‘A lot going on’ to dissect

Autopsy by Patricia Cornwell, Harper Collins, $36.99

.. .. .. .. .. .. .. Kay Scarletta is back in her 25th novel.

A forensic pathologist, she has returned to Virginia as the chief medical examiner. She and her husband Benton, a psychologist with the secret service, are now headquartered five miles from the Pentagon. Marino, her steadfast detective assistant, is now married to Scarpetta's neurotic sister, have and the couple have returned with them.

Scarpetta's first case is a woman, found dead, naked and both hands removed, left by a busy rail line. After much forensic work the woman is identified as the woman missing from their apartment block. Scarpetta realises a case labelled a suicide by her predecessor has many similarities.

Scarpetta and her husband are also on call to the White House and at the same time involved in a very hush hush murder in space.

This novel is set postpandemic in a time of civil and political unrest. Scarpetta's niece Lucy, a near genius in the study of CD printing of skin and body parts is grief-stricken, having lost her partner and adopted son to the pandemic. She uses an avatar to assist her through her grief process.

There is a lot going on, some of it a little overdone.

However, I am sure that fans of Kay Scarpetta novels will not be disappointed.