Sara Paretsky: Bitter Medicine (USA 2021)

From the Publisher:
Private eye V.I. Warshawski finds herself up against rampant corruption in Chicago's hospitals in the fourth novel in Sara Paretsky's New York Times bestselling series.

Young, diabetic, and pregnant, Consuelo Alvarado is lucky to have a mentor in V.I. Warshawski. But not even V.I. can help when Consuelo goes into premature labor in a remote suburb; mother and baby both die in the nearby hospital. When a young resident starts raising questions about Consuelo's treatment, what seemed like a tragic accident turns into something far more disturbing. What connection could the hospital have with Chicago's street gangs? What heavy secret is the hospital's neonatologist carrying? The questions the detective asks cut to the heart of everything that is troubling about the practice of medicine in America. Can V.I. sort out the answers before she herself ends up in the hospital morgue?

Sara Paretsky: Bitter Medicine. A V.I. Warshawski Novel. William Morrow Paperbacks, ISBN: 9780063092648 (August, 2021), 336 p., $16.99.

Sara Paretsky: Bitter Medicine (USA 2010)

From the Publisher:
New York Times bestselling author Sara Paretsky's fourth V.I. Warshawski novel
Private eye V.I. Warshawski knows her friend Consuelo's pregnancy is already risky-she's sixteen and diabetic. Despite V.I.'s efforts to provide Consuelo with proper care, both mother and daughter die in the local hospital. Suspecting malpractice, V.I. begins an investigation- and a reluctant romance with an ER doctor. But deadly complications arise when a series of vicious murders and an attack on a women's clinic lead her to suspect a cold-blooded cover-up. And if V.I. isn't careful, she just might have delivered her final case...

Sara Paretsky: Bitter Medicine. A V.I. Warshawski Novel. Signet, ISBN: 9780451230270 (June, 2010), 384 p., $9.99.

Sara Paretsky: Bitter Medicine (UK 2008)

From the Publisher:
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!

Sara Paretsky: Bitter Medicine. A V.I. Warshawski Novel. Hodder & Stoughton, ISBN: 0340935154 (April, 2008), 310 p., £6.99.

Sara Paretsky: Bitter Medicine (USA 1999)

From the Publisher:
Chicago private eye V.I. Warshawski knows from the start that Consuelo Alvarado's baby is trouble. Consuelo is sixteen. Diabetic. And the daughter of a friend. When she goes into labor too early, even V.I.'s wild drive to get her to the hospital can't save either Consuelo or her child. Soon V.I. is investigating possible malpractice at the emergency room -- and falling for a doctor who works there. Mixing business and love is always bad medicine, but V.I. finds herself listening to her heart, not her head. And when a brutal murder and the violent destruction of a women's clinic put her at the center of a very dirty conspiracy, justice may be the only remedy for a hurt that cuts deep... and chills right to the bone...

Sara Paretsky: Bitter Medicine. A V.I. Warshawski Novel. Dell Publishing Company, ISBN: 044023476X (April, 1999), 339 p., $6.99.

Sara Paretsky: Bitter Medicine (USA 1991)

From the Publisher:
Private eye V I Warshawski has reluctantly agreed to drive her young friend Consuelo Alvarado, sixteen and pregnant, and Consuelo's punk husband, Fabiano, to a job interview. Without the escort, Fabiano probably wouldn't go.

Then Consuelo goes into premature labor and V.I. must rush her to a nearby hospital. Consuelo and her baby do not survive. V.I. observed how slowly the emergency room staff went to Consuelo's aid. Is it malpractice?

The question has no sooner occurred to her than she learns that Consuelo's doctor has been brutally murdered. So V.I. finds herself on an investigation that will leave her with her apartment ransacked, her face slashed, and her sympathies pulled in too many directions. At least her shrewd instincts are still intact.

Sara Paretsky: Bitter Medicine. Chicago super-sleuth V.I. Warshawski investigates a hospital nightmare. Dell Publishing Company, ISBN: 0345347226 (June, 1990), 259 p., $5.95.

Sara Paretsky: Bitter Medicine (USA 1988)

From the Publisher:
Private eye V I Warshawski has reluctantly agreed to drive her young friend Consuelo Alvarado, sixteen and pregnant, and Consuelo's punk husband, Fabiano, to a job interview. Without the escort, Fabiano probably wouldn't go.

Then Consuelo goes into premature labor and V.I. must rush her to a nearby hospital. Consuelo and her baby do not survive. V.I. observed how slowly the emergency room staff went to Consuelo's aid. Is it malpractice?

The question has no sooner occurred to her than she learns that Consuelo's doctor has been brutally murdered. So V.I. finds herself on an investigation that will leave her with her apartment ransacked, her face slashed, and her sympathies pulled in too many directions. At least her shrewd instincts are still intact.

Sara Paretsky: Bitter Medicine. Chicago super-sleuth V.I. Warshawski investigates a hospital nightmare. Dell Publishing Company, ISBN: 0345347226 (June, 1988), 259 p., $3.95.

Sara Paretsky: Bitter Medicine (USA 1997)

From the Publisher:
Bitter Medicine is the exciting new mystery-supense novel by Sara Paretsky, "the Chicago writer whose name always makes the top of the list when people talk about the new female operatives" (Marily Stasio, The New York Times Book Review).

As in Paretsky's highly acclaimed previous novels - Indemnity Only, Deadlock and Killing Orders - the heroine is V.I. "Vic" Warshawski, "one of the toughest and perhaps the most persuasively written of the new bree of female private eye" (Atlanta Journal & Constitution). Warshawski has been called "a credit to the whole genre" (Cleveland Plain Dealer) and "an appealing and believable character" (Christian Science Monitor).

In Bitter Medicine, a close friend of Warshawski's dies in the emergency room of a local hospital. Vic suspects malpractice and means to prove it. Unfortunately, her investigation seems only to ignite a chain of nasty reactions: One of the attending doctors is brutally murdered... Vic's own apartment is ransacked and her face is slashed.

Warshawski is not one to back down from a tight situation though. She's got what it takes to outsmart the dark forces of corruption and hypocrisy, and in case of a real jam, she's got her Smith & Wesson. In Bitter Medicine you'll find the qualities that have made Sara Paretsky one of the most exciting new talents in the mystery field: "flawless plotting (ALA Booklist); a pace "fast enough to satisfy demanding fans of detective fiction" (Forbes); and a plot that is "as courageous as it is compelling" (Amanda Cross). Here is contemporary mystery-suspense fiction at its very best.

Sara Paretsky: Bitter Medicine. A V.I. Warshawski Mystery. William Morrow & Company, ISBN: 0688064485 (April, 1987), 321 p., $17.95.