Desperate Remedy - Softcover

Nurse Edwina Crusoe's pregnancy has given her an appetite for oysters and limburger cheese--an unfortunate combination. But at least not lethal, as is the bullet that kills the wife of Dr. Victor Clarke. The doctor himself survives a separate attack and remains unconscious in New Haven's Chelsea Memorial Hospital as two of his attending nurses are killed. Clearly, someone wants Dr. Clarke dead. Edwina, on maternity leave, is restless and decides to investigate. Her probe into the general practitioner's life yields several mysteries: an empty house, a personal history that reaches back only a few years, a fanatical devotion to charity and an adopted son with a weak alibi and a strong motive for murder. Edwina is helped, as usual, by her husband, a former cop now in law school; she is hindered, as always, by her wealthy meddling mother; and she is guided, naturally, by her own charm and cunning, which allow her to find a killer amongst a veritable herd of chemically dependent hospital workers. She also has time to come to the aid of an elderly artist friend who may be sliding into senility as he makes the difficult transition into old age. Kittredge ( Walking Dead Man ) covers a lot of narrative ground in spirited, energetic prose.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

New Haven's nurse-sleuth-heiress Edwina Crusoe, now expecting a baby with ex-cop husband Martin McIntyre, finds herself reluctantly embroiled in events at her old workplace--Chelsea Memorial Hospital. Prodded by her mother, Edwina visits ailing sculptor Michael Munson at the hospital, where he's making life miserable for everyone around him. Critically injured Dr. Victor Clarke has just been admitted, shot in his home by the intruder who killed his wife Renata. Meanwhile, the drug abuse of brilliant young staff doctor Eric Shultz has been uncovered, and the hospital's chief surgeon, William Grace, grows ever more irascible. When the nurse attending Dr. Clarke is shot to death and his life- support system tampered with, feckless administrator Ned Hunt, Edwina's lifelong friend, begs her to help find the murderer. This she does, working her way through a tangle of red herrings and eventually reaching her goal through no fault of her own. A plot heavy with medical mumbo-jumbo and riddled with contrivance does little for Edwina's fifth outing (Walking Dead Man, etc.), but our heroine retains a sturdy charm, and fans will doubtless be looking forward to the happy event in chapter six. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.