Trace (original 2004; edition 2005)

This is the last Scarpetta novel I'm ever going to read. I wish I'd stopped several books ago when she started bringing characters back from the dead soap opera style. The early books were great yarns but somewhere along the line Cornwell started phoning it in. ( )

It’s been years since I’ve picked up a Kay Scarpetta novel, but Patricia Cornwell has the fantastic knack for keeping the characters familiar, no matter how much time has passed or what events have taken place in the intervening books. Things happen in one book that change who the characters are in the following books, how they think and behave, but it’s easy to fall right back into their lives. Cornwell fills in the necessary information without tedious spoon-feeding.

In Trace, Kay Scarpetta is called back to Richmond, VA after 5 years to assist in an investigation; for which the current Chief Medical Examiner is none-too-happy about. The teen death that Kay is investigating has unusual ties to the accidental death of a construction worker at the demolition site of Kay’s former coroner office. And then evidence ties the suspect, a former employee of Kay’s, to a stalking case Lucy (Kay’s niece) is investigating in Florida; her own stalker.

Like every Scarpetta novel, I enjoyed the mystery involved in this one. Unlike others I have read, this one had more emotion; Kay hating the new Chief Medical Examiner, Marino desiring Kay and despising himself for it, and Lucy bitter for choices she has made. I wish there had been more suspense, more twisting turns, and more leading clues. I was left unsatisfied. I feel as if several threads were left unexplained. Like why was everyone getting sick? Or what does the reoccurring eye drawing mean? I’m okay with things not always being neat and tidy. But if it was a theme that was important enough to reoccur, then I would like to understand why.
Overall though, it was an entertaining and quick read. I think I’ll pick up another one. Made me miss Kay Scarpetta’s adventures. ( )

This book started slowly and I found it very disjointed as it bounced between Henri and Benton in Aspen, Lucy and Rudi - and the random Edgar Allan Pogue bits as Marino and Kaye worked on the Paulsson case. But then it started to get good. I get a little tired of Marino sleeping with the vics/families as a replacement for Scarpetta, but I guess it worked. Just as it started to get good, it was rushed toward the end and I didn't get the point in wasting time on Lucy/Henri's non reunion. Not sure what I think of this series with scarpetta out of the ME's office but we'll see ( )

When Cornwell ends a novel, she always picks up the next novel where the action ended in the previous book. I must have missed something in the last novel, such as what happened to the escaped Jean-Bapiste and his nephew, Albert. Also, the confrontation between Benton and Kay does not happen. In this installation, Marino has lost weight and stopped smoking, but he still does not win Kay. Lucy is her usual feisty and self-absorbed self. Kay is asked to aid in determining death of a teen-age girl. The case brings Kay and Pete to Richmond, just as the old forensic building is being leveled. The story involves the plight of unclaimed bodies, and the grievances of a loner. Cornwell does an excellent job with her characters, except with the minor character Henri. Cornwell's stories only reinforce the belief that the world contains many unbalanced people. ( )