Lifeblood

Penny Rudolph

Praise for Lifeblood..."A well-plotted mystery peopled with fascinating characters." -BooklistRachel Chavez, a recovering alcoholic, owns and lives on the top floor of a parking garage in downtown Los Angeles. Tough but vulnerable, she is struggling to stay sober and keep her business financially afloat. So she's delighted when the nearby hospital leases parking space for staff. But she is soon horrified to discover two unconscious Mexican boys locked in an apparently abandoned van in the garage. Doctors declare one dead on arrival at the hospital; the other, dehydrated but alive, is admitted. But when Rachel checks back the next day, the Medical Center has no record of either child. Wary of the police because of her own checkered past, Rachel's determination to find an explanation becomes an obsession that meshes with a search for her own Mexican roots. Then things become very complicated. And dangerous.... Penny Rudolph has worked as a bartender, truck driver, chile picker, musician, science writer, and medical writer. She has taught journalism at New Mexico State University and won more than 50 national writing/editing awards, including an Eppie and an International Gold Quill. She lives in New Mexico with her husband Ralph and a menagerie of rescued animals.pennyrudolph.com