From Publishers Weekly
Cornwell's latest after the disappointing Blow Fly has indomitable medical examiner Kay Scarpetta returning to her office in Richmond five years after being fired. This homecoming will cheer fans: not only does the move put Scarpetta on her own turf, it reinvigorates Cornwell's storytelling, restoring some of the spunk lately lacking in her lead character. Dr. Joel Marcus, Scarpetta's replacement as Virginia's chief medical examiner, has summoned her back to help him puzzle through the mysterious death of a 14-year-old girl. Marcus is generally loathed: he's petty, inept, has a secret garbage-truck phobia and harbors an intense hatred for Scarpetta. Meanwhile, Scarpetta's niece Lucy, owner of a fabulously successful private-eye firm, has her own troubles trying to sort out who attempted to kill her friend Henri (short for Henrietta), who's now under psychiatric treatment by Scarpetta's lover in Aspen, Benton Wesley. Lurking in the background is Edgar Allan Pogue, a nutcase who has a thing for dead bodies and a grudge against Scarpetta. It's her job, as always, to connect all the puzzling forensic dots and identify the killer in time to save herself and her loved ones. She does this, mostly, but leaves the reader to puzzle out a few salient points on his or her own. Cumbersome backstory slows the action, but in general the old Scarpetta comes through, at least in the main, and this will be enough to reassure her many fans and carry them over until her next appearance. BOMC, Literary Guild, Mystery Guild and Doubleday Book Club main selection. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From AudioFile
Dr. Kay Scarpetta returns to Richmond and her former lab when she's asked to consult on the death of a young girl. Scarpetta suspects murder, but her investigation is thwarted at every turn. Carolyn McCormick does an excellent job of conveying the persona of the serious Scarpetta. Each chapter and twist in the story is enhanced by her inflection and tone. The listener feels the frustration and anxiety Cornwell conveys in her characters. McCormick's delivery of the final chapters continues to draw the listener in as the story approaches its conclusion and the tension builds. Scarpetta fans will not be disappointed. S.K.P. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

From Booklist
Against advice from her niece Lucy, Kay Scarpetta answers a request to return to the Richmond medical examiner's office, the same office from which she was fired, to help with the sensitive case of a dead teen. When she and Pete Marino arrive, they find the new medical examiner to be a vituperative, uncooperative martinet and the office that Kay ran so efficiently in chaos. Two murders, oddly linked, demand their attention. In the meantime, Lucy, still unsettled despite her success with the Last Precinct investigative agency, is having personal problems (there's been an attack on her housemate), which strangely enough find her treading the same path as her aunt Kay. Traces of the smart, dynamic, yet vulnerable Scarpetta of the early novels are in evidence here, and Cornwell has better control of her plot and characters than in her last few efforts, faltering only occasionally when psychobabble weighs things down. The mystery is intriguing, there's plenty of forensic detail, and the ending, though perhaps too abrupt, opens the way for Scarpetta and her associates to proceed in any direction that calls to them. Stephanie Zvirin
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

FROM OUR EDITORS

Kay Scarpetta's return to her old Richmond stomping grounds is even more depressing than she expected. The medical examiner's department is in disarray; Kay's former lab is in the final stages of demolition; incompetence is everywhere, and personal conflicts abound. Fortunately, a murder case arises that strains even Dr. Scarpetta's forensics skills. A taut crime scene investigation thriller.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

The heart-stopping new Dr. Kay Scarpetta thriller from America's #1-bestselling crime writer.

Dr. Kay Scarpetta, now freelancing from south Florida, returns to the city that turned its back on her five years ago.

In Trace, Scarpetta travels to Richmond, Virginia, at the odd behest of the recently appointed Chief Medical Examiner, who claims that he needs her help to solve a perplexing crime. When she arrives, however, Scarpetta finds that nothing is as she expected: her former lab is in the final stages of demolition; the inept chief isn't the one who requested her after all; her old assistant chief has developed personal problems that he won't reveal; and a glamorous FBI agent, whom Marino dislikes instantly, meddles with the case.

Deprived of assistance from colleagues Benton and Lucy, who are embroiled in what first appears to be an unrelated attempted rape by a stalker, Scarpetta is faced with investigating the death of a fourteen-year-old girl, working with the smallest pieces of evidence-traces that only the most thorough hunters can identify. She must follow the twisting leads and track the strange details in order to make the dead speak-and to reveal the sad truth that may be more than even she can bear.

Author Biography: Patricia Cornwell's most recent number-one bestsellers include Blow Fly, Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper-Case Closed, and The Last Precinct. Her earlier work includes Post-mortem-the only novel to win the Edgar, Creasey, Anthony, and Macavity awards and the French Prix du Roman d'Aventure in a single year-and Cruel and Unusual, which won Britain's prestigious Gold Dagger Award for the year's best crime novel of 1993. Her fictional chief medical examiner, Dr. Kay Scarpetta, won the 1999 Sherlock Award for best detective created by an American author. Cornwell helped establish the Virginia Institute of Forensic Science and Medicine, the first forensic training facility of its kind in the nation, and serves as the institute's Chairman of the Board. Visit the institute's website at www.vifsm.org and Cornwell's own website at www.patriciacornwell.com.

FROM THE CRITICS

Marilyn Stasio - The New York Times

… the author maintains firm control over the various unruly elements of her story, allowing Scarpetta's faithful sidekicks to make reasonable contributions to the investigation but leaving it to her brainy heroine to analyze the scientific evidence and pull the whole thing together. Although Cornwell's over-the-top series will probably never return to its realistic beginnings, it's a relief to find Scarpetta back in the lab where she belongs, up to her elbows in guts and gore.

Publishers Weekly

Cornwell's latest after the disappointing Blow Fly has indomitable medical examiner Kay Scarpetta returning to her office in Richmond five years after being fired. This homecoming will cheer fans: not only does the move put Scarpetta on her own turf, it reinvigorates Cornwell's storytelling, restoring some of the spunk lately lacking in her lead character. Dr. Joel Marcus, Scarpetta's replacement as Virginia's chief medical examiner, has summoned her back to help him puzzle through the mysterious death of a 14-year-old girl. Marcus is generally loathed: he's petty, inept, has a secret garbage-truck phobia and harbors an intense hatred for Scarpetta. Meanwhile, Scarpetta's niece Lucy, owner of a fabulously successful private-eye firm, has her own troubles trying to sort out who attempted to kill her friend Henri (short for Henrietta), who's now under psychiatric treatment by Scarpetta's lover in Aspen, Benton Wesley. Lurking in the background is Edgar Allan Pogue, a nutcase who has a thing for dead bodies and a grudge against Scarpetta. It's her job, as always, to connect all the puzzling forensic dots and identify the killer in time to save herself and her loved ones. She does this, mostly, but leaves the reader to puzzle out a few salient points on his or her own. Cumbersome backstory slows the action, but in general the old Scarpetta comes through, at least in the main, and this will be enough to reassure her many fans and carry them over until her next appearance. Agent, Esther Newberg. (Sept.) Forecast: A firmer editorial hand might have snipped those dangling plot threads the price, perhaps, of such success is getting enough rope to hang oneself. But thankfully Cornwell escapes that fate, and as the bestselling female crime writer in the world she can expect her regular huge numbers. BOMC, Literary Guild, Mystery Guild and Doubleday Book Club main selection. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

Cornwell's 13th Kay Scarpetta adventure finds the forensic investigator and her trusted friend, Pete Marino, back in Richmond, VA, to solve the mystery surrounding a 14-year-old girl's death. The cause of death makes no sense, and the reasons for Scarpetta's summons to Richmond are even less clear. When a victim of a demolition accident turns up with trace evidence similar to what was found on the girl's body, Scarpetta must confront a part of her past that she had thought was behind her. Meanwhile, Lucy, a houseguest of Scarpetta's niece, is the victim of a dangerous stalker. This latest installment is somewhat disappointing, lacking the intensity of Cornwell's earlier works, and dividing the focus between Scarpetta and Lucy can be confusing. Still, true fans will want to read it. Recommended for public libraries and popular reading collections. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 5/1/04.] Leslie Madden, Georgia Inst. of Technology Lib., Atlanta Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

AudioFile

Dr. Kay Scarpetta is back in Richmond and back at the top of her form, investigating the suspicious death of a 14-year-old girl at the request of the dislikable new medical examiner who has her old job. Meanwhile Scarpetta's niece, Lucy, is embroiled in a case in Florida with bizarre similarities to the Richmond one, and the two are linked by the sensationally creepy Edgar Allen Pogue, who once worked for Scarpetta. While the plotting is ingenious and intense, Cornwell's prose has gone very "faux Hemingway," which presents a challenge to Kate Reading: how to read with urgent seriousness yet avoid being inadvertently funny. Reading walks the razor-fine line with aplomb, and Scarpetta fans will be delighted. B.G. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine

Kirkus Reviews