Turtle Baby - Hardcover

Padgett, Abigail

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0708935605 ISBN 13: 9780708935606

Publisher: Ulverscroft, 1996

Synopsis

Investigating a murder attempt in which the targeted victim was a Mayan infant, baffled child abuse investigator Bo Bradley undertakes a journey that leads her to Tijuana, where Mayan mysticism helps her uncover an important clue. Reprint. K. NYT.

About this title

From Publishers Weekly:

When poison from a tropical plant puts eight-month-old Acito, whose name means "little turtle," into a San Diego hospital, child abuse investigator Bo Bradley is drawn into her third suspenseful case (following Strawgirl). According to Andy LaMarche, a hospital pediatrician and Bradley's determined suitor, Acito's caretakers could not have poisoned the baby accidentally. This casts suspicion on Acito's mother, Chac, a bar singer who visited her son just before he fell ill. Bo meets Chac in Tijuana and comes to believe she would not have poisoned her son, but this becomes tough to prove after the woman collapses and dies on stage. Since the San Diego police aren't acting on Acito's case and the Mexican cops don't care about the death of another ex-prostitute, Bo focuses her lively curiosity on Chac's acquaintances and her American husband, who has escaped from from a Louisiana prison. Padgett expertly crafts this mystery, putting her sleuth in the requisite life-threatening situations. What sets her story apart, however, is her description of the workings of public child protection and her convincing portrayal, from the inside, of Bo's efforts to work and live with manic depression.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist:

An Indian infant is brought to a San Diego hospital, an apparent poisoning victim. Investigator Bo Bradley of Child Protective Services is assigned the case. Her investigation leads her to Tijuana, where the baby's mother, known as Chac, is a singer and former heroin addict. Impressed by the mother's feeling for her child, Bo hopes to arrange a mother-child reunion, but on another trip to Tijuana, Bo witnesses Chac's collapse and death onstage. She later learns that Chac was poisoned with the same rare herb that nearly killed Acito. Battling her own manic depression and the unyielding bureaucracy of CPS, Bo is determined both to solve the murder and to find a good home for Acito. With immigration and child abuse at the top of our national consciousness, this is a timely novel. It's also a fine mystery centered on the likable, self-deprecating Bradley, whose struggle to maintain a comfortable life despite her barely controlled mental illness and the demands of her job is almost as compelling as the cases she works. Wes Lukowsky

About this edition

• Publisher: Ulverscroft
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0708935605
• ISBN 13: 9780708935606
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 496