Synopses & Reviews
Its a sunny morning in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and also Dr. Kay Scarpetta's birthday. She's about to head to Miami for a vacation with Benton Wesley, her FBI profiler husband, when she notices seven pennies on a wall behind their home. Is this a kid's game? If so, why are all of the coins dated 1981 and so shiny they could be newly minted? Her cell phone rings, and Detective Pete Marino tells her there's been a homicide five minutes away. A high school music teacher was shot with uncanny precision as he unloaded groceries from his car. Yet no one heard or saw a thing.
In this twenty-second Scarpetta novel, she finds herself in the unsettling pursuit of a serial sniper who leaves no incriminating evidence except fragments of copper. The shots seem impossible to achieve, yet they are so perfect that they cause death in an instant. The victims appear to have had nothing in common, and there is no pattern to indicate where the killer will strike next. First New Jersey, then Massachusetts, and now it looks like the killer has moved elsewhere, to the murky depths off the coast. It's here that Scarpetta dives a shipwreck, looking for answers that only she can discover and analyze. Andwhere she comes face to face with shocking news that implicates her techno genius niece, Lucy, Scarpetta's very own flesh and blood.
With the bravura storytelling and state-of-the-art forensic details that are her hallmarks, Patricia Cornwell again raises the bar with this highly entertaining new tale, her most captivating Scarpetta novel yet.
Review
“In her twenty-second Scarpetta novel, Cornwell's forensic know-how is still at the cutting edge — even though Scarpetta was the prototype for most of TV's crack forensic investigators today — and her final scenes are both logical and shocking.” BBC (UK)
Review
“This is in many ways the best of the recent Scarpetta novels, boasting an involving story and some fine writing. Kay has finally found her voice as a first-person narrator....Readers will give this one an enthusiastic thumbs up.” Booklist
Review
“Everyone knows Scarpetta; she has the wit, intelligence, and strength that any forensic sleuth should own. This never-stop action plot is yet another gift to readers from Patricia Cornwell — a literary artist that is never going to stop writing some of the best and most memorable thrillers out there.” Suspense Magazine
Review
“Cornwell is still the ace of forensic science mysteries. Dr. Kay Scarpetta and her family and friends just keep growing as characters, and Cornwell's plots are still taut and tangled....With Flesh and Blood, Cornwell is at the top of her game.” RT Book Reviews
Review
“The ending is unseen and unexpected-and terrifying. VERDICT Deduction is the key to solving this mystery, and Scarpetta fans will relish this nail-biting novel, Cornwell's debut with publisher Morrow.” Library Journal (starred review)
Review
“Readers should be both thrilled and jolted…” CT Post
Review
“Dr. Kay Scarpetta… [is] an awesome force in the field of forensic science.” New York Times Book Review
Review
“From its opening pages, Flesh and Blood offers an adrenaline-fueled yet cerebral chase for a serial-killer that opens Scarpetta and her entourage to mortal danger....Another chilling, delicious ride.” Chapter 16
Synopsis
It's Dr. Kay Scarpetta's birthday, and she's about to head to Miami for a vacation with Benton Wesley, her FBI profiler husband, when she notices seven pennies on a wall behind their Cambridge house. Is this a kids' game? If so, why are all of the coins dated 1981 and so shiny they could be newly minted? Her cellphone rings, and Detective Pete Marino tells her there's been a homicide five minutes away. A high school music teacher has been shot with uncanny precision as he unloaded groceries from his car. No one has heard or seen a thing.
In this 22nd Scarpetta novel, the master forensic sleuth finds herself in the unsettling pursuit of a serial sniper who leaves no incriminating evidence except fragments of copper. The shots seem impossible, yet they are so perfect they cause instant death. The victims appear to have had nothing in common, and there is no pattern to indicate where the killer will strike next. First New Jersey, then Massachusetts, and then the murky depths off the coast of South Florida, where Scarpetta investigates a shipwreck, looking for answers that only she can discover and analyze. And it is there that she comes face to face with shocking evidence that implicates her techno genius niece, Lucy, Scarpetta's own flesh and blood.
Includes an exclusive excerpt from the riveting next novel in the Kay Scarpetta series, DEPRAVED HEART.
--Publishers Weekly
About the Author
Patricia Cornwell is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Kay Scarpetta series. Her bestsellers include
Dust, The Bone Bed, Red Mist, 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. Dr. Kay Scarpetta was awarded the 1999 Sherlock Award for the best detective created by an American author. Patricia Cornwell lives in Boston, Massachusetts.
Web: patriciacornwell.com
Facebook: patricia.cornwell
Twitter: @1pcornwell