Bitter Medicine

V.I. Warshawski #4

by Sara Paretsky

New York Times bestselling author Sara Paretsky's fourth V.I. Warshawski novel

Private eye V.I. Warshawski knows her friend Consuelo's pregnancy is already risky-she's sixteen and diabetic. Despite V.I.'s efforts to provide Consuelo with proper care, both mother and daughter die in the local hospital. Suspecting malpractice, V.I. begins an investigation- and a reluctant romance with an ER doctor. But deadly complications arise when a series of vicious murders and an attack on a women's clinic lead her to suspect a cold-blooded cover-up. And if V.I. isn't careful, she just might have delivered her final case...

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Crime, Mystery Thriller, Thriller, Detective, Audiobook

384 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 1, 1987

About the author

Sara Paretsky is a modern American author of detective fiction. Paretsky was raised in Kansas, and graduated from the state university with a degree in political science. She did community service work on the south side of Chicago in 1966 and returned in 1968 to work there. She ultimately completed a Ph.D. in history at the University of Chicago, entitled The Breakdown of Moral Philosophy in New England Before the Civil War, and finally earned an MBA from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business. Married to a professor of physics at the University of Chicago, she has lived in Chicago since 1968.

The protagonist of all but two of Paretsky's novels is V.I. Warshawski, a female private investigator. Warshawski's eclectic personality defies easy categorization. She drinks Johnnie Walker Black Label, breaks into houses looking for clues, and can hold her own in a street fight, but also she pays attention to her clothes, sings opera along with the radio, and enjoys her sex life.

Paretsky is credited with transforming the role and image of women in the crime novel. The Winter 2007 issue of Clues: A Journal of Detection is devoted to her work.

Her two books that are non-Warshawski novels are : Ghost Country (1998) and Bleeding Kansas (2008).

Reviews

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book Review
4 of 5 stars to Bitter Medicine, the 4th book in the VI Warshawski mystery thriller series by Sara Paretsky. I really enjoyed this book, more than many of the others. In this installment, VI is trying to help out a friend, but things don't go well and both the young girl and her newly born baby die. VI's convinced a malpractice suit against the hospital is the right thing, but she's unsure what's lurking beneath the surface. The best part of this series is the character of Lotty. Lotty's like a mother figure to VI. She is the only person to put VI in her place when she is acting a bit out of control. And when Lotty is in danger, VI is a force to be reckoned with. In this novel, Paretsky takes on health care, clinics, the hospital, insurance, fraud, surgery and policy and procedure. It's a great story, full of deep characters and lots of information about the inner circle of how things really work. A bit dated, given it's nearly 20+ years old, it perhaps still rings a little true these days.

About Me
For those new to me or my reviews... here's the scoop: I read A LOT. I write A LOT. And now I blog A LOT. First the book review goes on Goodreads, and then I send it on over to my WordPress blog at https://thisismytruthnow.com, where you'll also find TV & Film reviews, the revealing and introspective 365 Daily Challenge and lots of blogging about places I've visited all over the world. And you can find all my social media profiles to get the details on the who/what/when/where and my pictures. Leave a comment and let me know what you think. Vote in the poll and ratings. Thanks for stopping by. Note: All written content is my original creation and copyrighted to me, but the graphics and images were linked from other sites and belong to them. Many thanks to their original creators.

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[Phrynne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Number 4 in the series and Sara Paretsky was really getting into her stride by this stage. The story moves fast and it is easy to just sit and read the whole thing straight through! I always find it fun to read a crime story written before the advent of mobile phones and the internet. Being a detective was way more fun back then!
An entertaining read and a great way to happily while away a few pleasant hours.

[Obsidian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sorry, this book started off really well and then floundered in the middle and fell flat at the end.

in this fourth installment in the V.I. Warshawski series, we have V.I. settled in her new co-op and not doing any life or death cases. She gets involved with Lotty's friend's family woes. Teen Counselo is expecting her first child. She has some medical issues (diabetes and other things which is affecting her health due to her pregnancy) and a husband who is pretty worthless and doesn't want to work. When Counselo dies in the hospital after her newborn child also dies, Warshawski at first doesn't think a thing is amiss until a doctor working alongside Lotty turns up beaten and murdered too.

I have to think to myself that this book when it was written (1987) was definitely pushing the envelope. Paretsky, through V.I. talks about abortion and the pro-life movement which I did shake my head at, doesn't seem much changed. Everyone seems pro-life until the baby is born and then it's well you just need to strap on your boots and deal with things. Vic is pretty upfront about being a "radical" and a feminist. But I think that this book also shows how out of touch Vic is with the world and also how her actions (though she thinks that they are benign) affect other people.

Case in point, Vic thinks that since she got a high profile drug dealer less time in prison, he would be willing to talk to her and possibly dime out Counselo's husband about possibly being behind the doctor's death that worked with Lotty. The incident doesn't go off the way that Vic thinks, but the man brings up that he could read contempt on Vic's face the whole time. The whole thing shakes her and it's brought up throughout the book. Honestly, I have to wonder how Vic even kept investigated after a while. She is getting pushed by Lotty, and the dead man's girlfriend to get to the bottom of things.

The case takes a turn and once again we have one of Vic's love interests cautioning her to be careful and not being really appreciative of her job. Also, can I say right now, I am a little over Vic dating people that are tied into her case. Maybe wait to make sure that they are on the up and up. Gah.

We have references to Bobby (thank goodness he is not in here) and we have some new characters, a Black Chicago detective whose name is eluding me right now, and a downstairs neighbor of Vic's that is retired and nosy.

I honestly thought the whole case was a bit confusing and we get data dumped as I like to say via a character we have never met before who I detested (his name is Max and he is dating Lotty). We literally have a gross whose on first thing happening with Max, Murray, and Vic, as those three get increasingly drunk (or at least it read that way) as they explained things to Lotty who was upset about how glib they were all being.

To make matters worse, they set things up to catch the "bad" guys (for no reason I could tell) and then there's a couple of scenes involving a dog that was just devastating and terrible. At least the dog thing gets redeemed by the end of the book though. Up until then I was thinking I was going to just be done with this series.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

How odd another review I wrote disappearing. I am listening to a radio serial and went to check my review which had disappeared?

The story is about V.I investigating a suspicious death in a private hospital. She meets a doctor and discovers a conspiracy.

[Peggy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am disgusted with this book and have decided not to finish reading it. If there is one thing I cannot abide it's an author who pushes her political agenda by means of depicting anyone who holds an opposite view as stupid, mean-spirited, narrow-minded, and evil. Any character who prescribes to the author's view is virtuous, brave, and intelligent. Spare me - if the view is that a pro-life supporter cannot be compassionate and intelligent then I don't need to waste my time reading this.

[lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

"I hardly like to deny an allegation of prettiness. On the other hand, when you are fantastically beautiful, you have to be careful not to use it to dazzle people into overlooking the law."

Last week for my crime fiction module we read Cop Hater, which I decried for its packaging, that mass-market paperback with the author's name dwarfing the novel's actual title. While it wasn't terrible, I still wasn't the biggest fan of it. So when we turned here to Bitter Medicine, I honestly expected, even knowing we were doing feminist interpretations of the genre, much of the same.

But boy, was I wrong. Bitter Medicine really did surprise me. Its legacy in crime fiction is easily traceable, but even at over three decades old, it reads so freshly and so modernly. Its female characters are the real stars here; they all feel so real, and are so automatical from their male counterparts in a way that hasn't been seen yet on this module. Even V.I., tough detective she was, stayed far away from any sort of stereotype. She's a strong, independent woman, yes, but in a way that feels natural and real, rather than as some empowered-seeking construction on the part of the author.

I was also impressed by how much representation was present here, and, again, in a way that felt natural, rather than forced for the sake of saying so. This book was unafraid to tackle instances of racism, classism, and everyday misogyny, not in any kind of vigilance, but because these are issues which do permeate the everyday lives of so many.

I really did have a lot of fun with this one. It was gripping, fast-paced, and just so smart and real. I already know we're going to be having a great class discussion on this later in the week.

[Larry Bassett · Rating 5 out of 5]

The regulars in the series continue to arrive regularly. The first dog appears in this book at the end So far VI has had a new boyfriend in each book. The one this time turns out to be a Doctor Who has taken the wrong turn in life. I know that in the past readings, I have always been aware that she has a rather lax moral code about following the law about breaking and entering. Probably, she will get a new set of pick locks in the next book!
_________________
Here I am listening to the audible versions of the VI. Warshawski series more than 10 years later. And the audible version of this book was created in 2010 and it seems that a number of books in the series was recorded in that year.

An amazing amount of time in this book is covering our heroine undertaking breaking and enterings or being a victim of breakings and enterings. Her techniques in the process, and her planning of law violations are given a good deal of attention, and generally are how she gathers information to solve the case.

I continue to be blessed with a limited or absent memory of these books, read a decade ago. In a strange way they are quite familiar and a pleasant remembrance without actually remembering the story as it develops. Looking at the list of these audible books about Vic that I have lined up for future listening, I clearly still have the bug for Paretsky.

——————————-

This is book #4 of the V.I. Warshawski series and was published back in the days when Paretsky books were smaller and shorter. This one is 222 pages in the original hardback version published in 1987, an amazing twenty-five years ago. What were you reading in 1987? I will be interested to see how her “bigger” books compare to these early ones.

Reading this series is a part of my search for women authors who have mystery or crime stories with strong and, am I asking too much, feminist protagonists. So far this series is still in the running for best of breed.

In my book, one of the best things about V.I. is that she has the right politics.

Americans have never been very understanding of poverty, but since Reagan was elected it’s become a crime almost as bad as child-molesting.

But sometimes Paretsky can get carried away with her causes. For example, she evidently supports the pro-choice abortion position, a position common among feminists.

{Dieter Monkfish, head of Ick-Piff – the Illinois Committee to Protect the Fetus} supporters included a number of college-age young men, all fervently committed to carrying their own pregnancies to term, and a variety of middle-aged women, whose faces seemed to say: My life was made miserable by maternity, and so should everyone else’s be.

A pro-life demonstration at a low income health clinic that does first-trimester abortions is covered for nearly ten pages(5% of the book) including the ultimate invasion and trashing of the clinic. The incident does serve a purpose in the overall mystery but devoting that much space to it seems like Paretsky might be overdoing it even within the context of the book. On the other hand, in 1986, the year this book was being written, there were seven arsons and three bombings of abortion clinics in the U.S. so the issue was in full bloom and the tactic of pro-life violence was in the news. (Source: http://www.prochoice.org/about_aborti...)
The vast majority of pro-life attacks on abortion clinics in the 1980s were directly against property when clinics were closed. More recently actions against abortion clinics have focused more on demonstrations to impede and discourage women coming to the clinics as well as legal actions. Bitter Medicine in using the medical clinic as a vehicle for advancing the story was topical for its day.

In the mid 80s, Warshawski was cutting edge. She is one of those good guys who are a little bit bad. She is a serial lawbreaker: she can pick a lock, one way she gathers information is the time honored B&E and she is good in a hand to hand fight. She has stealth and cunning, important skills for a cat burglar or a private eye. While she doesn’t smoke, she does like some Black Label whiskey occasionally.

Warshawski gets some extra credit for being a “child of the sixties” since I am one as well. Her progressive political and social views are winners. And for us animal lovers, the dog at the end was nice. I guess we will see Peppy in the next book in the series. I have #5 on my new book shelves awaiting its turn in the spotlight. A few other books are in line before it but it will get its turn.

I give Bitter Medicine four stars. It doesn’t quite measure up to the high bar of the Millennium series to get five stars. But it does pack a lot into its 222 pages. It even has a car chase!

[aPriL does feral sometimes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Poor Consuelo. Sixteen, pregnant, completely ignoring that her husband hates her (shotgun wedding, Catholics), her diabetes and her family's disgust, she wants this baby. Her hopeful support in helping her gangbanger husband, Fabiano, get a job is almost delusional, but her perseverance draws private investigator V.I. Warshawski into helping her as an escort to a job interview. It is hot and sweaty weather, and after a long debilitating drive, all three are cranky and tired. While Fabiano, whose thick-headed criminality is not in question by anyone else except by his besotted teen wife, goes inside an industrial park building for his job interview, Consuela goes into early labor. Thankfully, Warshawski locates a nearby for-profit hospital, Friendship Five. Driving there quickly, she gets Consuela safely in doctor's hands. Except......wait for it....she dies. Plus Warshawski could tell that the high level of urgency which at first was intense, slid completely away when they learned their patient was an impoverished Latino girl. There is a state law that the hospital MUST care for the pregnancy - but it appears the hospital may have not wanted to do more than park her in a hallway until she could be transported to a public hospital. Warshawski gets mad and throws her weight around, but it's too late to save Consuelo. But does Warshawski have a case? There is no proof, despite the arrival of Consuela's regular doctor, an excellent in-training sweet man, who takes over from the Friendship's staff.

But then! Suddenly, horrible things start happening to all of the people involved in Consuela's care previous to her death. Are they linked? And then an awful shocking murder, a riot and Warshawki's apartment is trashed. NOW, they, whoever they are, have V. I.'s complete attention. Along the way, she finds one of the detectives, Rawlings, to be similar in spirit to herself. Hmmmmm. But her head is being turned by a handsome doctor from Friendship, Burgoyne, and she ends up turning down her bed covers for him. Mistake?

Only by reading almost to the end of the book will all be solved. There will be broken souls.

[Milica · Rating 4 out of 5]

The most engaging plot so far, with I think the highest body count which probably contributed, alongside not having to do with trading or finance or what have you. The most political one as well, Paretsky gets a little preachy about being pro-choice, but I'll allow it since I agree with her politics, as I am assuming her readership generally does. The topic of abortion is perhaps what made this feel particularly contemporary and additionally juicy even though it's set in the 80s. Which is somewhat depressing when you think about it. The only thing beside the preachiness that I minded was VI's neighbour, Mr. Contreras, who was perfectly lovely at first, but by the end of the book I got real tired of his ways.

[Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

IMHO the quality of the series is back to the levels for #1 and 2 after a slight dip in #3. Another gripping read about V.I. and her escapades. Although I'm going to take a little break from this series, I expect to return to it soon. Great easy reads!

[Bob · Rating 3 out of 5]

V.I gets involved in a double death of teen and unborn the escalates to murders and hospital malfeasance plus confrontations with her x. Good detective yarns based in Chicago.

[Rbucci · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’d forgotten how much I like Sara Paretsky and the VI Warshawski books. Well worth the read.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am picking up Sara Paretsky's V.I. Warshawski books again after a couple of years. Reading these earlier books is nostalgically fun, and comparing them to the later books, it's enjoyable to follow Paretsky's growth as a writer. V.I. also grows as a character, but some of that might be wishful thinking on my part.

Bitter Medicine tells the story of a very pregnant, very dead teenager and her baby-gangbanger fiance. Our heroine finds herself drawn unwillingly in when it seems like the hospital where the girl was to deliver her baby waited far too long to treat her. Shortly thereafter, a doctor is murdered and V.I. is up to her neck in bottom-line corporate medicine.

Some of the early books in the series feature a well-developed character in V.I. but caricatures of other characters, and a romance subplot in Bitter Medicine is predictable and feels awkward. V.I. interacts most naturally with her good friend Lotty Herschel, and when she is bantering with her reporter friend Murray Ryerson and baiting the cops, it feels natural, if not always likable (which I like). Again, reading these books now, they sometimes feel dated.

Paretsky is setting the stage for a future of supporting the underdog. V.I. may know better but she can never turn away from the needy. I wonder if this explains the South-Side raised V.I. being a Cubs fan.

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Two friends recently recommended Paretsky. How could I have missed hearing about her before? Well i'm delighted to have a new author to add to my list of go-to mysteries. A smart, tough, resourceful woman who doesnt need to be rescued by some boyfriend. So my to-read list is growing by however many books she has published.

I like to know something about authors whose works I like so I checked out her blog. I was very touched by this passage from her most recent post.

"I want people to know that we all mourn at some point, we all need to weave loss into the fabric of life. Telling a mourner to move on is a form of shaming: you’re too weak, you’re grieving.

"Loss creates a permanent hole. Some losses, some holes, are bigger than others, but they are all permanent, like my loss of physical ability. We learn to live without the limb, or the loved one, or the skill we once rejoiced in. We can enjoy love and life, maybe more deeply because we’ve woven loss into our lives. I don’t want to wallow or linger in my grief, but I want to respect it, learn from it, learn from others on how to cope with it.

"We are all on the same journey, from birth to death. How we make the journey is the crucial challenge, not how fast we move on toward that finish line."

I appreciate books that are an entertaining read, but also have some tenderness underneath.

[Dorothy Bennett · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this paperback in a pile of "to read" books and pulled it out because I wanted something funny, action-packed, colorful, and a bit escapist. Sara Paretsky's BITTER MEDICINE starring private eye V.I. Warshawski, is all of that and more. In other words, I couldn't put the book down! Published in 1987, this novel reveals a world with similar problems to those of today--politics, crime, gangs, profit over people, and poor medical care for those without money or from diverse racial heritage. Put all of this together, and you have plenty of opportunities for murder and mayhem. Warshawski is a delight as an independent female PI who colors outside the lines, and so is this tale in which she appears fighting against the bad guys.

[Amy Ingalls · Rating 4 out of 5]

These books were set in the 80's. For that time period, the amount of progressive thinking and representation in the characters is really impressive. I love V.I. and her snark. This one was especially good, and I love the expanding cast of characters in V.I.'s circle. And there is a Golden Retriever, so that is a plus.

[Laura Niswonger · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the first of Paretsky's books that I've read. I enjoyed the story-- there were clues along the way so I could figure out who the perp was, but there were still some surprises in the end. Well done. The characters are likable and the pacing is good.

[Marguerite Czajka · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the pluses about this entry in the series was that VI's father's "best friend", the cop Bobby Mallory was almost completely missing. I find his character not only irritating, but it's ridiculous that someone would treat his late best friend's daughter the way Bobby treats VI.

[Cheri · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this series. This early volume, written more than 30 years ago, still has a contemporary feel. Warshawski is a woman ahead of her time!

[Nick Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

I started reading Sara Paretsky’s V.I. Warshowski detective novels last year. My partner has been a fan for years and we have many of them scattered around the house. I read the first three in the series, but we didn’t have the fourth, Bitter Medicine, and I was going to jump to the fifth; my partner, however, kindly found me a second hand copy. I found the structure strange. A teenager dies in childbirth after being rushed to a nearby hospital. Later, one of the girl’s doctors who had gone to attend to her at the hospital is murdered in his apartment. Warshowski’s connection is that the teenager was a patient of Warshowski’s friend Lotty, the murdered doctor a partner in Lotty’s medical practice. There is no reason to believe the teenager’s death was anything other than a medical tragedy, the doctor’s death is put down to a burglary gone wrong, maybe by local gang members. But we are ahead of Warshowski, we know we are reading a crime novel and know that there must be something amiss in the death of the teenager and it will be linked to the death of the doctor. In narrative terms, however, it feels a little directionless. Warshowski is hired to look into the death of the doctor, but doesn’t think there is much she can do, although she does get in contact with a gang leader who she once defended in court…but the meeting doesn’t go well. There is an anti-abortion demonstration outside Lotty’s practice which gets out of hand and the medical centre is trashed. This seems a bit random until we hear that the teenager’s records have gone missing in the destruction…but Warshowski still doesn’t notice the pattern. Warshowski’s interest is piqued when the leader of the anti-abortion demonstrators goes to court and is defended by Warshowski’s ex-husband, a very expensive lawyer – Warshowski wonders who is paying the legal fees. She starts to investigate but still doesn’t know what she is investigating. I suppose it is all held together by an atmosphere and the characters – the book addresses us as a returning audience who likes Warshowski and share her liberal feminist outlook. Maybe there is something a little comfy about this and the world tends to divide between nice people (i.e., people like us) and not nice people (e.g., the anti-abortionists are all monstrously unpleasant). But I did wonder if this was your first Warshowski novel whether you might be puzzled by the lack of narrative dynamic. We are a long, long way into Bitter Medicine before everything comes together and Warshowski begins to investigate with a sense of purpose…and then it rattles along in an efficient way.

[Rodger Payne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I checked this book out of the local library to take to Chicago for my trip to an academic conference, with an extended weekend stay for personal time. If possible, I like to read books set in the region where I'm traveling. Moreover, like me, Paretsky is a political science graduate of University of Kansas and a fan of the Jayhawks basketball team. FWIW, one of her brothers was briefly on the KU debate team and I knew him slightly -- before his sister had published any Warshawski books, but after she had a PhD in history.

Fictional detective V.I. Warshawski has an apartment (at least in Indemnity Only, a slightly earlier book) just a few blocks from where my wife and I lived for 3 years before moving to Louisville. Her books tend to involve locations all over the city, but the neighborhood we both lived in during the 1980s has changed dramatically thanks to gentrification and big box stores.

In this book, V.I. spends a lot of time in the suburbs because she's investigating a hospital that bungled emergency medical care for the pregnant daughter of someone in V.I.'s circle of friends. The mystery is OK, but I was more suspicious of key characters than she was -- and some of the connections that eventually emerge involve too many coincidences for my taste.

Reading this, I was struck by how similar V.I is to Sue Grafton's detective Kinsey Millhone. Both are women who had been previously married, worked in the legal field (one a lawyer, the other a cop), run for exercise in their spare time, have fairly close elderly friends and neighbors, etc. I've also read more Grafton than Paretsky, partly because Grafton was from Louisville and I met her once or twice. Her (third) spouse was on the same faculty as me.

It's a small world sometimes.

[Rob Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I recently finished reading "Bitter Medicine" by Sara Paretsky, and I have to say it was quite the thrilling ride. The main character, V.I. Warshawski, is a private eye in Chicago and the story begins with her trying to help out a friend's daughter who is only sixteen and pregnant with complications due to her diabetes.

Things quickly spiral out of control as the baby is born too early and both the baby and mother tragically pass away. V.I. starts to investigate the possibility of malpractice at the hospital and finds herself falling for one of the doctors there.

The book keeps you on the edge of your seat as V.I. delves deeper into the investigation and uncovers a sinister conspiracy involving a women's clinic and a brutal murder. The story has a lot of twists and turns that keep you guessing until the very end.

One of the things I enjoyed most about the book was how well-developed the characters were. V.I. is a strong, independent woman who is not afraid to take risks, but she also has a softer side and you can't help but root for her. The supporting characters are also well fleshed-out, each with their own motivations and secrets.

Overall, "Bitter Medicine" is a great read for anyone who loves a good mystery. It's fast-paced, engaging, and has a satisfying ending. I highly recommend it!

[Tex · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the things I do with older books is to check the original publishing date along with any kind of other information that might come from that publication page—nowadays it’s mostly to see if it is before or after 9/11/2001. For the ones before that event, I check to see just how much technology I should expect. For this one, 1987 leads me to expect little tech but also a fair amount of changes in how we speak to people.
Not the best Warshawski, perhaps because of the extreme changes in mores. V.I. is relatively new as a PI and has that annoying ability to drop everything in order to help a friend in needed (something we long-time 9-5-ers can barely imagine). This time the friend is her Viennese doctor friend who runs a women’s clinic for underprivileged women and children.

[Stephen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not what I've come to expect from Paretsky. Felt a little one-dimensional all over. A fine enough story but without any of the great character work and intelligent sleuthing we love VI for. The fact she ended up having an affair with Peter when it was written so clearly he was in on the conspiracy was disappointing. The blurb on the back also seemed to describe a different novel: VI repeatedly mentions she doesn't think it's malpractice and she doesn't get swept up after two vicious murders. Do read it to check it off your list and get some nice background on VI lore (e.g., the Labrador and Mr. Contreras).

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Body count of six in this one. Vic does a favor for her doctor friend, Lotty, by driving a pregnant 16 yo and her deadbeat boyfriend to a job interview for the deadbeat out in the burbs. The girl goes into labor two months early. She’s got risk factors. It’s one tragedy after another and Vic is even played by one of the perps. Aptly titled and Vic is both receiving and administering the bitter medicine.

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fast paced mystery of profit vs. ethics, and a for profit hospital that looks first to ability to pay, and the death of a young mother and baby from delayed emergency room treatment, that sets off a chain of violence, in an attempt to disguise the truth. The author skillfully blends several subplots to arrive at the final conclusions. I enjoyed the book.

[Lora · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the first V.I. Warshawski mystery I've read, and I might end up reading more. She was an interesting character - public defender turned private eye. She has an aged neighbor who tries to protect her and a mother-figure who's an idealistic Holocaust survivor.

V.I. herself is cynical:
- "I'm just the garbage collector, cleaning up little trash piles here and there."
- "This isn't Utopia or even Minneapolis - it's Illinois." (as a Minnesotan that made me laugh).

The book was published in 1987, and focuses in part on the anti-abortion movement that was prominent.

The only thing that annoyed me a bit about the book was the repeated focus on choice of clothing and shoes.

[Dad]

I enjoyed this book since it was different and played out so I learned about VI’sfamily/friends more than I previous books. It dealt with issues of abortion, and the disparity between rich and poor medical treatment but all in all, a pleasant distraction from my tv.

[KDawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great storytelling…! I really like Parestsky’s characters and though some plot lines were a bit standard, this was a well thought through story. I liked it. Fans of Grafton’s Kinsey Milhone will like these, too!

[Freda Witt · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read all of the alphabet books, but missed some of these. Not bad, not great.