Featured Author: Jeff Benedict with Poisoned: The True Story of the Deadly E. Coli Outbreak That Changed the Way Americans Eat

Jeff Benedict is considered one of America’s top non-fiction writers. He is the author of nine books including bestsellers Little Pink House, Without Reservation, and Pros and Cons. His reporting has been the basis of feature segments on 60 Minutes, ABC’s 20/20, Dateline NBC, HBO’s Real Sports, and the Discovery Channel. He is a contributor for Sports Illustrated and The Deseret News and his articles have also been published in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Newsweek and The Hartford Courant. He has a law degree and is a Distinguished Professor of English at Southern Virginia University.

About Poisoned:  The True Story of the Deadly E. Coli Outbreak That Changed the Way Americans Eat
“Your perfect beach book has arrived. With Poisoned, Jeff Benedict manages to deliver the full literary experience of a medico-legal thriller in a work of nonfiction that, fortuitously enough, could not be more relevant to recent headlines.”—The New York Times

In this riveting work of narrative nonfiction, award-winning journalist and best-selling author Jeff Benedict chronicles the events surrounding the biggest food-poisoning epidemic in US history and how this unprecedented crisis sparked public awareness about unsanitary practices in the fast food industry. Poisoned draws on access to confidential documents and exclusive interviews with the real-life characters at the center of the drama, including:

• Roni Rudolph, the determined mother of the first E. coli victim, who would go on to become a food safety activist.
• Bob Nugent, the blindsided CEO of Jack in the Box who never dreamed that undercooked meat could kill.
• Brianne Kiner, a little girl sickened with E. coli who miraculously recovered from the brink of death, and her mother Suzanne Kiner, a woman determined to make the food industry listen to her daughter’s story.
• Dave Theno, the scientist hired by Jack in the Box to design new safety procedures for the entire industry.
• Bob Piper, Jack-in-the-Box’s larger-than-life defense attorney.
• Bill Marler, the young maverick lawyer representing Brianne Kiner, whose audacious and unconventional tactics would win her the largest class action settlement in Washington state history.