Until Joseph and Angel Ambrose come to his office to ask for his help. Their five-year-old son Jordan died in the local hospital, and they want to know why. Taken in with a complaint of stomach pains, the boy got worse and worse for days, dying in surgery. Joseph is wounded; Angel is angry. They want to know why their son died, and they want the people responsible to pay.

Noah is not sure he even wants to handle a medical malpractice case. Taking this case will likely annoy many people in town – not a good proposition for a small town lawyer. His best friend, a doctor, is offended that he would take the plaintiff's side in a malpractice case, and many of his best clients have ties with the hospital. A lawsuit could destroy this small community hospital struggling with financial problems already.

At first, it looks like an example of grieving parents striking out at the first available target. But as Noah learns more about the case, he realizes that something went very, very wrong during Jordan's time in the hospital. The case notes show that the attending nurses called repeatedly for doctors, who did not respond or came only many hours later. A pediatric specialist Noah consults calls the treatment, or rather lack of treatment, criminal. One of the nurses seems afraid to talk to Noah, though she is obviously upset at what happened to the little boy, and another nurse has disappeared. By this point, Noah feels that he must know what happened to little Jordan, as much for himself as for his clients.

The protagonist and the atmosphere of Willful Neglect are both very appealing. The pace is slow, but quiet and thoughtful, not boring. This is, sadly, a very believable story examining the unsavory undercurrents of even the most pleasant and friendly of small towns. The plot seems to skirt the edges of a traditional mystery novel, as at least part of the "mystery" seems pretty obvious almost from the beginning, and threads are left hanging at the end, but the feel of the book is pure cozy. It wasn't an edge-of-the-seat read, but I liked Noah Richards and I wouldn't mind seeing more of him in future books.

--Jeri Wright