Rating: 
Summary: Cornwell is very good at plotting
Review: This mystery involves a series of deaths that somehow all tie together -- yet it is far from clear how, as there are no clear suspects. After the first 50 pages or so, this turned into a real page-turner for me.The plot involves a young female writer who is being stalked and, at the very beginning of the story, stabbed to death in her own home. Who has been stalking her, why, and is that the killer? The writer may have been writing her autobiography, which would include things someone didn't want written. This could be a motive -- but it could be something else entirely. Eventually Scarpetta (the medical examiner/detective in Cornwell's mysteries) is herself being stalked, apparently by the same killer -- whoever that is. A missing manuscript may hold the key clue to the identity of the killer, but where is the manuscript? And why has a an old lover suddenly reappeared in Scarpetta's life and then just as suddenly disappeared? There's a lot of questions to be asked and the pace of the book is pretty quick. Now the down side: I find the editorial voice in Cornwell's mysteries annoying, and it's a shame, because the books are so well researched and plotted. But Scarpetta isn't very likable, and Cornwell clearly places great priority on physical beauty. Good people are generally attractive and thin, unattractive people are either comic, annoying, or evil. The narcissism of the author also seems to come through in her character Scarpetta, who is supposed to be wonderful and admirable, but just isn't. Scarpetta comes across as self-absorbed, arrogant, and shallow. Otherwise, this is a very well-written book.
Rating:
Summary: Facts. Characters. Twists. Love Interest. It's there.
Review: Unlike Post-Mortem, Body Of Evidence lays itself out like a roadmap with many blind curves. Kay Scarpetta knows her stuff but is a little out of touch as far as police work goes. (I don't know many people who maintain constant dialogue with the FBI to help out with their case-load.) That's the only down-side to the character. The one thing I appreciated was that the "Who-Dun-It" was introduced in the series of fact-finding points throughout the story. So, at the end, when they caught the person, you as the reader could say, "OK. I remember how this fit earlier." Post-Mortem pulled the killer out of a proverbial hat, as if the author suddenly needed to end the book. But Body of Evidence was a good read with mystery, a twisted love-interest, and Detective Marino. (I think Marino secretly likes Kay.) Enjoy.
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