A Case Of Need

A Case of Need is a mystery novel written by Michael Crichton under the pseudonym Jeffery Hudson. It was first published in 1968 by The World Publishing Company (New York) and won an Edgar Award in 1969. The novel was re-released in 1993 under Crichton's own name.

The novel is a medical thriller in which a Boston pathologist, Dr. John Berry, independently investigates the death of a young woman, Karen Randall. Berry becomes involved when his friend Dr. Arthur Lee is implicated in Karen's death: Lee is accused of performing the abortion on Karen Randall that led to her death. Crichton's later novels are preoccupied with technology: his novels can be extended examinations of the morality and implications of a particular innovation draped over the structure of a thriller novel. In A Case of Need, however, it is a medical practice and not a technological innovation that is at issue.

List of characters in order of appearance

 * Frank Conway
 * Herbert Landsman
 * John Berry
 * Judith Berry
 * Sanderson
 * Sally Planck
 * Betty Lee
 * Art Lee
 * Karen Randall
 * Peterson
 * Cameron Jackson
 * George Bradford
 * Lewis Carr
 * Alice
 * Gaffen
 * Jack Hendricks
 * Leland Weston
 * Jim Murphy
 * Lewis Carr
 * Roger Whiting
 * William Randall
 * J. D. Randall
 * Johnny Berry
 * Andy Lee
 * Henry Lee
 * Ginnie
 * Hughes
 * Evelyn Randall
 * Alan Zenner
 * Brigit
 * Peter Randall
 * Norton Hammond
 * George Morris
 * Jones
 * Andrews
 * Tessler
 * Janis
 * Blake
 * Fritz Werner
 * Charlie Frank
 * Sally
 * Marvin
 * Sam Archer
 * Bubbles
 * Angela Harding
 * Harry Fallon
 * Crusher Thompson
 * George Wilson
 * Debby Berry
 * Roman Jones
 * Tom Harding