Bitter Medicine, V I Warshawski’s fourth case, starts when a young friend goes into premature labor. V I and Consuelo are far from home. By the time Consuelo's doctor, young Malcolm Tregiere, arrives, both she and her baby are dead at the local for profit hospital. V I assumes this is a tragic but unavoidable outcome. However, when Dr. Tregiere is brutally murdered and V I begins to investigate, her work unleashes a trail of violence that leads her back to the hospital where Consuelo died. The trail of greed and violence the detective uncovers proves to be bitter medicine indeed.