heart of the biotech industry in Cambridge, Massachusetts during the Covid-19 Pandemic. Police Detectives Danny Quinn and Joy Seiden are called to investigate the death of Dr. Arthur Rosen, a geneticist who was found under the M.I.T. Boathouse ramp on the Charles River. Dr. Rosen worked for DNA Therapeutics, a biotech company on the cutting edge of CRISPR technology which is used to find cures for diseases utilizing gene editing. At the time of his death, the company was waiting for approval to start their human clinical trial designed to treat Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, Lou Gehrig's Disease. William Martindale, a wealthy entrepreneur living in Aspen, Colorado has the hereditary form of ALS. He has just begun to have symptoms and knows how long he has before the end stages of the disease ravage his body and cognitive abilities. His only chance is to get into the upcoming DNA Therapeutics clinical trial. He had recently divorced his wife for fear that she would leave him like his mother had left his father. He is in love and presently living with Marni Bloom a psychologist who is presently researching methods to treat PTSD, Depression, and Anxiety Disorders. Dr. Rosen's wife, Anna is a beautiful and somewhat mysterious woman who was clearly not above suspicion. There were too many details about her past relationships and background to clear her as a suspect.
The investigators are led through a web of legal and biotechnical intrigue in the backdrop of the Covid-19 Pandemic and political unrest not only in the United States but globally as well. By digging deep into the case and recruiting the assistance of the FBI and an unlikely private investigator, Detectives Quinn and Seiden believe they have finally found justice for Dr. Rosen's death. The outcome of their efforts is not what they expected.