Body of Evidence (Cornwell)

Body of Evidence 
Patricia Cornwell, 1991
Simon & Schuster
416 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780743493918


Summary
After months of menacing phone calls and feeling that her every move is being watched, successful writer Beryl Madison flees Key West when a terrifying message is scratched on her car. But the very night she returns to Richmond, she deactivates her burglar alarm and opens her door to someone who nearly decapitates her. Why did she let him in, wonders Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Kay Scarpetta?

And, why is Beryl's latest manuscript missing? Persuing the answers involves Scarpetta in the murder of another writer—Beryl's jealous mentor. While she copes with a variety of personal and professional problems, Scarpetta's high-tech forensic skills enable her to collect a body of evidence—clues that would mean little without her intelligence, compassion, and imagination—that leads her directly into a nightmare all her own. (From the publisher.)

Author Bio
• Birth—June 9, 1956
• Where—Miami, Florida, USA
• Education—B.A., Davidson College; King College
• Awards—Edgar Award; Gold Dagger
• Currently—lives in Boston, Massachusetts, & New York City


Patricia Cornwell writes crime fiction from an unusually informed point of view. While many writers are, as she says, conjuring up "fantasy" assumptions regarding what really goes into tracking criminals and examining crime scenes, Cornwell really does walk the walk, which is why her novels ring so true.

Before becoming one of the most widely recognized, respected, and read writers in contemporary crime fiction, she worked as a police reporter for the Charlotte Observer and as a computer analyst in the chief medical examiner's office in Virginia. During this period of her life, Cornwell observed literally hundreds of autopsies. While the vast majority of people would surely regard such work unsavory beyond belief, Cornwell was acquiring valuable information that would not only help her write the groundbreaking 2002 study Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper—Case Closed but would also enrich her fiction with uncommon authenticity.

Most of these crime scene shows... are what I call ‘Harry Potter' policing," she said in a candid, heated interview. "They're absolutely fantasy. And the problem is the general public watches these, 60 million people a week or whatever, and they think what they're seeing is true." If Cornwell comes off as a bit vehement in her criticism of television shows meant to simply entertain, that's just because she takes her work so seriously.

Not that Cornwell's novels are ever anything short of entertaining, even if their grisly details may require extra-strong stomachs of her readers. She has created a tremendously well-defined and complex character in her favorite fictional crime solver Dr. Kay Scarpetta. Cornwell introduced medical examiner Scarpetta in her first novel, Postmortem in 1990. Today, Scarpetta is still cracking cases and cracking open cadavers. (She has even inspired a cook book called Food to Die For: Secrets from Kay Scarpetta's Kitchen.) In addition, Cornwell writes more lighthearted cop capers in her Andy Brazil & Judy Hammer series.

Extras
• Cornwell knows what its like to shatter records. Her debut, Postmortem, was the only novel by a first-time author to ever win five major mystery awards in a single year.

• Cornwell may be a former crime solver, but she shudders to think that her books could actually contribute to crime. In fact, she says she has received "thank you" notes from prisoners who claim they have gleaned information from her books that might help them cover their tracks while committing future crimes.

• If parody is indeed the sincerest form of flattery, then Cornwell has a fan in Chris Elliott. The professional wisenheimer published a hilarious takeoff on her true crime book Portrait of a Killer called The Shroud of the Thwacker. (From Barnes & Noble.)

Book Reviews
Nerve-jangling...verve and brilliance...high drama...Cornwell fabricates intricate plots and paces the action at an ankle-turning clip.
New York Times Book Review


Takes the reader into the fascinating world of the forensic crime lab...a complex, multi-layered novel with enough twists and turns for two books.
Washington Post Book World


Cornwell has the milieu and the facts down cold...a complex mystery that wends a devious path through dark spaces where corpses are discovered at practically every turn.
Los Angeles Daily News


Dr. Kay Scarpetta, the spunky and thoughtful chief medical examiner introduced in Cornwell's first novel, Postmortem, makes her second commanding appearance here. Beryl Madison, a writer of historical romances, is grotesquely slashed to death in her Richmond, Va., home after returning from Key West, where she had fled, terrified by threats to her life. Why Madison let the killer into her home is Scarpetta's first question; pursuing its answer involves her in the murder of another writer, reclusive Cary Harper, who was Madison's jealous mentor; the suicide of Harper's sister; the FBI investigation of Madison's crooked lawyer; and, along with bewildering threats to her own life, plenty of complex, satisfying forensic sleuthing. Finding clues under a microscope, in the records of a psychiatric hospital, at a Key West restaurant and in a terrorist skyjacking, Scarpetta follows a trail of evidence--clues that would lead nowhere without her intelligence, compassion and imagination--to a powerful conclusion. Cornwell handles her heroine's interactions with the local police and a former lover with authority to equal her technological expertise.
Publishers Weekly


Kay Scarpetta, chief medical examiner of Virginia and heroine of Postmortem, gets involved in the case of a brutal stabbing death in Richmond of romance writer Beryl Madison. Now Madison's greedy lawyer accuses Scarpetta of losing his client's latest manuscript, an autobiographical expose of Beryl's early life as protege of a legendary novelist. As more deaths occur and the killer closes in on her, Kay suffers palpitations over the sudden and devious reappearance of long-lost lover Mark but still finds time to provide forensic details. Despite its foregone conclusion, a swift-moving, thrilling, and provocative second novel
Library Journal

Discussion Questions 
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:

• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)

Also, consider these LitLovers talking points to help get a discussion started for Body of Evidence:

1. Why does the Richmond police department respond in such a cavalier manner to Beryl Madison's call for help? Might they have responded differently had the caller been a male...say, with a heart attack?

2. Did you sniff out the red herrings, or did you fall for them? Red herrings are clues that look promising but turn out to be dead-ends or, even worse, throw you off track. How cleverly were the clues—both real clues and trick ones—laid out in the story line? At what point did you begin to catch on—or did you?

3. What about the actual murderer, who doesn't enter the story until later. Some readers feel that was cheating, a sort of deus ex machina solution. Or do you feel that's an unfair criticism—despite a late entrance, Cornwell integrates the murderer seamlessly into the plot line ?

4. How does Kay's personal life cause turmoil in her career? Do you feel there are times when she compromises her professional life? If so, is that evidence of a major flaw, a peculiarly female weakness, or is it simply being human?

5. Are the passages on forensics interesting or too highly detailed? What about the trip to the FBI Academy's behavioral science unit? Why does Kay go and what does Kay she learn there? Was the trip of interest to you as a reader?

6. Did you enjoy the fast-paced action...or feel Cornwell was pushing too hard. Too many twists and turns to be believable or just enough to be truly suspenseful?

7. What's the title's double meaning refer to?

8. You might also check out the questions for Cornwell's Postmortem—some of them can apply to his mystery as well.

(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)

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