THE QUIET WOMAN

Two patients with very different problems give Staffordshire nurse Florence Shaw sleepless nights.

No matter what tests the doctors Florence works with run on retired solicitor’s clerk Christine Clay, they always come back negative. If she’s feeling fit, though, why does she keep calling for more appointments? It might be easier for Florence to ask her patient questions if Christine’s overbearing husband, Richard, didn’t accompany her on every visit, answering most of the questions Florence puts to her. The one time Christine shows up without Richard, she all but accuses Florence of hiding a dire diagnosis from her, and shortly afterward she’s found in her home with her husband, the apparent victim of a suicide pact Richard has conveniently survived. Florence’s suspicions of Richard, already percolating, reach a boiling point when he announces his intention of suing her practice for medical malpractice. Nor can the rest of her caseload offer much relief, because she’s worried about Ryan Wood, a charming petty thief who alternates between repeated visits for antismoking medication and darker doings outside that indicate he’s forging uncomfortably close ties with serious criminals. If only Christine’s daughter, investigative journalist Harriet Clay, and Florence’s new love interest, DC William Summers, would provide some of the information that might help her engage more actively with her patients. Sadly, they both seem intent on pursuing their own agendas, some of them quite antagonistic to her own. Rooting the story deeply in the daily rhythms of her heroine’s professional life, Masters spins out every thread till they all come together.

As quiet, deft, and professional as an effective medical procedure.