Livid (Kay Scarpetta Series #26)

by Patricia Cornwell

Overview

In this thrilling installment of the #1 bestselling series, chief medical examiner Dr. Kay Scarpetta finds herself a reluctant star witness in a sensational televised murder trial causing chaos in Old Town Alexandria with the threat of violent protests.

Chief medical examiner Kay Scarpetta is the reluctant star witness in a sensational murder trial when she receives shocking news. The judge’s sister has been found dead. At first glance, it appears to be a home invasion, but then why was nothing stolen, and why is the garden strewn with dead plants and insects?

Although there is no apparent cause of death, Scarpetta recognizes telltale signs of the unthinkable, and she knows the worst is yet to come. The forensic pathologist finds herself pitted against a powerful force that returns her to the past, and her time to catch the killer is running out . . .

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781538725160
Publisher:	Grand Central Publishing
Publication date:	10/25/2022
Series:	Kay Scarpetta Series , #26
Pages:	368
Sales rank:	1,180
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.20(d)

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 prestigious awards including the Edgar, the Creasey, the Prix du Roman d’Aventure, the Sherlock, the Galaxy National Book Award, and Gold Dagger. In addition to 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 technologies that inform her work. 

Hometown:

Boston, MA and New York, NY

Date of Birth:

June 9, 1956

Place of Birth:

Miami, Florida

Education:

B.A. in English, Davidson College, 1979; King College

Website:

http://www.patriciacornwell.com

Editorial Reviews

08/29/2022

Bestseller Cornwell’s solid 26th Kay Scarpetta novel (after 2021’s Autopsy) opens with Kay, now Virginia’s chief medical examiner, testifying at a controversial murder trial, which has attracted media attention thanks to the angry and vocal friends, family, and supporters of the victim, former beauty queen April Tupelo. No sooner has Kay left the courtroom than she’s called to a crime scene. CIA employee Rachael Stanwyck, the sister of judge Annie Chilton, who’s presiding over the Tupelo case, is lying dead on the kitchen floor of Annie’s secluded country house. Kay is immediately struck by the eerie lack of bird, insect, and animal life surrounding the house, leading her colleague and brother-in-law, Pete Marino, to comment, “Is it just me? Or is something weird going on?” Another brutal death, a failed presidential assassination, a band of homegrown terrorists, and more all take their turn stirring the pot of weirdness. The story line at times gets lost amid extended descriptions of crime scene examinations and autopsy techniques, as well as interactions with difficult colleagues and Kay’s eternally petulant sister. This fact-filled entry isn’t Cornwell’s best, but fans will be satisfied. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

Dr. Kay Scarpetta, who keeps us coming back to Patricia Cornwell’s sprawling crime novels, is one tough broad.”—New York Times Book Review

“Scarpetta is brilliant, compassionate and humble, excelling in her profession and in diplomacy."—Library Journal, Starred Review for Autopsy

Patricia Cornwell is a “masterful mysterian.”—Kirkus Reviews

“Everyone knows Scarpetta; she has the wit, intelligence, and strength that any forensic sleuth should own. This never-stop action plot is yet another gift to readers from Patricia Cornwell-a literary artist that is never going to stop writing some of the best and most memorable thrillers out there.”—Suspense Magazine

"Cornwell’s demonic plot shifts and changes almost page by page, so the reader’s spun round not knowing what to believe.”—Providence Journal, Praise for Depraved Heart

From the Publisher

05/01/2022

Forensic pathologist Kay Scarpetta testifies in a case, fumbled by the initial pathologist, concerning a drowned beauty queen whose fiancé is charged with her death. Then the judge's sister is murdered. With a 400,000-copy first printing.

Library Journal

2022-08-31
Another 15 rounds for Virginia chief medical examiner Dr. Kay Scarpetta and her well-placed enemies past and present.

Why is her old law school roommate, Judge Annie Chilton, allowing Alexandria’s Commonwealth’s Attorney Bose Flagler to beat up Scarpetta on the witness stand? Normally the state’s CME would be on the prosecutor’s side, but this time Scarpetta is determined to testify that her predecessor, the late Dr. Bailey Carter, who had rapid-onset dementia, mistakenly called beauty queen April Tupelo’s drowning murder, leading to the arrest of her live-in Romeo, Gilbert Hooke. Even so, Chilton’s rulings seem consistently heedless of Scarpetta’s formidable reputation and personal feelings, as if the judge were distracted by something. Maybe she’s having previsions about her sister, CIA press secretary Rachael Stanwyck, who’s soon found dead in the kitchen of the judge’s family estate, rendering the introductory case moot to everyone but the protesters who attack Scarpetta, bellowing “JUSTICE FOR APRIL!” and providing the media with more anti-Scarpetta grist. Certainly Cornwell seems to forget about it in her eagerness to linger over the diabolical, state-of-the-art murder weapon by which the judge’s sister met her doom and to evoke the endless infighting among Scarpetta, her nemesis, Virginia health commissioner Dr. Elvin Reddy, and his minions. A second (or is it a third?) murder provides the basis for more of the post-mortem set pieces that make fans of this long-running series salivate, and it’s especially gratifying to see Scarpetta wring important evidence from a dust bunny. But the forensics mean more to Cornwell than the suspects, and the ideal reader of this installment won’t care any more than she does whodunit.

As usual, the dead are just more interesting than the living. Something to look forward to.

Kirkus Reviews

This never-stop action plot is yet another gift to readers from Patricia Cornwell-a literary artist that is never going to stop writing some of the best and most memorable thrillers out there.”

Suspense Magazine