Port Mortuary

by Patricia Cornwell

Dr. Kay Scarpetta is back, along with her regular crew of husband Benton Wesley, niece Lucy and ex-cop Pete Marino.  This time she returns home to Boston, where a man is found mysteriously murdered near her home.  Before long, Scarpetta's military background comes back to rear its ugly head and she finds that as usual, nothing is what it seems.

I'm a long-time reader of the Kay Scarpetta series.  The early ones are by far the best, but I dutifully read each installment as it is released.  This one, however, was a chore for me to finish.  There was less action and more inside Scarpetta's head.  Pete Marino and Lucy have both become somewhat unlikable characters and it's hard to care about them much.  Benton is so full of "I can't talk about my patients" that it's hard to understand why he's even included in the story.  This group of characters seem to have outlived their early connections.  I guess being at the top of her field has made Scarpetta less able to accept help from anyone.

If you haven't read any of this series, I would recommend the early ones.  The most recent are vastly different, in my opinion.