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hand. “I’ve known for a long time. I just didn’t know if

you wanted me to know. Are you okay with it?”

“Oh, Mike!” Judith burst into tears.

Joe reappeared in the doorway. “We’re all set. Hey,

what’s wrong?”

“N-n-nothing,” Judith blubbered. “I’m just so

happy!”

Joe stared at Mike. “This is happy?

“It sure is. Pops, ” Mike added. He grinned at Joe,

then shoved the hospital form at his mother. “Here,

sign this so we can go home.”

With trembling fingers, Judith signed the form. She

fought for control and handed the sheet of paper to Joe.

“That’s right. I’m very happy.” Judith took a deep

breath. “I’ve finally gotten my release.”

About the Author

Seattle native MARY RICHARDSON DAHEIM

began reading mysteries when she was seven. She

started writing them when she was eleven, but her

career as a published novelist didn’t begin until much

later. After graduating from the University of

Washington’s School of Communications, Daheim

worked on small-town newspapers and in corporate

public relations. Her goal to write fiction remained in

place, however, and she began publishing the Bedand-Breakfast series in 1991, adding the Alpine

mysteries a year later. She is married to David

Daheim, and the couple lives in Seattle. They have

three grown daughters: Barbara, Katherine, and

Magdalen. Daheim received the Pacific Northwest

Writers Association 2000 Achievement Award “for

distinguished professional achievement and for

enhancing the stature of the Northwest literary

community”.

Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive

information on your favorite HarperCollins author.

Praise for

SUTURE SELF

and MARY DAHEIM’s other

Bed-and-Breakfast Mysteries

“Delightful”

Kansas City Star

“Skillfully takes a satiric scalpel to the hospital

industry . . . There are funny twists aplenty . . . [and]

telling jabs at modern hospital care as the novel

scampers to its zany conclusion. The other inmates of

Good Cheer Hospital—staff and patients alike—are so

wacky that every ward seems like a psychiatric unit.”

Portland Oregonian

“Like Joan Hess’ Maggody series, Daheim’s bed-andbreakfast mysteries show a funny and often stinging

insight into people’s relationships and behavior.

SUTURE SELF is less about solving a crime than

about the too-real-not-to-be-funny personalities of the

people involved.”

Houston Chronicle

“Daheim fans will relish the witty and revealing

interactions between familiar characters.”

Publishers Weekly

“[A] screwball crime novel . . . The banter . . . is

choice . . . And Good Cheer Hospital does live up to

its name in the warped sense that it malfunctions

even more blatantly than a real-life hospital.”

Newark Star-Ledger

Other Bed-and-Breakfast Mysteries by

Mary Daheim

A STREETCAR NAMED EXPIRE

CREEPS SUZETTE

LEGS BENEDICT

SNOW PLACE TO DIE

WED AND BURIED

SEPTEMBER MOURN

AUNTIE MAYHEM

NUTTY AS A FRUITCAKE

MURDER, MY SUITE

MAJOR VICES

A FIT OF TEMPERA

BANTAM OF THE OPERA

DUNE TO DEATH

HOLY TERRORS

FOWL PREY

JUST DESSERTS

Copyright

This book is a work of fiction. The characters,

incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s

imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any

resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead,

is entirely coincidental.

SUTURE SELF. Copyright © 2001 by Mary Daheim.

All rights reserved under International and PanAmerican Copyright Conventions. By payment of the

required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the

text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may

be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled,

reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any

information storage and retrieval system, in any form

or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical,

now known or hereinafter invented, without the

express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

Adobe Acrobat eBook Reader February 2007

ISBN 978-0-06-136256-9

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

About the Publisher

Australia

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http://www.harpercollinsebooks.com.au

Canada

HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.

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United Kingdom

HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.

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London, W6 8JB, UK

http://www.uk.harpercollinsebooks.com

United States

HarperCollins Publishers Inc.

10 East 53rd Street

New York, NY 10022

http://www.harpercollinsebooks.com

Document Outline

Title Page

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

About the Author

Praise

Other Bed-and-Breakfast Mysteries by Mary Daheim

Copyright Notice

About the Publisher

Table of Contents

ONE

TWO

THREE

FOUR

FIVE

SIX

SEVEN

EIGHT

NINE

TEN

ELEVEN

TWELVE

THIRTEEN

FOURTEEN

FIFTEEN

SIXTEEN

SEVENTEEN

EIGHTEEN

NINETEEN

TWENTY

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

PRAISE

OTHER BOOKS BY MARY DAHEIM

COVER

COPYRIGHT

ABOUT THE PUBLISHER

Praise for

Table of Contents

ONE

TWO

THREE

FOUR

FIVE

SIX

SEVEN

EIGHT

NINE

TEN

ELEVEN

TWELVE

THIRTEEN

FOURTEEN

FIFTEEN

SIXTEEN

SEVENTEEN

EIGHTEEN

NINETEEN

TWENTY

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

PRAISE

OTHER BOOKS BY MARY DAHEIM

COVER

COPYRIGHT

ABOUT THE PUBLISHER

Praise for