Flesh and Blood: A Scarpetta Novel

Patricia Cornwell

Nov 2014 · Kay Scarpetta Book 22 · Sold by Harper Collins

About this ebook

In this Kay Scarpetta novel, the master forensic sleuth finds herself in the unsettling pursuit of a serial sniper who leaves no incriminating evidence except fragments of copper. 

It’s Dr. Kay Scarpetta’s birthday, and she’s about to head to Miami for a vacation with Benton Wesley, her FBI profiler husband, when she notices seven pennies on a wall behind their Cambridge house. Is this a kids’ game? If so, why are all of the coins dated 1981 and so shiny they could be newly minted? Her cellphone rings, and Detective Pete Marino tells her there’s been a homicide five minutes away. A high school music teacher has been shot with uncanny precision as he unloaded groceries from his car. No one has heard or seen a thing.

The shots seem impossible, yet they are so perfect they cause instant death. The victims appear to have had nothing in common, and there is no pattern to indicate where the killer will strike next. First New Jersey, then Massachusetts, and then the murky depths off the coast of South Florida, where Scarpetta investigates a shipwreck, looking for answers that only she can discover and analyze. And it is there that she comes face to face with shocking evidence that implicates her techno genius niece, Lucy, Scarpetta’s own flesh and blood.

Ratings and reviews

I too have been a Cornwell/Scarpetta junkie since the beginning of time but this book was a snoozer. The plot was good but overwhelmed by all the tedium. I prefer action, mystery, forensics and autopsies over repetitive Marino commentary, traffic jams, and parroted text messaging, emails and voice mails. Too much drivel here. Not sure I'll even read the next one.

Lots of suspense, not quite as good as Cornwell ' s other Scarpetta stories. The detail extremely high tech with the bullet analysis, but clueless to me as I have zero knowledge. Felt like the ending made a huge leap to the conclusion in a rushed fashion. Love her books doesn't stop me from reading or buying...yet.

I'm disappointed at this book. Had high hopes. It was just boring to me. Seemed all about what Scarpetta was thinking about everyone else. Then the ending was just thrown away. Didn't get it. Prob another one coming to finish this one. All the beginning books were awesome but last two jud t seemed like they were quickly thrown together. Bummer.

About the author

Patricia Cornwell is recognized as one of the world’s top bestselling crime authors with novels translated into thirty-six languages in more than 120 countries. Her novels have won numerous prestigious awards including the Edgar, the Creasey, the Anthony, the Macavity, and the Prix du Roman d’Aventure. Beyond the Scarpetta series, Patricia has written a definitive book about Jack the Ripper, a biography, and three more fiction series among others. Cornwell, a licensed helicopter pilot and scuba diver, actively researches the forensic technologies that inform her work. She was born in Miami, grew up in Montreat, North Carolina, and now lives and works in Boston.