Autopsy - Patricia Cornwell

Written by Patricia Cornwell
Read by Susan Ericksen
Format: MP3
Bitrate: 64 Kbps
Unabridged

Kay Scarpetta Series, Book 25
Publisher: HarperAudio
Release date: November 30, 2021
Duration: 11:53:57

Forensic pathologist Kay Scarpetta has come almost full circle, returning to Virginia as the chief medical examiner, the state where she launched her storied career. Finding herself the new girl in town once again after being away for many years, she’s inherited not only an overbearing secretary, but also a legacy of neglect and potential corruption.

She and her husband Benton Wesley, now a forensic psychologist with the U.S. Secret Service, have relocated to Old Town Alexandria where she’s headquartered five miles from the Pentagon in a post-pandemic world that’s been torn by civil and political unrest. Just weeks on the job, she’s called to a scene by railroad tracks where a woman’s body has been shockingly displayed, her throat cut down to the spine, and as Scarpetta begins to follow the trail, it leads unnervingly close to her own historic neighborhood.

At the same time, a catastrophe occurs in a top-secret laboratory in outer space, endangering at least two scientists aboard. Appointed to the highly classified Doomsday Commission that specializes in sensitive national security cases, Scarpetta is summoned to the White House and tasked with finding out exactly what happened. But even as she works the first potential crime scene in space remotely, an apparent serial killer strikes again very close to home.

“Narrator Susan Ericksen brings a fierce edge to the return of Dr. Kay Scarpetta. In the five years since the last book, Scarpetta has become the chief medical examiner of Virginia, where she has run-ins with rivals from the early days of her career. Ericksen’s relentless portrayal accurately reflects Scarpetta’s hunt for a possible serial killer in a Beltway suburb. Attacks keep hitting closer and closer to Scarpetta’s own family, still reeling from devastating pandemic losses. She also carries out a virtual examination of a crime scene at a top-secret space station. Cutting-edge science, politics, and chilling crimes make for a thrilling ride.”…. � AudioFile 2021