To Kill a King

To Kill a King, Mary V. Welk, Kleworks Publishing Co, 2000

Caroline Rhodes agrees to return to Ascension Medical Center, near Chicago, for the summer to work in the severely understaffed ER. Her best friend, Molly O'Neal, the ER Nurse Manager, practically begs Caroline, also a nurse, to nose around and see if there is a way around the horrendous working
conditions.

Dr Roger MacGuffie, the head ER doctor, runs the ER with an iron fist; his word is law. One reason why ER staff have been quitting in droves is because accusations of sexual harassment by Dr MacGuffie have been flying fast and furious. He has had a relationship with Angela Horowitz, Director of Nursing, another "iron fist" type of manager. He is also having an affair with Michelle Devine, a twentysomething technician with a dynamite body and one desire in life, to be Mrs Wealthy Doctor. The fact that the ER is in the middle of a major renovation, and that the area is in the middle of a major heat wave push Molly almost to the point of nervous breakdown.

Things get very interesting when, the day after Caroline arrives, Angela is found dead in her own bed, smothered by her own pillow. The police and FBI descend on the hospital and find that all of the remaining employees had plenty of motive to want Angela dead. Caroline is summoned to the home
of an aging Mafia don, Angela's father, who would like Caroline to prove that The Mob wasn't involved in her death. Otherwise, the don's son, and current head of the Family, is ready to take a machine gun to the other Families in retaliation.

The next day, Dr MacGuffie is found hanged in the construction area. Molly is arrested by the police, having jumped to the top of the suspect list. Caroline calls on some friends from previous detective adventures to enter the ER as fake patients or temp employees, and find the killer.

This one is very good. The author does a fine job with the story and characters, keeping the reader guessing until the end, and providing lots of possible suspects. The only downside is that there are several references to things that happened in earlier books in this series (this is the third), so reading these in order would help. Otherwise, I found it to be very much worth reading.