TRACE

Dr. Kay Scarpetta is back in Richmond and back at the top of her form, investigating the suspicious death of a 14-year-old girl at the request of the dislikable new medical examiner who has her old job. Meanwhile Scarpetta's niece, Lucy, is embroiled in a case in Florida with bizarre similarities to the Richmond one, and the two are linked by the sensationally creepy Edgar Allen Pogue, who once worked for Scarpetta. While the plotting is ingenious and intense, Cornwell's prose has gone very "faux Hemingway," which presents a challenge to Kate Reading: how to read with urgent seriousness yet avoid being inadvertently funny. Reading walks the razor-fine line with aplomb, and Scarpetta fans will be delighted. B.G. (c) AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine [Published: FEB/ MAR 05]