Bagged

In Bailey's appealing debut, hospital guard Jan Gallagher stands up for women's rights while trying to solve a strange murder. An untagged red leather body bag that has lain plainly visible in the morgue of General Jackson Hospital in Abilene, Tex., is opened to reveal the corpse of head neurologist Jonathan Croft. Hospital administrators implore security supervisor Gallagher, who has won her promotion through a sex discrimination suit, to squelch information that might embarrass the institution. Determined to ferret out the truth, however, Gallagher teams up with police detective Frank White, who falls in love with her. They learn that the wife of staff neurologist Anthony Ellsworth, whose resignation had been ordered by Croft, may have been involved with the dead physician. But hospital administrators, furious with Gallagher's findings, prevent her from further involvement with the case. By now, though, signs point to a suspect more dangerous than Ellsworth. The pseudonymous author, who works in a hospital admitting office, provides good background detail, an effective resolution and well-developed characters, especially that of protagonist Gallagher. (Nov.)