The feisty, tough and shrewd heroine appears in her fourth adventure in the V.I. Warshawski series, from one of America's greatest female crime writers.

Consuelo is sixteen, heavily pregnant and married to an unemployed gangster. The last thing she needs is a negligent doctor.

When she is rushed into the Friendship private hospital, the staff are reluctant to treat her. Fortunately she has Vic Warshawski, family friend and ex-lawyer, with her.

But Consuelo and her baby are the tragic victims of a system so corrupt that it pays her husband to keep quiet. Anyone who can discover anything about the unorthodox dealings of the Friendship is in danger. And Vic's investigations are just about to begin . . .

"'How enjoyable to settle down with a new book by Sara Paretsky.'" - Sunday Telegraph

"'With the creation of V.I. Warshawski, Sara Paretsky did more than anyone to change the face of contemporary women's fiction.'" - Express on Sunday

"'Warshawski's darkest outing, with no sign that her creator is flagging. Paretsky has written a novel in which a great deal is stripped bare, including Warshawski's innermost anxieties about herself, producing a narrative as gripping as it is emotionally wrenching.'" - JOAN SMITH, Sunday Times