Playing god

This star-reviewed debut novel introduces Portland, Maine police detective Joe Burgess. On an icy February night, an office on patrol in Portland, Maine discovers the body of a prominent local physician in his parked Mercedes. The motor’s running, the radio’s playing, but Dr. Steven Pleasant is already growing cold. Despite the unusual weapon—a sharpened metal rod rammed down the doctor’s throat—Sgt. Joe Burgess finds all the signs of a john killed by a disgruntled hooker. Pleasant’s wallet is missing, his pants unzipped, and he has a reputation for entertaining girls in his car. But as things unfold for Burgess and his investigative teammates Terry Kyle and Stan Perry, the case is anything but straightforward. Dr. Pleasant was not known for his soothing bedside manner. Investigations reveal a greedy and ambitious man with an eager eye on the bottom line. The deeper they probe, the muddier the picture grows. Pleasant’s colleagues and the hospital staff aren’t forthcoming. Pleasant’s former wife said she wished him dead. On the night he died, Pleasant was with a gorgeous mystery girl unknown to anyone on the street. Pleasant is rumored to have been a source for Oxycontin. While the team juggles hookers, wives, ex-wives, fathers, step-fathers, dealers, and doctors, many with something to hide, and searches for the mystery girl, a nurse from Pleasant’s staff suggest another angle—a disgruntled patient. The trail leads from the doorsteps of supercilious millionaires to the l