Barbara Mikulski's Taller Tale

Fifteen years ago, long before she won the time-consuming chairmanship of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Maryland Sen. Barbara Mikulski co-wrote a mystery novel. In Capitol Offense, a senator from Pennsylvania is fatally stricken during a polka contest. He’s replaced by Norrie Gorzack, a Polish-American nurse who tells it like it is and cracks the case of 16 missing MIAs.* After one long day, Gorzack returns home to cook a “passable eggplant” with “a dash of olive oil.” She gets a mysterious message, a rough voice telling her she’s “treading on dangerous ground,” but “the guys from Nam, guys from Delta Force, know you're up to the job.”