Livid: The new Kay Scarpetta thriller from the No.1 bestseller

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In 1990, Patricia Cornwell sold her first novel, Postmortem, while working at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Richmond, Virginia. The use of microwave guns is an alarming escalation in weaponry, and is of GREAT concern to the authorities, because instructions for building these guns can be found online.

I feel that, like many of the more recent books in the series I have read, it doesn't live up to the quality of those early novels . Although I enjoy finding out about Kay and her family, this book, of 350 pages takes place over 2 days. Her interests span outside the literary: Patricia co-founded of the Conservation Scientist Chair at the Harvard University Art Museums. Kay Scarpetta finds herself a reluctant star witness in a sensational televised murder trial causing chaos in Old Town Alexandria with the threat of violent protests. Everyone knows Scarpetta; she has the wit, intelligence, and strength that any forensic sleuth should own.Even more strangely, her garden is full of dead plants and insects, which seems very unusual and makes no sense. Cornwell does a masterful job in this piece to resurrect some of her past greatness in the Scarpetta series. Chief medical examiner Kay Scarpetta is the reluctant star witness in a sensational murder trial when she receives shocking news.

Scarpetta and Marino discover some odd burn patters that could mean something even more problematic, as everything points to a new age weapon.The next 113 pages up through page 252 covered the inspection of the body, inspecting the murder site, going home, and debrief in the kitchen while eating. To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Although there is no apparent cause of death, Scarpetta recognizes tell-tale signs of the unthinkable, and she knows the worst is yet to come. The Scarpetta series i loved until I realized her character development was lacking, and there was a clear really odd development with one character, so I swore off the series. As things play out, Rachael's homicide seems to have a connection with an attempt on the life of the POTUS, as well as the murder of a Virginia merchant.

Full of all the action and sharp wit that the series possessed in its heyday, Cornwell keeps readers highly entertained and thoroughly captivated.It paved the way for an explosion of entertainment featuring in all things forensic across film, television and literature. Unfortunately, in this case, the original autopsy was not performed correctly by the pathologist who is no longer alive, and Kay’s subsequent follow-up work has caused her to change the cause of death from asphyxiation to drowning. I was bored out of my mind reading this, desperately waiting for a little bit of action or for something exciting to happen. The office and inter-agency politics play a big part of the story and I think they'll be at play in future installments.

All this leads to demonstrations and threats against Kay, and she's actually kicked, tripped, and injured. Forensic pathologist Kay Scarpetta has just inherited one of the most notorious cases of her career. The story starts out with Kay testifying in Old Town Alexandria regarding the alleged murder of a young woman by her husband.

With strong themes building throughout the short chapters, the reader feels propelled towards a climactic ending that has all the ingredients for a stellar novel. In my opinion All that Remains, Cruel and Unusual and, in particular From Potter’s Field are some of her very best work.