Synopses & Reviews
From the world's #1 bestselling crime writer comes the extraordinary new Kay Scarpetta novel. It is the week before Christmas. A tanking economy has prompted Dr. Kay Scarpetta-despite her busy schedule and her continuing work as the senior forensic analyst for CNN- to offer her services pro bono to New York City's Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. In no time at all, her increased visibility seems to precipitate a string of unexpected and unsettling events. She is asked live on the air about the sensational case of Hannah Starr, who has vanished and is presumed dead. Moments later during the same telecast, she receives a startling call-in from a former psychiatric patient of Benton Wesley's. When she returns after the show to the apartment where she and Benton live, she finds an ominous package-possibly a bomb-waiting for her at the front desk. Soon the apparent threat on Scarpetta's life finds her embroiled in a surreal plot that includes a famous actor accused of an unthinkable sex crime and the disappearance of a beautiful millionairess with whom Lucy seems to have shared a secret past.
Scarpetta's CNN producer wants her to launch a TV show called The Scarpetta Factor. Given the bizarre events already in play, she fears that her growing fame will generate the illusion that she has a "special factor," a mythical ability to solve all her cases. She wonders if she will end up like other TV personalities: her own stereotype.
The Scarpetta Factor, the seventeenth in the series, finds the familiar cast of characters together again in New York. Marino is working for the NYPD; Benton Wesley uses his forensic psychological expertise at Kirby and Bellevue; and Lucy continues to dazzle with her expertise in forensic computer investigations as she works yet another case with NY prosecutor Jaime Berger.
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Review
“[A] grisly fast-paced thriller…utterly chilling.”—
Entertainment Weekly “Patricia Cornwell is on target—and spectacularly so…a story so compelling that even long-time readers will be stunned by its twists and turns.”—Chicago Tribune
“Like a thriller with overtones of espionage, Blow Fly is a novel of complicated relationships, near-Machiavellian maneuvers and, as usual, picture-perfect scenes in which Scarpettas forensic expertise comes into play…Enjoy the show—its a good one.”—The Denver Post
“Engaging and horrifying…a book that fans will want to read for the sheer voyeuristic quality of watching the characters they know so well go beyond their limits.”—Houston Chronicle
Synopsis
A cold case turns red-hot when a death-row inmate renews his acquaintance with Dr. Kay Scarpetta in this "utterly chilling" (Entertainment Weekly) #1 New York Times bestseller. Settling into her new life as a private forensic consultant, Kay Scarpetta agrees to investigate a cold case in Louisiana--the baffling eight-year-old murder of a woman with a history of blackouts and violent outbursts. Then she receives news that chills her to the core: Jean-Baptiste Chandonne--the vicious and unrepentant Wolfman who pursued her to her very doorstep--has asked to see her. From his cell on death row, he demands an audience with the legendary Dr. Scarpetta. With her friends and family by her side, Scarpetta tries to guess what sort of endgame this madman has in mind--how, if at all, it's related to the Louisiana case--and then confronts the shock of her life: a blow that will force her to question the loyalty and trust of all she holds dear...
Synopsis
Settling into her new life as a private forensic consultant, Kay Scarpetta agrees to investigate a cold case in Louisianathe baffling eight-year-old murder of a woman with a history of blackouts and violent outbursts. Then she receives news that chills her to the core: Jean-Baptiste Chandonnethe vicious and unrepentant Wolfman who pursued her to her very doorstephas asked to see her. From his cell on death row, he demands an audience with the legendary Dr. Scarpetta. With her friends and family by her side, Scarpetta tries to guess what sort of endgame this madman has in mindhow, if at all, its related to the Louisiana caseand then confronts the shock of her life: a blow that will force her to question the loyalty and trust of all she holds dear
About the Author
Patricia Cornwell is one of the worlds major internationally bestselling authors, translated into more than thirty-five languages in more than 120 countries. She is a founder of the Virginia Institute of Forensic Science and Medicine; a founding member of the National Forensic Academy; a member of the Advisory Board for the Forensic Sciences Training Program at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, New York City; and a member of the Harvard-affiliated McLean Hospitals National Council, where she is an advocate for psychiatric research. In 2008, Cornwell won the Galaxy British Book Awardss Books Direct Crime Thriller of the Yearthe first American to win this prestigious award. In 2011, she was awarded the medal of Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters by the Ministry of Culture in Paris. Her most recent bestsellers include
Red Mist,
Port Mortuary,
The Scarpetta Factor,
The Front, and
Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper. Her earlier works include
Postmortemthe only novel to win five major crime awards in a single yearand
Cruel and Unusual, which won Britains Gold Dagger Award for best crime novel of 1993. Dr. Kay Scarpetta herself won the 1999 Sherlock Award for the best detective created by an American author.