The Bone Bed

The Bone Bed is Patricia Cornwell's latest novel starring Chief Medical Examiner Kay Scarpetta.  Set around Boston, MA, the events of the novel center around the discovery of the body of a dead woman, suspended in the waters of the Boston Harbor.  Kay is diligently trying to piece together clues to discover the identity of the woman, at the same time that a female paleontologist disappears while digging a dinosaur bone bed in the remote wilderness of Canada.  Events unfold rapidly and Scarpetta's friends and family are dragged into the investigation too.  Familiar characters such as Pete Marino, Scarpetta's co-worker and friend, her niece Lucy and her FBI husband Benton also figure prominently in the book.  Lush descriptions of food and recipes appear along with detailed descriptions of forensic investigation techniques.  This book is another great installation in the Kay Scarpetta series and a fascinating look into the science of forensics. 

Port Mortuary

Patricia Cornwell has recently published a new entry in her Kay Scarpetta series, titled Port Mortuary. Scarpetta had accepted a scholarship from the Air Force many years agao to pay off her medical school debt and those military ties have led her to a training fellowship at the port mortuary at Dover Air Force base when the book opens up. Scarpetta has been working at the air force base for several months longer than she has expected and is relieved when her niece Lucy, her husband Benton and her co-worker Marino call her back unexpectedly to the Cambridge Forensic Center, her "true job" that she has been neglecting as a result of the fellowship. The case that calls Scarpetta back concerns a young man who died but when his body is examined the next day it appears as if he was alive when he was locked inside the CFC's cooler. This is the case that could end Scarpetta's new job, almost before it begins! The plot of this book is typical Cornwell, but in my opinion, Scarpetta seems as if she is hanging on the outskirts of the action while Benton, Lucy and Marino do all the work. I believe Patricia Cornwell has used this book to "launch" the next stage of Scarpetta's career as the head of the CFC. There is a great amount of forensic detail spelled out here, which will please Cornwell's fans, but this book is not the best fit for a series' newcomer.