So happy that Kay's horrible secretary, Maggie, wasn't in this one as much undermining and plotting against her at every turn like the last one. Loved that Benton was involved more too. The office and inter-agency politics play a big part of the story and I think they'll be at play in future installments. Interested to see how it all turns out. There was good character growth (just a little growth since the series has been around for years, so you expect the character's to have done their growing) -just enough to keep them fresh. An interesting new weapon, at least to me. Once again, Patricia Cornwell offers a glimpse into a nightmarish future that is already here, reminding us that our deepest fears have likely become reality. Fortunately, the guardians of good—of which Kay Scarpetta is a longstanding example—remain steadfast in their opposition, seeking justice and truth to quell the uncertainties that haunt us."— CriminalElement.com

There's clunkiness here and there where everything is spelled out in dialogue instead of conveying some in narrative or where readers are inside Scarpetta's head too much, but that's minor. Cornwell has various ideas, such as reminiscent of the tragic love that was born in the conflict between the families in Shakespeare’s plays. And she sprinkles this scene with many hints that only notices when we’re finished reading the story.Dr. Kay Scarpetta, the spunky and thoughtful chief medical examiner introduced in Cornwell's first novel, Postmortem , makes her second commanding appearance here. Beryl Madison, a writer of Continue reading »

Cornwell combines bone-rattling suspense with an insider's view of forensic science as her sleuth, Richmond, Va., medical examiner Kay Scarpetta, investigates a series of grim murders of young Continue reading »The first book by Patricia Cornwell I’ve ever read was Body of Evidence (2nd book of the series). I had bought the novel by chance and when I finished it, I could not get to the book store fast enough to buy her first book Post mortem. It's not often a crime novel offers such a smorgasbord of oddball elements, including autopsy advice, methods of combating tree blight, the use of spiders in sadomasochist torture and couples Continue reading » Fox 2000 bought the rights to Kay Scarpetta. Working with producer Liz Friedman, Marvel’s Jessica Jones and fellow Marvel EP and Twilight Saga scribe Melissa Rosenberg to develop the film and find Scarpetta a home on the big screen. The book opens with Chief Medical Examiner, Kay Scarpetta, being grilled on the stand in a highly emotive murder case. A man is on trial for his life after the body of his girlfriend was found floating in the river after being with him on his boat the night before, & supporters of both sides are in the courtroom & squaring up to each other around Virginia. The prosecutor is trying to make Scarpetta look cold & indifferent to the case & that this has made her sloppy in her interpretation of the evidence, & the judge is giving him latitude way beyond what is normal.

I’M STILL SEEING STARS . . . KAY SCARPETTA IS THE SAME GRUMPY, WONDERFUL, RIVETING PERSONALITY SHE’S ALWAYS BEEN AND SHE’S ONLY GETTING BETTER WITH TIME’JAMES PATTERSON Now add to this mess, the murder of the judge's sister, add in a threat to the POTUS, another murder, and really strange clues to the murders. Ho boy, this was a fast-paced, twisty-turny read!I enjoyed reading this book and made a promise to read more of the previous novels in this series. I would rate it at 3.5 stars but some of that is probably due to not being fully up to speed with the series. Just like her previous outing – “Autopsy” – the structure of the novel was the same. Everything takes place over a period of less than 48 hours. It is all slammed together in a wham-bam-thank-you-reader storytelling experience. Die Tote war Pressesprecherin beim CIA. Und da momentan Protestaktionen laufen und Terroranschläge einer Gruppe, die sich „Die Republik“ nennt, zu erwarten sind, könnte ihr Tod etwas damit zu tun haben.