An inept doctor in a small, ill-equipped hospital botches a routine gallbladder surgery, killing an elderly patient. Dallas Jackson isn't the first to die on Dr. Andrew Willcox's operating table. Unfortunately for the doctor, this particular old man matters to many, including nurse-turned-lawyer Camille Delaney. Camille long ago left medical malpractice law for a lucrative career as a divorce attorney. Her firm represents physicians, but she could never bring suit against one and hope to keep her job. She quits to open her own firm, taking her old friend's case as her first. That many of Wilcox's patients have died doesn't surprise her. But his body count includes some who underwent unnecessary surgery to have healthy organs removed. Was Dallas Jackson among them? Are Camille's three children in imminent peril as the vindictive doctor has threatened? And is the overpaid Willcox guilty of repeated incompetence or frequent, subtly orchestrated murder?

DuBois, like the protagonist of this, her first novel, has experience as both a nurse and an attorney. Camille's empathy for people from varied backgrounds arises not only from her professional experience but also from the compassionate nature she shares with her immigration attorney mother. Mother and daughter both embody the determined independence of women who are forced or otherwise motivated to strike out on their own. Camille's single mother had no choice but to work to provide for her. Tired of widespread indifference to the plight of marginalized groups, including seniors and representatives of racial minorities, Camille bravely opens her own firm to represent them. Although Camille longs to spend more time with her mother, she is sufficiently resourceful and innovative to make her own constructive choices, a trait her mother openly admires. This book may appeal especially to women who belong to, or want to support, marginalized groups.

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