Scarpetta (A Scarpetta Novel)

Patricia Cornwell's most recent bestsellers include Red Mist, Port Mortuary, and Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper���Case Closed. Her earlier works include Postmortem���the only novel to win five major crime awards in a single year���and Cruel and Unusual, which won Britain���s prestigious Gold Dagger Award for the best crime novel of 1993. Dr. Kay Scarpetta herself won the 1999 Sherlock Award for the best detective created by an American author. From AudioFile All the continuing characters in the Scarpetta series work together in New York City to solve several murders with weird pathology. Medical examiner Kay Scarpetta needs help from her husband, Benton, ex-FBI profiler; her computer geek niece, Lucy; a female prosecuting attorney; and Marino, Kay's estranged former police associate. Some of these folks, like Marino and bit players, are voiced distinctively; some, like Benton, are not. Kate Reading's talent is enlivening long (maybe overlong) conversations and injecting emotions into characters and relationships. Suspect Oscar Banes, a dwarf, is wounded in body and spirit. Mysterious Internet postings about Kay are venomous. A pathology report is read stiffly. And a celebratory lunch at Elaine's brings everyone together to close on an overall good performance. J.B.G. © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine