But the relief doesn’t last long. She and investigator Pete Marino are soon notified that presiding judge (and Scarpetta’s friend/former roommate) Annie Chilton’s sister has been found dead at the family’s home. Further, evidence at the crime scene—blown electricity, dead wildlife, singed greenery, etc.—indicates the use of a high-tech “microwave gun.” That the victim was employed by the CIA and allegedly having an extramarital affair with Flagler only complicates matters, which are steeped in personal and professional quagmire. When a second body is discovered at a separate location, Scarpetta and expert Co. (including husband, Benton, and niece, Lucy) know that the threat of further violence is imminent. Still, internal strife and jurisdictional turf wars (think CIA, FBI, Secret Service) threaten to delay resolution, even as the terrorist(s) prepare to strike again. The first few chapters were hard going due to the obnoxious prosecutor. You know that they have to try their utmost but he took the phrase "adversarial legal system" extremely literally. The overarching plot was good & I particularly liked how the different crime scenes were eventually tied together. All the main characters of the core group were involved: Scarpetta, Benton, Marino, & Lucy, & there were a few new ones too. As tensions mount for the case to be decided, Scarpetta must determine who is out there, lurking in the shadows. When POTUS arrives in town and an attempt is made on his life, Scarpetta knows that this is not your run of the mill killer, but rather some terror cell out for something larger. Someone is surely trying to send Scarpetta a message, while making an impact on the television news cycle as well. It will take everything in her being to keep Kay Scarpetta from letting justice be perverted, though everything comes together to unveil the truth about another crime that has haunted her for the past few years. Cornwell does a masterful job in this piece to resurrect some of her past greatness in the Scarpetta series. Fox 2000 bought the rights to Kay Scarpetta. Working with producer Liz Friedman, Marvel’s Jessica Jones and fellow Marvel EP and Twilight Saga scribe Melissa Rosenberg to develop the film and find Scarpetta a home on the big screen. The writing is descriptive and brisk. The characters are intuitive, knowledgeable, and persistent. And the plot is a well-paced, cleverly plotted tale full of mischief, mayhem, coercion, corruption, criminal behaviours, dangerous endeavours, crime scene analysis, secrets, deduction, lies, terrorists, and murder.

There were some interesting moments in this book, but the return of Kay Scarpetta continues to be a disappointment for me. Cornwell is not creating something new and refreshing, but rather continues to rely on her plotting methodology of solving a mystery over a condensed two-to-three-day timeframe, an approach that she established and perfected, then used repetitively over and over again until it just got old. Would the readers be happy with the same old or want something new? To be fair, I can only answer that question for myself.Now add to this mess, the murder of the judge's sister, add in a threat to the POTUS, another murder, and really strange clues to the murders. Ho boy, this was a fast-paced, twisty-turny read! New Sports Biographies and Autobiographies: Gift a Book for the Sports Fan In Your Life this Christmas

The story starts out with Kay testifying in Old Town Alexandria regarding the alleged murder of a young woman by her husband. The judge is Kay's former roommate. The rulings the Judge makes during Kay's testimony would never happen, nor would the outrageous objections made by the prosecutor. The unrealistic story gets worse from here as people start getting killed, including the Judge's sister who is staying at the Judge's residence, with a microwave gun. There appears to be no connection to the killings, and there really isn't but for the author's unbelievable stretch at the end to make sure there is a connection. SCARPETTA’S 26TH OUTING AND THE PLOTTING REMAINS EVERY BIT AS FRESH AS WHEN WE WERE INTRODUCED TO HER’ BELFAST TELEGRAPHAnother 15 rounds for Virginia chief medical examiner Dr. Kay Scarpetta and her well-placed enemies past and present. It just seemed a little clinical & little familiar - the machinations of a boss who dislikes her, earlier cases now under revision - you would think Scarpetta had earned a little trust & respect by now. I'll keep reading these as long as they keep being released, but I feel they've lost the heart & soul of what they were originally. I've re-read the first five or six books many times, but I'm not sure I will re-read the later ones as often. 3.5 stars (rounded up). The primary action and major plot developments occur outside of the primary characters and offstage from the reader. The core people involved are constantly informed of the key activities propelling the plot forward. They don’t actually experience the events first hand. They come in after those events and then react to what has already happened. There was good character growth (just a little growth since the series has been around for years, so you expect the character's to have done their growing) -just enough to keep them fresh. An interesting new weapon, at least to me. Just like her previous outing – “Autopsy” – the structure of the novel was the same. Everything takes place over a period of less than 48 hours. It is all slammed together in a wham-bam-thank-you-reader storytelling experience.

They drive to Norfolk (to confirm her boss whom she doesn't like is up to no good) from Alexandria and while driving some of the "terrorists" are arrested. Hailed as the first bona fide forensic thriller, Postmortem paved the way for an explosion of entertainment featuring all things forensic. CSI? You'll read it here first.I do like Cornwell’s Scarpetta series but admit to losing interest a little when there was so much focus on Scarpetta’s niece Lucy. I just can’t warm to her for some reason. Give me more of Scarpetta, Marino and Benton any day. The book opens with Chief Medical Examiner, Kay Scarpetta, being grilled on the stand in a highly emotive murder case. A man is on trial for his life after the body of his girlfriend was found floating in the river after being with him on his boat the night before, & supporters of both sides are in the courtroom & squaring up to each other around Virginia. The prosecutor is trying to make Scarpetta look cold & indifferent to the case & that this has made her sloppy in her interpretation of the evidence, & the judge is giving him latitude way beyond what is normal. There's clunkiness here and there where everything is spelled out in dialogue instead of conveying some in narrative or where readers are inside Scarpetta's head too much, but that's minor. WARNING - **SPOILERS AHEAD** - you will want to have read the book or your reading experience may be negatively influenced.