Flesh and Blood

September 29, 2014
Bestseller Cornwell’s thrilling 22nd novel featuring Dr. Kay Scarpetta (after 2013’s Dust) pits the chief medical examiner against a threat uncomfortably close to home. On the eve of a Florida birthday trip with her FBI agent husband, Benton Wesley, Det. Pete Marino calls Scarpetta to the scene of a fatal shooting in Cambridge, Mass., with all the hallmarks of a sniper attack. Even worse are the alarming similarities between the victim, music teacher Jamal Nari—recently erroneously classified as a terrorist—and two shooting deaths in New Jersey. Not only is the killer an ace shot, but even handcrafts the bullets. Scarpetta knows the signature copper bullets are somehow connected to an odd discovery outside her and Wesley’s home: seven shiny pennies, all from 1981. Soon the hunt is on, stretching from the tonier streets of Cambridge to the murky waters off the coast of Florida. Series fans may be pleasantly shocked by the return of a once-vanquished nemesis. Agent: Esther Newberg, ICM.

June 1, 2014
In her 22nd outing, Dr. Kay Scarpetta goes after the Copperhead, a serial sniper who kills seemingly random victims with a single deadly shot delivered at such a distance that there's really no crime scene, only odd bits of copper left behind as a memento. What does Kay's techie-brilliant niece, Lucy, have to do with it? With a million-copy first printing.

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from November 15, 2014

In Cornwell's 22nd Kay Scarpetta thriller (after Dust), Kay and her FBI profiler husband, Benton Wesley, ready themselves to leave for a much-needed vacation. But a curious discovery on her garden rocks--seven shiny pennies that date from 1981--and the flashing of a small reflective light from the distant trees put their getaway plans on hold when Det. Pete Marino calls to tell her that a long-distance sniper had targeted a music teacher, one of several victims who appear to have nothing in common. Kay is still adjusting to Marino now working for the "other" side on the police force, rather than for her as an investigator. Another unsettling fact for Kay is that her niece, Lucy, is an expert markswoman. Is someone trying to frame Lucy? The ending is unseen and unexpected--and terrifying. VERDICT Deduction is the key to solving this mystery, and Scarpetta fans will relish this nail-biting novel, Cornwell's debut with publisher Morrow. [See Prepub Alert, 5/12/14; turn to p. 80 for a profile of Cornwell.--Ed.]--Susan Carr, Edwardsville P.L., IL

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2014

In her 22nd outing, Dr. Kay Scarpetta goes after the Copperhead, a serial sniper who kills seemingly random victims with a single deadly shot delivered at such a distance that there's really no crime scene, only odd bits of copper left behind as a memento. What does Kay's techie-brilliant niece, Lucy, have to do with it? With a million-copy first printing.

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 15, 2014
Happy birthday, Dr. Kay Scarpetta. But no Florida vacation for you and your husband, FBI profiler Benton Wesley-not because President Barack Obama is visiting Cambridge, but because a deranged sniper has come to town. Shortly after everyone's favorite forensic pathologist (Dust, 2013, etc.) receives a sinister email from a correspondent dubbed Copperhead, she goes outside to find seven pennies-all polished, all turned heads-up, all dated 1981-on her garden wall. Clearly there's trouble afoot, though she's not sure what form it will take until five minutes later, when a call from her old friend and former employee Pete Marino, now a detective with the Cambridge Police, summons her to the scene of a shooting. Jamal Nari was a high school music teacher who became a minor celebrity when his name was mistakenly placed on a terrorist watch list; he claimed government persecution, and he ended up having a beer with the president. Now he's in the news for quite a different reason. Bizarrely, the first tweets announcing his death seem to have preceded it by 45 minutes. And Leo Gantz, a student at Nari's school, has confessed to his murder, even though he couldn't possibly have done it. But these complications are only the prelude to a banquet of homicide past and present, as Scarpetta and Marino realize when they link Nari's murder to a series of killings in New Jersey. For a while, the peripheral presence of the president makes you wonder if this will be the case that finally takes the primary focus off the investigator's private life. But most of the characters are members of Scarpetta's entourage, the main conflicts involve infighting among the regulars, and the killer turns out to be a familiar nemesis Scarpetta thought she'd left for dead several installments back. As if.No wonder Scarpetta asks, "When did my workplace become such a soap opera?" Answer: at least 10 years ago.

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October 1, 2014
In the latest Kay Scarpetta thriller, a serial sniper is racking up the body count while leaving virtually no evidence and no clues to his (or her) identity. Scarpetta, who, over the years, has moved further and further from her roots as Virginia's chief medical examiner, is involved in the investigation, and she's dumbfounded when evidence is discovered that suggests her own daughter, Lucy, might be involved in the case somehowthe key question here being whether Lucy knows she's involved (it's a complicated situation). Cornwell is working hard to reenergize the series, which entered a creative slump several years ago, and this is in many ways the best of the recent Scarpetta novels, boasting an involving story and some fine writing. Kay has finally found her voice as a first-person narrator, which makes the book rather less clumsy than some of the recent series entries. Cornwell seems determined not to let the series peter out, and readers will give this one an enthusiastic thumbs up. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Critical reaction to the Scarpetta series may fluctuate, but Cornwell keeps racking up big numbers: 100 million copies sold in 36 languages across 120 countries; 22 number-one New York Times best-sellers.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)