Murder Couldn't Wait — David Schwinger

Jack Markov was building his professional reputation as nurse manager by moving from one medical group to another and implementing the changes he believed were necessary to ensure that they would thrive in the coming decades. But these changes adversely affected the benefits and working conditions of his nurses. Now, Jack was coming to the North Bayonne Medical Group, and his reputation had preceded him.
At the retirement party for the outgoing nurse manager, Jack gave a speech reaffirming the nurses' worst fears. Someone attending the affair decided to act before Jack could even start his first day on the job. That person poisoned Jack's drink with methanol, and a few hours later, Jack was dead.
Two months later, the police were making no progress, and the medical group hired detective Amy Bell to investigate the killing. Amy soon realized that she had an overabundance of suspects. All twentyâ€"three nurses at the party hated Jack's guts. So did their spouses, many of whom were also in attendance.
But as the vivacious and witty Amy dug deeper, she discovered that several people at the party had other motives for killing Jack. She uncovered ugly and painful secrets that they would not want revealed.
However, even with the assistance of her husband Jeremy â€" with whom she had many loving but fierce political disputes â€" Amy realized that identifying the killer at this point was a long shot. And bringing the killer to justice, by coming up with proof, was an even longer shot.
Author David Schwinger, when not writing Amy Bell mysteries â€" there are now ten â€" enjoys composing songs, playing pickleball, and traveling the world with his wife, Sherryl. He first met Sherryl when she was his student in a mathematics class he taught at City College of New York. Their secret romance became the inspiration for his first Amy Bell mystery, The Teacher's Pet Murders.