Product Description

The decomposed remains of a stowaway lead Dr. Kay Scarpetta on an international search to Interpol's headquarters in Lyon, France—and on a mission that will pull her in two opposite directions: toward protecting her career or toward the truth.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #182607 in Books
• Published on: 2000-08-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 464 pages

From Amazon.com
The postmortem is in--Black Notice, the 10th in Patricia Cornwell's Scarpetta series, is a gore-splattered, intensely exciting read. As winter grips Richmond, Virginia, an air of somberness pervades chief medical examiner Kay Scarpetta's world. Her beloved niece Lucy is involved in a dangerous undercover police operation in Miami, and auntie fears for her life. A tyrannical new deputy chief, Diane Bray, wants to get Kay's department under her jurisdiction. Meanwhile, back at the office, someone has tinkered with the e-mail system, stealing Kay's identity, and sending off slanderous and hurtful messages. Emotionally battered, Scarpetta fears she is going insane. Or, could it be that someone is deliberately sowing this harvest of sorrow?

Despite her personal problems, Scarpetta is still the reigning diva at the department of death. She is sent to investigate the putrefied remains of a man found inside a container ship, "eyes bulged froglike, and the scalp and beard were sloughing off with the outer layer of darkening skin." Kay finds strange, animal-like hairs on the man's clothing--the same hairs that she discovers on a murdered store clerk a few days later. In actuality, the bizarre killings extend well beyond Virginia; whoever killed the Richmond victims also butchered people in France. Kay and police captain Pete Marino are whisked off to Paris where they must collect top-secret information from a Paris morgue, and avoid becoming victims themselves.

This macabre tome is the stuff that classic Scarpetta tales are made of: creepy but compulsive autopsy scenes, plentiful plot twists, and the compelling, if slightly more vulnerable chief medical examiner herself. --Naomi Gesinger

From Publishers Weekly
It's like a splash of cold water on a hot day to be plunged, after the irritating third-person satire of Cornwell's last novel, Southern Cross (1998), back into the bracing narration of medical examiner Kay Scarpetta. As in the nine Scarpettas past (Point of Origin, etc.), here it's not the novel's events, startling as they are, that propel the story so much as the deep-hearted responses of Kay, as real a hero as any in thriller fiction, to the "evil"Aher wordAthat threatens. Evil wears several faces here, from petty to monstrous. Most insidious is the office sabotageAinsubordination, thefts, fraudulent e-mailsAthat's making the grieving Kay look as if she's lost her grip since her lover's murder in Point of Origin. More destructive are the overt attempts by calculating Richmond, Va., deputy police chief Diane Bray to ruin Kay's career as well as that of Kay's old friend, Capt. Pete Marino. Then there's the wild rage at life that's consuming Kay's niece, a DEA agent. FinallyAthe plot wire that binds the sometimes scattered plotAthere are the mutilation killings by the French serial killer self-styled "Loup-Garou"Awerewolf. The forensic sequences boom with authority; the brief action sequences explode on the pageAin the finale, overbearingly so; the interplay between Kay and Marino is boisterous as always, and there's an atmospheric sidetrip to Paris and an affecting romantic misadventure for lonely Kay. A thunderhead of disquietude hangs over this compulsively readable novel, sometimes loosing storms of suspense; but to Cornwell's considerable credit, the unease arises ultimately not from the steady potential for violence, but from a more profound horror: the vulnerability of a good woman like Kay to a world beset by the corrupt, the cruel, the demonic. One million first printing; $750,000 ad/promo; Literary Guild, Doubleday Book Club and Mystery Guild main selections; unabridged and abridged audio versions; foreign rights sold in eight countries.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Cornwell (Southern Cross) brings chief medical examiner Kay Scarpetta back for her tenth foray into crime-solving in Black Notice. When the unidentified remains of a badly decomposed body are found in a cargo container en route from Belgium, Scarpetta is pulled into a case of global significance. Once again, her professional worries are exacerbated by personal concerns for pal Marino and niece Lucy. The investigation takes Scarpetta around the world and into the sights of powerful and ruthless enemies. Reader Kate Reading's nearly flawless performance compensates for the book's sometimes plodding pace. She gives her usually low-key characterization of the usually low-key Scarpetta just the right edge as flashes of despair threaten to overtake her controlled life. Although Reading thoroughly becomes Scarpetta through her expert narration, she has other strengths, as well. Her interpretation of each minor characterAsome appearing only once or twiceAbreathes life into individuals who, in the hands of a less competent reader, would otherwise blend and vanish from memory. Recommended for popular fiction collections.AJennifer Belford, Addison P.L., IL
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Another Good Book
This book was an overall good book. There were a few "harsh" moments. I don't think this outweighed the good of the book. The investigation of the murder was exciting and suspenseful. I do think that reading these books in order will better help with understanding the characters and their actions. I would definitely recommend reading the series of books, Point of Origin being the one written before this.

It's Not a stand alone book.
You have to read, "Point of Origin" in order to enjoy this book. The events of Point of Origin.......drive the story line, especially the first half of the book.

If you read both books, you will enjoy both. If you read this one separately, you will be disappointed.

Cussing ruined a good story
It's easy to see why Patricia Cornwell is such a popular author. She's a master of characterization and detail and suspense. I
really enjoy her work--and the characters of Scarpetta and Marino. They seem like real people with real feelings and flaws. But what's with all the cussing in this book? A few well-placed words are enough to get across dialogue and personality. The cussing progressed as the book did; her two previous books weren't like this. It detracted from a good story, and took away my interest in reading any more of her books.