Unnatural Causes

October 2, 2017
At the start of this solid series launch from Eastman (An Unhappy Medium), Dr. Katie LeClair, who has settled fresh from her residency into a family clinic in rural Baxter, Mich., is summoned to the local community hospital, where she discovers that a patient of hers, Ellen Riley, is close to death after an overdose. Katie is horrified to learn that the medication Ellen overdosed on was prescribed by her, but she has no memory of prescribing it. After Ellen’s death, the police rule it a homicide. Despite warnings from police chief John Larson, Katie sets out to discover who wanted Ellen dead, with the help of her computer-whiz brother. Could a fellow doctor have been the culprit? Danger mounts as Katie looks into the problems at the clinic and discovers that even the most tranquil small town has a dark side. Readers will look forward to seeing more of the appealing Katie. Agent: Sharon Bowers, Miller Bowers Griffin Literary Management.

October 1, 2017
A murder allows a doctor to hone detective skills as logical as they are improbable.Dr. Katie LeClair has joined the father-son medical team of Emmett and Nick Hawkins in small-town Michigan. Ellen Riley, one of her patients, has been rushed to the hospital, where she dies from an apparent overdose of diazepam. The doctor in charge is Matt Gregor, who tells her the prescription for diazepam had Katie's name on it. Unless she's losing her mind, though, Katie knows she didn't write it. Both Ellen's daughter, Beth, and her second husband, Christopher, were unaware that she was taking any drugs and are certain she didn't kill herself. Unfortunately for police chief John Carlson, the whole affair seemed so obvious that Ellen's home was not treated as a crime scene. But an autopsy showing that she died from an overdose of injected Demerol changes the picture. Katie, agreeing to help Beth look into the death, finds that the skills she's learned to diagnose diseases are remarkably similar to those a detective needs. Although she's barely gotten over an affair gone wrong, she finds herself attracted to Dr. Gregor, who shows signs of reciprocal interest. In truth, Katie barely has time for a love life between hunting for clues to Ellen's murder and trying to keep up at the clinic in the frequent absences of Nick, who was supposed to be on call the night of the murder. Searching the files for information on prescriptions and taking on Nick's pain clinic, Katie realizes that there are discrepancies in the drug supply and that many of Nick's patients seem to be getting prescriptions for painkillers they don't need. The best clue she has may be Ellen's disproportionate interest in researching color blindness. But how can she fit that into a scenario for murder?In a change from her psychic series (An Unhappy Medium, 2016, etc.), Eastman introduces a strong new heroine who has her hands full with a large cast of potential killers.

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