Lethal Practice

A single mysterious and grisly murder in the first chapter sustains this entire debut novel. The cardiac needle expertly plunged into the heart of Everett Kingsly, chief administrator of St. Paul's Hospital in Buffalo, N.Y., puts top ER doctor, cardiac genius and the story's narrator Earl Garnet at the investigation's forefront. While a few subplots fill in the blanks, Clement doesn't make the mistake of substituting body count for narrative drive; the circumstances surrounding Kingsly's death and the motives floating around the hospital provide more than enough juice. Clement, a former ER physician, possesses punchy prose, medical know-how and a knack for quirky details, and his hardened depiction of the realities of hospital administration is disturbing. (Sept.)