In the name of mercy

the long version

Dr. Peter Julius believes a physician should relieve misery, not prolong it. When his cancer-stricken wife is racked with pain and asks for his expert help, he does what all good doctors do - he stops her suffering. After her death, the young doctor is offered a position in a hospital - affiliated, mid-Michigan hospice that will allow him to continue his new mission, helping terminal patients end their lives with dignity. Soon, however, patients in both the hospice and hospital are dying at an unusually high rate, all under his care. People start whispering about the trail of bodies, the media vultures circle overhead, and hate mail arrives at the local paper calling Peter the Angel of Death. Yet suspicion falls on other medical professionals as well. There's the nurse who'll do anything for a ticket to Paris; the chief resident who works too many shifts for too little money; the hospital president whose business tactics are nothing short of cutthroat; and the visiting euthanasia expert who helped terminate her own husband's life - and who falls in love with Peter Julius. In the arms of his new lover, the doctor starts to heal. But the young couple's bond has formed in the valley of death, and what was once the humane practice of medicine has turned sinister. Now as the killings tally up, even the healthy are in danger, for no one's immune to treachery... or murder.