Synopses & Reviews
The #1 New York Times bestseller called a "grisly, fast-paced thriller" (Entertainment Weekly) finds Dr. Kay Scarpetta leaving Virginia in quest of peace. Instead, she's drawn into baffling, horrific murders in Florida. There she becomes entangled in an international conspiracy that confronts her with the shock of her life.
Review
"Patricia Cornwell is on target and spectacularly so with her latest Kay Scarpetta thriller..." Connecticut Post
Review
"[A] novel of complicated relationships, near-Machiavellian maneuvers and...picture-perfect scenes in which Scarpetta's forensic expertise comes into play....[S]it back, don't take it all too seriously, and enjoy the show it's a good one." Denver Post
Review
"Cornwell never provides any of the unblinking set pieces that have made her so widely imitated. A more serious problem is that the perils feel recycled, shapeless, and so soaked in evil that they're headed nowhere in particular..." Kirkus Reviews
Review
"The material is outrageously campy, and Blow Fly's second half suffers from pretty severe plot decomposition. But Cornwell writes...with unwavering intensity in this grisly, fast-paced thriller. The effect: utterly chilling. (Grade: B+)" Entertainment Weekly
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"[T]oo much of this book is bound up in retrospective musings about events in previous books. The great Scarpetta, her fiery crime-busting niece, Lucy, and a colorful supporting cast deserve better." Publishers Weekly
Review
"This is, in some ways, the most shocking Scarpetta installment, and readers new to the series might find it confusing. Fans will definitely want it, though. Highly recommended." Library Journal
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"[P]roof that this once-award-winning author has no more original ideas for her medical examiner. Blow Fly is destroyed by a ludicrous plot, gratuitous violence, banal dialogue, recycled villains and characters who are just plain dull." South Florida Sun-Sentinel
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"Gruesome and suspenseful." New York Daily News
Review
"[A] murky stew...with action careening in way too many directions. Oh, for a return to the [old] Scarpetta, who, at center stage, used her intellect and forensic training to solve a more straightforward mystery." Stephanie Zvirin, Booklist
Review
"What is obviously meant to be the book's tour-de-force shocker is so outlandish that it cheapens what was good about the previous book....Blow Fly is all over the place, and a story that should be deadly serious grows more and more preposterous." Miami Herald
Review
"[T]oo much angst, too little action....The plot goes off in all directions without creating the suspense we crave. Even the final scene is told, not shown. You expect more from Cornwell." Charlotte Observer
Synopsis
Readers are in for the shock of Kay Scarpetta's life.
Synopsis
Patricia Cornwell's intrepid medical examiner Dr. Kay Scarpetta is visiting Florida, hoping to get away from the pressures of her job. No such luck: down in the Sunshine State, she becomes involved in a terrifying international intrigue with ramifications that reach deep into Kay's own life.
Synopsis
Dr. Kay Scarpetta has left Virginia in quest of peace but instead finds herself drawn into baffling, horrific murders in Florida. There she becomes entangled in an international conspiracy that confronts her with the shock of her life.
Synopsis
Readers are in for the shock of Kay Scarpetta's life.
About the Author
Patricia Cornwell's most recent number-one bestsellers include Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper Case Closed, The Last Precinct, and Isle of Dogs. Her earlier work includes Postmortem the only novel to win the Edgar, Creasey, Anthony, and Macavity awards and the French Prix du Roman d'Aventure in a single year and Cruel and Unusual, which won Britain's prestigious Gold Dagger Award for the year's best crime novel of 1993. Her fictional chief medical examiner, Dr. Kay Scarpetta, won the 1999 Sherlock Award for best detective created by an American author. Cornwell helped establish the Virginia Institute of Forensic Science and Medicine, the first forensic training facility of its kind in the nation, and serves as the Institute's Chairman of the Board.