M and M

What could be worse than a 17-week-old infant admitted to Gunnison Memorial Hospital showing signs of traumatic brain injury from grabbing, shaking, and banging? Dr. Vicki Shea, who’s returned to medicine and finished a pediatric residency since last seen as a medical malpractice attorney (Mortal Judgment, 1999), finds out when she’s assigned the case of Charlotte Sanderson, stilled by injuries her mother, Julia Wilkins-Sanderson, insists are the result of a highly improbable accident. Under the watchful care of Vicki and the neurosurgeons at Moffett Hospital, Charlotte miraculously improves. But not her mother, who’s found dead of a gunshot wound to the head soon after Vicki fingers her to Inspector Tim Murphy as the likely perp. Suicide, say the San Francisco cops, noting the heroin injection that suggests Julia’s gone back to her dormant drug habit, and ignoring the forensic contradictions. Before Vicki can recover from her shock and guilt, Julia’s parents ask her help with an even bigger series of problems: a dozen illegal immigrant kids they’ve smuggled into the country, including one with appendicitis; the murder of their placement contact in LA; and a big-ticket blackmail threat from their mobbed-up partners in smuggling. Forget Vicki’s piercing ethical dilemmas as she struggles to keep a hand in with both the kids and the law; Peak opts for a mass flight to Vicki’s father’s ranch, complete with fresh air and horse rides for the youngsters and al fresco frisking for Vicki and Tim while they wait for the mobsters to track them down.

An accomplished actioner with unfulfilled hints of something deeper.