"Trace"
(Reviewed by Eleanor Bukowsky JUL 15, 2005)
Kay Scarpetta and Pete Marino are back in Trace, the new novel by Patricia Cornwell. Scarpetta and Marino live and work in Florida, but Kay is summoned back to Virginia to consult on the puzzling case of a fourteen-year-old girl, Gilly Paulsson, who died suddenly under mysterious circumstances. Much to Kay's distress, the Chief Medical Examiner who replaced her, Dr. Joel Marcus, turns out to be an incompetent and manipulative liar, who does not value her expertise at all. In fact, he would be happy to see Kay fail.
Kay has a great deal on her mind. Her lover, Benton, has gone to Aspen without her, and she has a strained relationship with her niece, Lucy. The last thing she needs is to be caught in a political battle of wills on her old stomping ground. However, once Kay and Marino start digging into the Gilly Paulson case, they find some very disturbing evidence that points to murder. Kay puts political considerations aside as she struggles to make sense of this young girl's death.
Trace is not an easy novel to read. Cornwell is at her creepiest here. The villain, whose identity we know from the get-go, is psychotic, highly delusional, and relentless in his desire to hurt those whom he feels have wronged him in some way. Cornwell relishes the morbid details of forensic pathology, and she spells them out in excruciating detail. In addition, she includes a weird psychosexual subplot featuring Marino that is positively bizarre.
On the plus side, I love Kay Scarpetta's strength of character, integrity, brains, and heart. She is a brilliant forensic pathologist with great instincts and the resolve to do whatever she must to uncover the truth. She recognizes her faults and tries to correct them. Marino, as usual, is profane, politically incorrect, and self-destructive, although his cop's instincts have not diminished with the passing years. He still worships Kay and Lucy, and he will protect them with his life, if necessary.
Trace is exciting and engrossing, but it is also challenging, since the plot is non-linear. The clues are spread throughout the book. There is no "aha" moment when everything falls into place. Cornwell does not provide clear explanations or resolutions for every plot point, and some threads are left dangling. Still, Trace is a daring thriller in the mold of Cornwell's best and earliest works in which she fearlessly explored the darkest and most disturbing recesses of the human mind.
- Amazon readers rating:
from 330 reviews
Read a chapter excerpt from Trace at Penguin Group
(back to top)"Unnatural Exposure"
(Reviewed by Judi Clark JULY 19, 1998)
This series features Dr. Kay Scarpetta who is a forensic scientist (like Scully on the TV series X-Files). These books are popular because Cornwell does a very good job of analyzing the technical evidence. I found Unnatural Exposure to be the best of the series so far. My niece, Kelly, and I were discussing her books and decided that one reason that this book is better than the earliest ones is that Scarpetta's own niece is older and more interesting. In Postmortem, Lucy is 10 years old and a brat. Later she ends up working for the FBI.
If you haven't already started reading her books, you should read them in the order in which she wrote them since her characters grow with each novel. Though I haven't read beyond Unnatural Exposure, many people claim that the latest two novels are harder to get into because they dwell too much on Kay Scarpetta's emotions and thus are more drawn out than the earlier ones. However, my niece still says they are worth the read and remains an avid fan.
- Amazon reader rating:
from 236 reviews
"Hornet's Nest"
(Reviewed by Judi Clark NOV 10, 1998)
- Amazon reader rating: from 366 reviews
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Bibliography: (with links to Amazon.com)
Featuring Dr. Kay Scarpetta:
- Postmortem (1990)
/ 
- Body of Evidence (1991)
- All that Remains (1992)
- Cruel & Unusual (1993)
- The Body Farm (1994)
- From Potter's Field (1995)
- Cause of Death (1996)
- Unnatural Exposure (1997)
- Point of Origin (1998)
- Black Notice (1999)
- The Last Precinct (October 2000)
- Blow Fly (October 2003)
- Trace (September 2004)
- Predator (October 2005)
- Book of the Dead (October 2007)
Related:
- Scarpetta's Winter Table (1998) (a cook book, sort of)
- Food to Die For: Secrets from Kay Scarpetta's Kitchen (October 2001)
Win Garano series:
Featuring Police Chief Judy Hammer, Deputy Virginia West and Andy Brazil:
- Hornet's Nest (1997)
- Southern Cross (1999)
- Isle of Dogs (November 2001)
Non-fiction:
- Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper -- Case Closed (October 2002)
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Book Marks:
- Official Patricia Cornwell site
- Reviews of Cornwell's books
- The Mystery Reader review of The Last Precinct
- San Francisco Chronicle review of Southern Cross
- The Book Barn review of Isle of Dogs
- Patricia Cornwell with Guide Horse (Isle of Dogs)
- Guardian Limited article on revealing Jack the Ripper identity
- Official Web site information on Portrait of a Killer
- ReviewOfBooks.com collection of reviews for Portrait of a Killer
- BookReporter.com review of Blow Fly
- ReviewOfBooks.com collection of reviews for Blow Fly
- BookReporter.com review of Trace
- ReviewOfBooks.com collection of reviews for Trace
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About the Author:
Patricia Daniels Cornwell was born in 1956 in Miami, Florida. Her father was an appellateattorney and her mother a secretary. Her parents divorced and when she was seven her mother moved her and her two brothers to 
Montreat, North Carolina. Ruth and Bill Graham lived nearby and it was Ruth who told her to write. She went to Kings College in Tennessee and then transferred to Davidson College in North Carolina. After graduating, she married her former English Professor, Charles Cornwell, who is seventeen years older than her. In 1979, just out of college, she started her first job as a reporter for the Charlotte Observer, soon becoming an award winning police reporter. In 1984 she took a job in the Virginia medical examiner's office and worked at the morgue for six years, first as a technical writer then as a computer analyst. She also volunteered as a city cop. In 1988 her husband received an offer to become a pastor at a church in Texas. She refused to go and thus they agreed to an amicable divorce in 1990. (He is now her editor.)
In 1983 she wrote her first book, a biography of Ruth Bell Graham. Between 1984 and 1986 she wrote three novels based on her crime experience - but all were rejected. Sara Ann Freed at Mysterious Press recommended that she expand Scarpetta, rather than using the male detective, as the central character. Thus in 1990, her first novel, Postmortem. Her preparation paid off. Postmortem was the first novel ever to win the Edgar Casey, Creasey, Anthony and Macavity awards as well as the French Prix du Roman D'Aventurie, in a single year.
Cornwell now lives in New York and Richmond, Virginia.
