With a Passion Put to Use (Eisenmenger and Flemming Forensic Mysteries) [Hardcover]

In Keith McCarthy's "With a Passion Put to Use," solicitor Helena Flemming and her partner, John Eisenmenger, are expectant parents, but Helena's pregnancy is not going smoothly. While Helena is on leave from her job, John takes a temporary position as a pathologist in St. Christopher's Hospital. He finds the work tedious and his life is made more difficult by the incompetent and obnoxious Arnold Throckmorton, head of the pathology department. John has performed thousands of autopsies and he takes each one seriously.

When he opens up the corpse of fifty-six year old Ernest Melnick, John finds no obvious cause of death, and he orders a full toxicological analysis to give him further clues as to why this man died. Since Throckmorton performs most of his autopsies in a perfunctory manner, with "heart disease" listed as the usual cause of death, John's thoroughness and conscientiousness raise red flags in the coroner's office. They wonder what this newcomer is trying to prove and why he is rocking the boat. John, who is trained in forensics, is determined to "never make assumptions unsupported by evidence." After the tests show that Melnick may have died under unnatural circumstances, John has a tough decision to make. If he tries to learn the truth without his supervisor's permission, he will antagonize Throckmorton and possibly lose his job. However, John has never been one to shy away from a challenge, especially when he suspects foul play. He decides to do some investigating of his own. Fortunately, he has a contact in the police department and he consults with his old acquaintance, Detective Inspector Beverly Wharton.

DI Wharton is tough, foul-mouthed, blunt, sarcastic, and perpetually irritable. Her mood is worsened when her Chief Inspector saddles her with a rookie, Detective Sergeant Larry Grover, an extremely religious individual who hates profanity and disdains immorality. Beverly detests him. Unfortunately, they are stuck with one another as they investigate the case of Anita Delorme, who apparently killed herself with a shotgun. Or did someone else kill her and make it look like suicide? This death is followed by several others, all of which appear to be linked to the medical practice of Dr. Adam Dreifus, a man who is sinking under the weight of severe financial and personal problems. John's and Beverly's cases converge as they join forces to catch a clever and malevolent killer.

"With a Passion Put to Use" is not McCarthy's strongest effort. The author throws in too many red herrings and the overheated plot boils over by the time all of the characters' misdeeds are sorted out. Another problem is that Helena plays a secondary role in this story; her absence is sorely felt. When Beverly Wharton is on stage, however, she generates sparks. Although she is a smart woman with good instincts, Beverly is also a relentless harpy who steps on anyone who gets in her way. Even though she is an officer of the law, she is not above cutting corners when it suits her. As is always the case in McCarthy's novels, the forensic information is intellectually engaging. However the mystery is poorly constructed and lacks the psychological depth that usually makes this author's novels so enthralling.