Kay Scarpetta is back in “Book of the Dead,” Patricia Cornwell’s 15th outing with the forensic sleuth introduced in the groundbreaking “Postmortem” in 1990. That first thriller garnered Cornwell an unprecedented four major honors, including the Edgar and Anthony awards.
Well before the various “CSI” series became popular on television, Cornwell created Scarpetta as the chief medical examiner in Richmond, Va.
Scarpetta was a strong woman with a challenging job who used high-tech laboratory techniques and cutting-edge forensics to speak for the dead and bring the guilty to justice. Things have changed.
The current story opens with a dreadful but intriguing scene as the killer is torturing a young American tennis star. The victim, Drew Martin, is murdered in Rome while on holiday. Italian officials have brought in Scarpetta and Benton Wesley, a forensic psychologist, to help them solve the crime.
Scarpetta and Wesley are consulting on the high-profile case as part of the European Network of Forensic Science Institute. This promising setup has a lot of potential for tension and suspense as details about the murderer are revealed.
While the investigation continues in Italy, Scarpetta returns to her new home in Charleston, S.C., where she has opened a private forensic pathology practice. Scarpetta provides expert autopsies and crime scene investigation to departments and communities without their own laboratories and trained staff.
The title of the book comes from the handwritten ledger in the morgue that records the names of all the bodies that are brought in. One case is causing Scarpetta a lot of angst — that of a young boy with no name who was beaten and starved. Despite her best efforts she can find nothing to help identify him or his killer.
Meanwhile, the bodies start to pile up, and soon it becomes apparent that the disturbed killer, who began his unique style of murder in Italy, is now in the area searching for new victims to appease his rage.
As her problems pile up, Scarpetta also has to deal with television personality and psychiatrist Dr. Marilyn Self, who has it in for Scarpetta because of events that were laid out in a previous book, “Predator.” Dr. Self has startling knowledge about the killer but doesn’t share this important information, even though it could save lives.
Cornwell populates Scarpetta’s new business and personal life with her usual cast of characters: Pete Marino, previously her police investigator sidekick; Lucy, her independently wealthy, brilliant techno-wizard niece; Rose, her longtime secretary; and Wesley, her lover. The new locale, the private practice and changes in Scarpetta’s relationships have done little to advance the series.
Staunch Scarpetta fans may be happy to read about the latest events in her life, but more casual followers might elect to pass on “Book of the Dead,” or maybe check it out from the local library. Although most series books can be read on their own, so much has changed in Scarpetta’s current situation that more back story is needed by those readers who haven’t kept up or are coming in cold.
Lost is the intimate and intelligent voice of Scarpetta. Cornwell has elected to use the distant and cold observations of an omniscient narrator. The sad fact is that there are plenty of fascinating elements in the story, but Cornwell doesn’t pursue them in a logical manner. The plot wanders and loses focus. What is left is an unsatisfying story where the most appealing character is Scarpetta’s new gardener.
Cornwell needs to stop the soap opera that Scarpetta’s life has become and return her to the job of solving crimes using her intelligence and her strong voice.
Leslie Doran is a freelance writer in Durango.
————————————
FICTION
Book of the Dead, by Patricia Cornwell, $26.95
