Kay Scarpetta is back, and this time she’s right in the path of danger…

Book blurb

World-renowned forensic pathologist Kay Scarpetta and her husband Benton, a psychologist with the US Secret Service, have returned to Virginia. They are headquartered five miles from the Pentagon in a post-pandemic world that’s been torn by civil and political unrest.

Just weeks into the job, Scarpetta is called to a railway track where a woman’s body has been shockingly displayed, her throat cut down to the spine. But the trail of clues will lead Scarpetta back to her own neighbourhood.

At the same time, a catastrophe occurs in a top-secret lab in outer space, endangering the scientists aboard. Scarpetta is summoned to the White House to find out what happened. As she starts the new investigation, an apparent serial killer strikes again, this time dangerously close to home.

My thoughts

This is the 25th Scarpetta book and Kay is back in Virginia as Chief Medical Officer something she is already thinking may be a mistake. Benton now works for the secret service. Marino is married to Dorothy, Kay’s sister and Lucy, Kay’s niece, has lost both her partner Janet and their adopted son Desi to COVID. The house that Kay and Benton have bought has been having a lot of work done on it and within the grounds is a gatehouse where Lucy is living.

The book opens with Kay in her office contemplating the next National Emergency Contingency Coalition (aka: the Doomsday Commission) which next meets at the White House. Proximity to Washington meant working in Alexandria which is where the OCME is. It’s after Thanksgiving and a storm is brewing. Kay packs up for the day. It’s Lucy’s birthday and a small gathering is taking place.

Kay has a body awaiting identification in the morgue downstairs. Maggie, her inherited secretary and the bane of her life since returning to Virginia, tells Kay that August Ryan requires her assistance. Ryan is the U.S. Park Police investigator on the case of the unidentified body. He wants Kay to meet him. Why? Maggie say he’ll explain! Kay is resigned to cancelling Lucy’s gathering. She speaks with Ryan. There’s a missing person, could it be the body downstairs? Maybe.

Gwen Hainey, 33 yrs old, a biomedical engineer at Thor Labs working on special projects is reported to the police by her employer as she hasn’t been seen for a while. A local police officer, Officer Fruge, was the first responder to the scene of death of the unidentified, handless body found near railway tracks. She is the same officer making a wellness check on Gwen Hainey. Kay doesn’t remember her from the original scene at Dangerfield Island but recognises the name. Prompted by Ryan she recalls having worked with a toxicologist of that name years ago in Richmond. Officer Blaise Fruge is her daughter. On top of this Gwen Hainey lived in Colonial Landing which is the gated community where her sister and Pete Marino live.

Later that day the family gather to raise a glass in celebration of Lucy’s birthday. Kay chooses a bottle of wine. It’s one that was given to her in Lyon the previous month by Gabriella Honoré the Secretary General of Interpol. After uncorking it Kay takes a taste and immediately reacts with dizziness, passing out!

Still suffering from the after effects of the bad wine Kay, along with Benton, gets a call they have got to go to a special meeting there’s been an incident in space! Kay has no idea why she’s there but as things unfold appalling deeds and terrifying possibilities are revealed, links are being made that put a brand new light on everything!

There’s also the need to consider another, older case Kay thinks. Is she making links that aren’t there? Marino tells her to follow her instincts. Will this lead them to a double murderer or not?

As always Patricia Cornwell brings us a twisty and twisted tale. A story that has an undercurrent of deep personal sadness as Lucy, who was settling into a stable, loving and happy relationship at last, now has to deal with a terrible loss.

There are a lot of things that Kay has to do in order to get the OCME working in a professional way and that’s not easy with a boss who was the root cause of all the issues along with an assistant who clearly still wishes that she was working for him and is disrespectful, disruptive and passing information to him. It’s hard enough for Kay to have all her responsibilities without having to second guess her actions not knowing who she can trust or rely on! Still, there is work to be done regarding the body in the morgue, the old case, the poisoned wine and the incident in space. Will Kay survive, both physically and professionally, long enough to find out what happened to the two women? As the story progresses resolutions will come but not without adversity.

Patricia Cornwell has a way of writing that draws you into this complex story and you are gripped. Then as each new twist comes you will be wondering what is going on, how everything will be resolved and whether there can possibly be a way forward for Kay!

I have read all the Scarpetta books and enjoyed them Autopsy is another terrific read and one that fans of Cornwell will, no doubt, love.

Book: Purchased

Information

Published: HarperCollins (25 Nov. 2021) | 411 pages

Buy: HarperCollins | Hive UK | AmazonSmileUK |Your local bookshop | Your local library

Author

Patricia Cornwell now lives in Boston. She was born in Miami and grew up in Montreat, North Carolina. After earning her degree in English from Davidson College in 1979, she began working at the Charlotte Observer, taking whatever stories came her way and rapidly advancing from listing television programs to covering the police beat. Cornwell received widespread attention and praise for her series of articles on prostitution and crime in downtown Charlotte. From the Charlotte Observer, Cornwell moved to a job with the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of Virginia – a post she would later bestow upon the fictional Kay Scarpetta. It was during these years that Patricia penned Postmortem and began submitting it to major publishing houses in New York, without initial success.

Find out more about the author and her writing on the Patricia Cornwell Website or follow her on X/Twitter (links to other social media on her website).

Patricia Cornwell Bio | US book tours (past/upcoming) | UK book tours (past/upcoming)

Books

Scarpetta series | Captain Chase series | Will Garano series | Andy Brazil series | Jack the Ripper books | Other books