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THE SILVER SCALPEL by Nancy Baker Jacobs

THE SILVER SCALPEL

by Nancy Baker Jacobs

Pub Date: May 31st, 1993
ISBN: 0-399-13834-X
Publisher: Putnam

Private-eye Devon McDonald, partner with new grandfather Sam Sherman in a St. Paul, Minnesota, detective agency (A Slash of Scarlet, etc.) finds herself investigating some anti-abortion crusaders when young waitress Monica Hammond seeks her help. A nearby abortion clinic has been torched—two women inside burned to death, one unidentified. Monica is afraid it may be her teenaged sister Kerry, who'd asked questions about abortion, supposedly for a friend, and has not arrived on the bus from home to meet Monica as they'd planned. Devon drives to Newton Prairie, where the Hammond farm is located, and finds the girl's harsh, unloving mother; a church with a strong anti-abortion focus and a charismatic (and very prosperous) preacher; and some local bullies who don't appreciate Devon's inquiries. Her tires are slashed and her hair forcibly shorn before matters turn really nasty as she comes closer to uncovering a lucrative scam—and to finding Kerry. Nicely handled spin on a hot issue.