Bitter Medicine

Since her debut in Paretsky's Indemnity Only, Chicago private eye V. (Victoria) I. Warshawski has been attracting both enthusiastic readers and critical acclaim. This fourth story narrated by the spiky detective is the series' most suspenseful so far. V. I. brings a teenager about to give premature birth to a private hospital where the mother and her baby die. Since the poor girl's own obstetrician is unavailable, Warshawski's friend, Dr. Tregiere, arrives from his inner-city hospital to check procedures; he's found murdered later. So is the supposedly bereaved husband, member of a street gang that atacks Warshawski during her tenacious investigation of the related cases. There are other appalling deaths as tough V. I. gets to the facts behind a tawdry coverup. The cast of the earlier mysteries again adds flavor here, and the big city's ethnic mix, as enlived by Paretsky, does too. (May 15)