In Deathbed, the eighth book in a series by acclaimed mystery writer William X. Kienzle, Father Robert Koesler takes on a temporary tour of duty as chaplain in a Detroit hospital whose dark passageways lead eventually to murder. But along the way, the antics of a security guard, a few nurse's aides, and a bumbling volunteer lead to madcap mayhem in a deft (and daft) counterpoint to the unfolding mystery. Deathbed follows the tracks of at least four people in St. Vincent's Hospital in Detroit whose rancor toward a single individual is so great it could translate into violence. The object of their wrath is an indomitable, unsinkable nun in her late sixties who almost single-handedly keeps the inner-city Detroit hospital open. As Father Koesler begins to learn what really goes on in a hospital, he discovers that St. Vincent's beds are used for more than convalescence. And in the Keystone Kop-like gropings in dim corridors, the real question becomes, Who's doing what to whom?

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