![\"\"](\"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/autopsy.jpeg\")
<\/a>I have to admit that my first thought upon hearing that Patricia Cornwell has a new novel out called Autopsy<\/em>was: \u201cHasn\u2019t she named one that already?\u201d After all, Cornwell has written lots of popular books starring Dr. Kay Scarpetta, a forensic pathologist who conducts autopsies as she goes about solving murders.<\/p>\nThe answer is no, the previous 24 novels in the series have had more creative names, although the debut \u2013 Postmortem<\/em>, in 1989 \u2013 came close. I\u2019m guessing she named No. 25 Autopsy <\/em>to let longtime fans know that she\u2019d resurrected Scarpetta after a 5-year hiatus.<\/p>\n During that time, Cornwell produced two books in the new Captain Chase thriller series, set in outer space and featuring lots of cutting-edge science and technology. She uses some of her experience with those books in this one.<\/p>\n In Autopsy<\/em>, Scarpetta is back in a way that will likely please those longtime fans. She\u2019s even back in Virginia, once again the state\u2019s chief medical examiner, as she was in those early novels. Familiar characters are back, too. Her husband, Benton Wesley, is now a forensic psychologist with the Secret Service, and they find a place to live in Old Town Alexandria in northern Virginia, near D.C. Lucy, her brilliant but troubled niece, lives in the guesthouse behind their home.<\/p>\n The setting is after the pandemic, which brought changes to the familiar cast of characters. Lucy\u2019s significant other and their adopted son were victim of the virus, and Lucy is not faring well as she battles grief and guilt. And during the pandemic, Scarpetta\u2019s difficult sister Dorothy \u00a0\u2013 Lucy\u2019s mother \u2013 married Scarpetta\u2019s longtime friend and colleague, Pete Marino. They live near Scarpetta and Wesley in an upscale townhome community,<\/p>\n After all that\u2019s happened, Scarpetta is just happy to have them all nearby and safe \u2013 until she begins to worry that they aren\u2019t safe after all.<\/p>\n Scarpetta is having a tough time trying to reassert control over the chief medical examiner\u2019s office, which has suffered from neglect, incompetence and, quite likely, outright corruption in recent years. She has at least two strikes against her \u2013 an overbearing secretary appears to be working against her, and her predecessor in the job is now the new state health commissioner and therefore her boss, even though she\u2019d been told he was taking a job in the private sector. Realizing she\u2019ll need help, she brings in Marino, the former cop, as a private contractor.<\/p>\n She\u2019s barely had time to get her bearings in her new job when a woman is found brutally murdered, her throat slashed and hands cut off, beside a railroad track near where they live. When the victim\u2019s identity is eventually determined, it\u2019s even more troubling, Then Scarpetta learns that several months earlier a young woman jogger had been found drowned in the same area \u2013 and that her predecessor, now boss, had made sure that investigation went nowhere,<\/p>\n Is there a serial killer at work? Is there some kind of coverup?<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Scarpetta gets called to the White House to help with a first-of-its-kind investigation of suspicious deaths of two astronauts in a top-secret laboratory in space. That\u2019s unrelated to the other cases \u2013 or is it?<\/p>\n And then there\u2019s the poison in Scarpetta\u2019s bottle of wine\u2026<\/p>\n All that Scarpetta fans enjoyed over the years is here again: surprising plots twists, the latest in science and technology, familiar and interesting characters, Scarpetta\u2019s determination to see that justice is served.<\/p>\n After a complex and sometimes slow-moving buildup, the solutions to the various mysteries and dangers Scarpetta faces are a bit of a letdown. The end of the book comes quickly, leaving \u00a0readers feeling a bit let down.<\/p>\n If you like Scarpetta, though, you\u2019ll find this book well worth reading.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson AUTOPSY. By Patricia Cornwell. William Morrow. 398 pages. $28.99, hardback. I have to admit that my first thought upon hearing that Patricia Cornwell has a new novel out called Autopsywas: \u201cHasn\u2019t she named one that already?\u201d After all, Cornwell has written lots of popular books starring Dr. Kay Scarpetta, a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[426,14],"tags":[622,1237,620],"class_list":["post-2860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-popular-fiction","category-thriller-suspense","tag-forensic-thrillers","tag-kay-scarpetta","tag-patricia-cornwell"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2860","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2860"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2860\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2862,"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2860\/revisions\/2862"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}