Guest Post: Kirsten McKenzie talks about The Origin Of Doctor Perry

Hey Bookworms!

Today I have the pleasure of hosting Author Kirsten McKenzie as a guest on the blog. Her book, Doctor Perry releases soon!

She'll be introducing us to Doctor Perry soon! 

But before that, let's get to know her a bit better!

About the Author:

For many years Kirsten McKenzie worked in her family's antique store, where she went from being allowed to sell the 50c postcards as a child, to selling $5,000 Worcester vases and seventeenth century silverware, providing a unique insight into the world of antiques which touches every aspect of her writing.

Her historical fiction novels 'Fifteen Postcards' and it's sequel 'The Last Letter' have been described as 'Time Travellers Wife meets Far Pavilions', and 'Antiques Roadshow gone viral'. The third book in the series 'Telegram Home' will be released in November 2018 by Accent Press.

Her bestselling gothic horror novel 'Painted' was released in 2017, with her medical thriller 'Doctor Perry' following closely in April 2018.


She lives in New Zealand with her husband, her daughters, an SPCA rescue cat and a kitten found in the neighbour's shed, and can usually be found procrastinating on Twitter.

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Now, let's hear (read?) the story of the origin of Doctor Perry!

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After my father died unexpectedly, my brother and I both quit our jobs with the New Zealand Customs Service to run the family antique store. I’ve always been in love with old things, so it wasn’t a hardship for me. I can recall a story from when I was younger, of my father buying a Lladro statue off a regular customer and some time later the police visiting the shop and telling Dad that the regular customer — a well dressed, middle aged woman, was stealing from the rest home she worked in, and selling the stolen belongings all around town, including selling Dad the Lladro statue. That story stayed with me and made me think how easy it must be to steal from the elderly, when ever-changing staff are in and out of their rooms, and perhaps the residents are a bit befuddled in their old age, and their families never visit to query the missing china statue or the gold watch or the pearl necklace? My grandmother suffered from Alzheimers, and her pearl necklace did go missing at some stage. Whether it was the staff, or whether she put it somewhere ‘safe' we’ll never know. 

I tend to store these little life snippets, and when I sit down to write, it’s a bit like opening a drawer, and rummaging through all the thoughts and memories and life experiences until just the right thing jumps out, and then I use that in my writing.

My mother is now at the stage of looking to move to a retirement village, so she and I have been touring all the rest homes, retirement resorts, and secure apartments for the older person in Auckland. And I can tell you, not all of them are created equal. 

There are some which do have an all pervasive scent of urine and cabbage. There are some which are more like hotels, and I’d be happy to move there in a heartbeat. There are some which are so old, the Fire Service are terrified of a fire breaking out there because they know they wouldn’t be able to save all the residents in time. 

Imagine that? Imagine going to a call out where you know the place is so old, and so unsafe, yet it’s still allowed to operate as a facility for the elderly? How can any government allow that?

My grandmother lived in her secure facility for ten years, and my mother visited her every week. I visited, taking my young children with me. At times my girls would get scared by some of the other residents. But what was scarier, and sadder, were the number of patients with dementia who never had any visitors — residents abandoned by their families. That alone was enough to sow the seeds for Doctor Perry. An unscrupulous nursing home, or doctor, could easily take advantage of a whole sector of society abandoned by their loved ones. My grandmother’s carers were an amazing group of people. And they loved her like she was a member of their own family. But not all elderly people are so lucky. Maybe the words between the pages of Doctor Perry will make some people question the facilities their loved ones live in, or maybe it will up the number of visits! Either way, in my heart I hope readers of Doctor Perry feel just as aghast at the treatment of the residents at the Rose Have Retirement Home as I did writing it, because it’s not that far removed from reality for some people. Fact is often scarier than fiction…

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I agree with Kirsten on that. Fact is almost always scarier than fiction!

Here's some info about Doctor Perry (the book!):

Under the Hippocratic Oath, a doctor swears to remember that warmth, sympathy, and understanding may outweigh the surgeon’s knife or the chemist’s drug.

Doctor Perry assures his elderly patients at the Rose Haven Retirement Home that he can offer warmth, sympathy, and understanding. Doctor Perry is a liar.

Hiding from a traumatic past, Elijah Cone wants nothing to do with the other residents at the Rose Haven, content to sit at his window waiting to die. He’s about to learn that under Doctor Perry death is the easy option...

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